Key stats: Aegon experience on 7 April (day one of flexibilities as closed on the Bank holiday)
• On 7 April Aegon saw an increase of just over 3,000 calls received compared to the first day of the tax year in 2014. And call volumes were up nearly 42% on the calls received on the previous Tuesday 31 March 2015.
• Almost 50% of the calls received were directly from customers. The usual average of calls from customers is 30% with the rest being from advisers.
• 40% of the calls received were in relation to valuations and quotes, which was higher than the usual average of 25%.
• 70% of the calls were answered within 20 seconds.
• The average speed of answer across the entire day was 46 seconds. Our average call handling time was 7 minutes. Increased demands had minimal impact on customer experience.
“We also saw a higher proportion of calls coming directly from customers, as opposed to advisers which might be down to it being holiday season. However, it also demonstrates a level of customer interest and engagement we’ve never seen before.”
While the engagement levels are good, customers still have a lot of questions and are seeking more help to understand the changes and how they work in practice.
Young continued: “Surprisingly, we’ve received a number of calls from customers expecting to be able to sell their annuities now, despite this still being under consultation.
“We’ve also received a number of enquiries from customers thinking they will be able to access their retirement savings immediately, just like they do their bank account and expect to be able to withdraw money as and when they like without having to complete any forms.
“Some customers have also reconsidered their actions. One example was a personal pension customer, when asked if they were aware of their options and had sought advice, they replied ‘yes, I spoke to my friends’. However, once they heard the risk warnings and were walked through the steps on the Aegon Your Retirement Planner site and Pensions Wise, they admitted to being unaware of the tax implications and decided not to proceed before speaking to an adviser.”
“Aegon has worked hard to ensure the proper infrastructure was in place to meet the demands of this high volume of customer interest in the changes brought in by the government.
“We recruited in the region of 150 new Customer Service Representatives to support the increased demands that changes to pension regulation would cause. In advance of these changes we also invested significantly during 2014 towards the automation of processes which will experience increases in demand to alleviate the strain on our operations.
“This operational investment accompanied by the delivery of Aegon’s Your Retirement Planner site and the training of our sales team has meant we were excellently placed to handle the demand this week and in the weeks and months to come.”
About Your Retirement Planner
With customers facing big and complex decisions about what to do with their savings, Aegon has overhauled and digitised its “wake-up” journey to bring to life the options on its new Your Retirement Planner website – www.aegon.co.uk/retirementplanner
The centrepiece of the service is an interactive income planning tool which responds to the information people provide on their savings and visualises what it could convert to in drawdown, a guaranteed product, annuity or cash lump sums depending on the mix of options they choose.
The site also explains the potential implications of different options. For example the tool highlights that taking a large percentage of savings in drawdown each year could mean you outlive your savings, that taking a large cash lump sum may have big tax implications and that the reforms may encourage new forms of pension fraud.
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