Simplicity Matters In Participant Website Design

Demonstrating the company’s latest enhancements to its participant web portal for PLANADVISER, Sharon Scanlon, head of customer experience, Retirement Plan Services, Lincoln Financial Group, suggested simplicity is perhaps the main goal.

“The updated web portal is built around our easy-to-navigate, mobile optimized website for participants,” she explains. “With new tools, enhanced features and a clean dashboard design, the upgraded online experience delivers intuitive functionality that makes it easy for participants to take action and to instantly see how those actions will impact their retirement outcomes.”

Similar to other firms, Lincoln says it is going all-in on implementing the principals of positive behavior finance by delivering more thoughtful digital experiences. The new website, according to the firm, “not only makes it easier for participants to increase their savings rate, but it also shows them how the money they’re saving will translate into income in retirement. “

During the demo, Scanlon suggested the online experience was developed to be mobile-optimized, allowing participants to intuitively navigate the website on any device. A clean dashboard design gives savers an overview of their current account balance, recent transactions, investments and contribution rate.

“The new retirement income module allows participants to plug in some basic information about their finances and see if they are on track to meet their retirement savings goals,” Scanlon observed. “Based on the information a participant provides, the tool provides an easy to understand snapshot of what a participant’s projected monthly income will be in retirement. It also shows if they are on track to hit their goal, if they should give their savings strategy a tune-up or if they are far from their goal and need to hit the accelerator on saving.”

These functionalities are presented through slide-rule visualization tools that allow participants to “play around and see what will happen if they make certain changes to their plan, such as moving the retirement date or boosting the level of salary deferral,” Scanlon said. “As we developed the new web experience, we did so with the participant’s point-of-view in mind.”

The new web experience is currently available for Lincoln clients, Scanlon observed. More information is available here.