Equip Super – The Next Chapter

Equip’s challenge was to design solutions, products and services to engage, educate and support Australians at every stage of their retirement journey. There are over 4.3m people aged 65+ in Australia today, rising to 6.6m in 20 years’ time. Compared to citizens of the USA, Canada and the UK, Australians are less confident that they will be able to retire when they want to, and less confident that their retirement savings will last their lifetime. Equip sought to design a better future for its members by first understanding what retirement means to them, then answering their big retirement questions.

The solution commenced with ethnographic research of 31 Equip members aged between 50 and 80, representing diverse demographic and psychographic criteria. Insights were synthesised to create a suite of mega themes and personas, as well as a comprehensive list of pain and gain points. Opportunities for product and service enhancements were identified, as well as content pillars for communication and education. Recommendations were presented over short, medium and longer horizons, to enable immediate experience improvement. The findings were socialised from the top down, and informed the creation of a Retirement Blueprint, an actionable resource for Equip’s people and partners.

The resulting Retirement Blueprint, titled The Next Chapter, provides Equip with a playbook for design and delivery of human-centred solutions, products and services. This project provides strategic direction and clarity for all decision makers and is expected to materially impact the retirement literacy of older Australians, leading to better retirement outcomes. Commercially, this investment in design is expected to attract new members and reduce member churn, consequently reducing fees for all fund members. More broadly, this project has advanced the maturity of strategic design in the superannuation industry and is an exemplar for competing funds, driving demand for professional design.

As a consequence of its design-led retirement strategy, Equip has reinvented its approach to retirement products and service delivery. It now has a Board-endorsed Retirement Blueprint for relevant products and services to offer to members at every life stage, informed by the attitudes and views of real Australians and their lives. The Next Chapter will power strategic projects that roll out over the next three years, including a new digital offering and Retirement Concierge service and financial advice. The project also delivered a suite of content themes and messaging pillars to distribute through paid, organic and stakeholder channels to educate and inform Australians about the process of retirement and their options. This activity commenced in April 2023. A holistic approach to retirement services was also an outcome of the project, building services and support around four key wellbeing pillars: financial, physical and mental health, connection and purpose. Importantly, this project enabled Equip Super to understand that although the pathway to retirement is bumpy for some, life after work is joyful for many. It’s a time of experimentation and connection, of peace and purpose. This revelation endorsed Equip’s brand re-positioning of equipping all members today, so they are ready for tomorrow.