The upheaval in global capital markets has forced superannuation funds to overhaul how they communicate with members, according to Centre for Investor Education (CIE) managing director Frank Gullone.
"There can be no doubt trustees believe that they need to focus more on the needs of their members," Gullone told a recent CIE conference.
"From what they were saying at the conference, peer pressure among funds sometimes can divert attention away from what really matters and that is the specific needs of their respective membership bases."
Newly-appointed GESB head of communications Colin Neathercoat agreed and said that while providing information for members was important, it had to be a two-way process.
"It's absolutely key in the current environment that we make sure that we communicate with our members about the best option for them to navigate the waters," Neathercoat said.
"So at one level you communicate with your members, but equally as part of that is opening the channels of communication, where members can feed back to you what their needs are."
GESB recently took on a new marketing company, the Brand Agency, and the fund has plans to explore options to further involve its members.
"I've been in the role for eight weeks and the Brand Agency has been with us for two weeks. We're looking at the whole member relationship and planning on developing it into a two-way process. We want to keep members fully informed but we need to get connected and get feedback," Neathercoat said.
"Whether it's online surveys or meeting members at seminars, it's about keeping all those avenues open so that you can enter a dialogue."
Gullone said many funds were still focusing on the short-term rather than the long-term objectives of members, and more time should be spent finding out what members wanted from their fund and implementing strategies.
"The advent of rankings has led to many funds focusing on their short-term pecking order rather than long-term objectives of their members. If those short-term performance ratings were really the issue, then we would have seen a lot more members switching funds since the advent of choice," he said.
"The fact that hasn't happened suggests members are focused on the long term, and that should be reflected in the fund's strategic directions . for many funds this will mean setting transparent return targets that consistently deliver real value and returns. If they can deliver that and, at the same time, keep costs low, then they believe they will be achieving what most members want."
