Consumer Researchers Rank Fidelity, American Funds Among Best Digital Experience

With more participants using their phones to monitor and manage retirement planning, digital retirement platforms play a key role in engagement and, at times, rollover decisions, according to consumer research firms J.D. Power and Corporate Insight Inc.

The two firms, each of which recently released annual data on digital retirement plan engagement, gave high marks to several firms when it came to retirement digital platforms. Corporate Insight found Fidelity, Empower and TIAA led recordkeepers across desktop and mobile offerings in a report issued Thursday; J.D. Power found Capital Group/American Funds, Charles Schwab and Bank of America (including Merrill) ranked highest for digital plan experience in research released Thursday.

The good news for retirement plan providers, according to both firms, is that consumers are happier with the digital experience of their retirement plans after years of investment focus.

“Web satisfaction remaining consistent is good, because it shows recordkeepers are keeping pace [with the general consumer app market],” says Andrew Way, senior director of research for Corporate Insight. “The improvement in mobile app satisfaction, while relatively small, is also a statement to how much [retirement plan providers] have done to improve over the last few years.”

Way notes that consumers compare their digital experience not just to other retirement plan providers, but to apps they use every day, such as shopping sites like Amazon and entertainment ones like Disney and Netflix.

Satisfaction Scoring

The overall satisfaction with retirement plan digital experience, on a 1,000-point scale, increased 22 points from last year to 685, according to J.D. Power’s Retirement Plan Digital Experience Study.

The Troy, Michigan-based firm also found that mobile applications are getting significantly more use as compared with desktop. Nearly half (47%) of participants have downloaded their retirement plan’s mobile app, up from 35% in 2021, and 38% have used the mobile app in the past 30 days, up from 27% in 2021, according to the researchers. Meanwhile, satisfaction with retirement plan mobile apps clocked in at 728, a whopping 38 points higher than for mobile websites and 72 points higher than for desktop websites.

“Consistently, we’re finding that improved digital experiences are critical to strong financial performance,” Craig Martin, managing director and global head of wealth and lending intelligence at J.D. Power, said in a statement. “Participants who have a great digital experience vote with their dollars, with roughly double the amount of participants rolling in assets from other plans, and more than triple the amount saying they will keep their money with their current provider if their job situation were to change.”

While stronger for retirement providers, the mobile app result of 728 did lag the digital experience provided by wealth management (701), property and casualty insurance (702) and automotive (718), according to the research firm.

“The good news is that overall satisfaction with the retirement plan digital experience is up considerably this year, but when we compare those scores to similar customer-facing industries such as wealth management, property and casualty insurance and automotive, it’s clear that retirement plans still have a lot of opportunities to improve their digital offerings,” Martin said.

In J.D. Power’s study, the top five firms for overall digital experience were:

• Capital Group/American Funds (753)
• Charles Schwab (746)
• Bank of America (including Merrill) (715)
• Vanguard (708)
• Fidelity Investments (707)

The report measures customer satisfaction across four factors: information/content; navigation; speed; and visual appeal. The data came from 5,804 retirement plan participants who responded in May and June.

Mobile Rising

New York-based Corporate Insight, which combines a graded methodology of retirement plan offering with consumer surveying, has found recordkeepers keeping up with participant expectations on both websites and mobile. Web satisfaction has remained consistent in recent years, while mobile satisfaction has increased slightly, says research director Way.

Way notes that advancements in digital experience are not just a result of changes to technology, but a real business need for recordkeepers to draw and retain plan sponsor clients. That includes digital experience being a key focus area for requests for proposals to plan sponsors as investment fund lineups and other differentatiors have become more uniform across providers.

“We’ve heard over and over again that digital [offerings] have risen drastically in terms of the importance of RFPs,” Way says. “The quality of apps is winning and lossing business in recordkeeping.”

Plan participants most highly value access to account balance information, as well as “ease of finding information,” in terms of both desktop and mobile capabilities, according to Corporate Insight. But they are also seeking resources and offerings that go beyond their 401(k) to other areas of financial wellness and planning, according to Way.

“More and more people are going to their retirement plan site for retirement planning, not just their 401(k),” he says. “Now people are looking for resources around a mortgage or student loans or debt—and [recordkeeper] firms have done a better job of providing resources to manage a 401(k) in relation to a participant’s overall finances.”

Corporate Insight’s summary of its latest report found that, in terms of desktop use, Fidelity, TIAA and Empower ranked highest when taking into account both surveying and the firm’s grading system.

When it came to mobile, Fidelity, Empower and T. Rowe Price were the leaders, although exact scoring was not made available.

Corporate Insight included 18 recordkeepers in its surveying across 230 desktop and mobile attributes.