Individual survey results (Research and evaluation reports)

Document summary: Documents findings from research with members of the public. The research looks at the awareness and understanding of KiwiSaver amongst the general public and the extent to which KiwiSaver communications activities have assisted individuals to make informed decisions about membership.

Document content:

Executive summary

Background and objectives

This report forms one part of an overall evaluation of the effectiveness of Inland Revenue's KiwiSaver communications campaign. The overall campaign evaluation objectives are:

To assess the awareness, understanding and reactions to KiwiSaver amongst the target audiences (within the context of Inland Revenue's external communications)
To assess the extent to which Inland Revenue external communications assisted target audiences to prepare for the KiwiSaver introduction and thereby make informed choices, and
To assess whether communications contributed towards participation.

This report examines each of these objectives in relation to members of the public, with a particular focus on those who have changed or started jobs since the launch of KiwiSaver.

Methodology

715 face-to-face interviews were conducted with individuals nationwide between 27 October and 15 January 2007. Most fieldwork (90%) was conducted in November and December 2007. The survey included 612 interviews with the general public and a separate booster of 103 people who had started a new job or changed job since the launch of KiwiSaver. The latter group is considered an important subgroup for KiwiSaver communications. The survey is representative of all 18 to 65 year olds living in New Zealand.

Conclusions and key findings

Background to the campaign

The communication campaign operates in an environment where the public are largely positive or have mixed feelings about KiwiSaver (of those who had heard of KiwiSaver, 52% were positive and 39% held mixed feelings about KiwiSaver, with 6% feeling negative and 3% unsure).

Although only a small proportion of the public have joined KiwiSaver (15% of our sample had joined), there is a notable proportion that have good intentions of joining in the next 12 months.

Thirty seven percent of non-members who were aware of KiwiSaver rated their likelihood of joining within the next year six or greater out of ten. Eighteen percent gave a high chance of joining (9 or 10 out of 10).

Motivations and barriers to KiwiSaver membership

Around two-thirds (63%) of KiwiSaver members say they joined for the purposes of securing an income for retirement.

The incentives offered by the government and employer contributions, as well as specific aspects of the initiative's design were motivators for some members. The incentives were spontaneously mentioned as being important by just under a third of members (31%) and 16% spontaneously mentioned positive features of the design of the scheme (such as taking money out of their pay packet) as being important.

The motivations described by potential KiwiSaver members (i.e. those who were thinking about joining) were similar, although there was a slightly greater emphasis on savings achieved through KiwiSaver being good for their family or for the purchase of a home.

Using KiwiSaver as a deposit towards a first home or towards family savings was more important for younger and lower income respondents, as well as Maori and Pacific respondents.

Tax credits and the $1,000 kick-start were more important for older respondents, New Zealand European respondents and those with a higher income, or those who are more pro-active financially (those who are pro-active with their finances were identified through a segmentation analysis described below).

Non-members mentioned a wide range of barriers to participating in KiwiSaver. The most common responses were:

Affordability (mentioned by 24% of all non-members)
Already having an existing superannuation scheme (19%)¹
Waiting to see how the KiwiSaver initiative establishes itself, or concerns about the sustainability of the scheme were mentioned by 14%.

Those with a higher income and those aged over 30 were more likely to mention having an existing superannuation scheme as a barrier. Those under 30 were more likely to mention disliking characteristics of the scheme as a barrier. Lower income groups and the unemployed were more likely to mention affordability issues.

Awareness of KiwiSaver

Almost all (96%) of the target audience have heard of KiwiSaver. While still high, awareness of KiwiSaver is lower among:

Pacific peoples (89% compared to 98% of New Zealand Europeans)
Those not employed (92% compared to an average of 96%), and
Those earning an annual income of under $50,000 (94% compared to 99% of those earning over $50,000).

Awareness of the Inland Revenue communication campaign

At least one element of the Inland Revenue advertising was recognised by 90% of all 18-65 year olds surveyed. The advertising was particularly well recognised within the younger population (94% of all those under 40 who were aware of KiwiSaver recognised the advertising).

When advertising awareness is combined with awareness of the employee information packs or the Inland Revenue KiwiSaver information on websites, awareness of the overall KiwiSaver communication campaign increases to 95% of all 18-65 year olds. The only variations within the population were that those aged 50-65 and those who were not employed were slightly less likely to be aware of the campaign.

Awareness of other communication sources

The Sorted campaign was also widely recognised (77% of 18-65 year olds were aware of the campaign). There is an obvious buzz around KiwiSaver - 66% of 18-65 year old respondents were aware of general media commentary on the subject and 64% had heard about KiwiSaver from friends, family or workmates. Other sources of information on KiwiSaver included employers (45% of 18-65 year olds), default scheme providers (28%), and non-default scheme providers (14%).

How respondents rated the Inland Revenue campaign

Almost two thirds (62%) of those aware of the advertising said they felt the advertising was speaking to someone a lot like them or a little like them. Those who have joined, or are thinking about joining, KiwiSaver were more likely to say this. These people appear to be more predisposed towards KiwiSaver topic matter in general. Employees (rather than self-employed or not employed), males in their 30s and 40s, and Maori and Pacific respondents were also more likely to say the advertising was relevant to them.

Eighty percent of respondents either liked the advertising a lot or a little. Those who have joined, or are thinking about joining, KiwiSaver were slightly more likely to like the advertising, although the difference between them and the rest of the population was not substantial.

Fifty seven percent of respondents agreed that the advertising came at the right time for them. Those who have joined, or are thinking about joining, KiwiSaver were slightly more likely to agree the advertising came at the right time. Other groups that were more likely to agree that the advertising came at the right time to help them think about KiwiSaver included employees (rather than self-employed or not employed), Pacific respondents, and younger respondents.

Seventy nine percent agreed that the employee information pack was straightforward and easy to understand. Those with a higher income, New Zealand European respondents, employees or the self-employed were more likely to rate the pack as easy to understand.

Forty five percent of those who were aware of the employee information pack said it helped them make a decision about KiwiSaver, and 52% said it did not (with 3% saying they were not sure). The pack was more useful for those who read it more thoroughly - almost two thirds (62%) of those who had read most or all of the pack said it helped them make a decision about KiwiSaver (compared to 38% of those who had only read some of it and 27% of those who had glanced at it).

What messages did people take from the advertising?

People generally identified one of two general messages about KiwiSaver from the advertising: either 'the advertising encouraged New Zealander's to join KiwiSaver' (43%) or that the advertising emphasised 'the importance of saving for the future or retirement' (43%). When prompted, 70% agreed that the advertising made them realise that 'KiwiSaver will become part of everyday working life'.

The most common message taken from the Sorted advertising was 'the need to save for the future and retirement' or 'how to manage money' (55% of those aware of Sorted gave answers in these categories).

What was the most useful information source?

From a list of all possible sources, friends, family and workmates were rated as useful by the most people (28% of those who were aware of KiwiSaver through at least one information source said friends, family and workmates were among the most useful sources).

Inland Revenue sources feature strongly in the most useful sources. In total, 35% of those who were aware of KiwiSaver mentioned at least one of the following three Inland Revenue sources as being the most useful for them:

18% said the Inland Revenue advertising was among the most useful sources
16% mentioned the employee information pack, and
6% mentioned the Inland Revenue web page or www.kiwisaver.govt.nz

Did people feel informed?

Two thirds of respondents (66%) said that they felt they had been provided with enough information to make a decision on KiwiSaver, 31% said they had not and 3% were not sure.

KiwiSaver members were more likely to feel informed. Those who were thinking about joining KiwiSaver were no more likely than average to feel informed about KiwiSaver.
People with financial resources were more likely to feel informed. Those with a higher income, home owners (rather than renters), and those with an existing work-based retirement scheme were all more likely than average to feel informed. Those identifying as New Zealand European were more likely to feel informed (compared to Maori and Pacific), as were those aged 40-65 and employees (rather than the self-employed or those not employed).
Interestingly, negative feelings about KiwiSaver itself did not impact upon the chances of feeling informed. Those who were positive were no more likely than those who were negative to feel informed. However, those who had mixed feelings (around 40% of those aware of KiwiSaver) were less likely to feel informed perhaps because they had not made their minds up about KiwiSaver and were consequently less responsive to KiwiSaver information.

The KiwiSaver advertising raised awareness but its role is not necessarily linked to informing people about the details of KiwiSaver (66% of those who were aware of the Inland Revenue advertising felt informed compared to 64% of those who were not aware of the advertising). Other communication strands are linked to the degree to which people feel informed. Those who are aware of the employee information pack or who were aware of KiwiSaver through the Inland Revenue website or the KiwiSaver website were more likely to feel informed (79% of those aware of the pack felt informed and 82% of those aware of the Inland Revenue or KiwiSaver website felt informed). This suggests that the pack and website have important roles in making people feel informed about KiwiSaver.

Knowledge levels around KiwiSaver

Respondents were given a list of incentives and a list of key aspects involved in KiwiSaver membership and asked if they were aware of each item on the list.

In terms of incentives, awareness was highest for the $1,000 kick start and employer contributions, and lowest for the potential first home subsidy and government payments for scheme provider fees.
In terms of key aspects of KiwiSaver, levels of knowledge were highest for the ability to opt in or out and the fact that savings are locked in until 65. Fewer respondents were aware of KiwiSaver options for the self-employed or the unemployed.

All of the same relationships described in the previous section (where we examined how well informed different groups felt about KiwiSaver) existed for the knowledge statements. In other words, groups that felt more informed also had a higher level of knowledge about KiwiSaver.

Some specific points of interest are that renters (rather than home owners) were less knowledgeable about KiwiSaver incentives. This included lower knowledge about potential home subsidies and savings being used as a first home deposit. However, those renters who intend to buy a home in the next five years were more knowledgeable than other renters about these incentives.

Not surprisingly, those who were self-employed were more likely than average to know that the self-employed can opt in to KiwiSaver and can decide how much to contribute. However, those who were not employed were actually less aware than average about their options under KiwiSaver (27% of those not employed knew they could join KiwiSaver and only 21% knew they could decide how much to contribute).

Knowledge levels among job changers (those who had started a new job or had changed jobs since the launch of KiwiSaver) did not differ much from the general population, this is despite the fact that there is a relatively high proportion of KiwiSaver members in this group (and KiwiSaver members are generally more knowledgeable).

It is interesting that job changers were not significantly more likely to be aware of automatic enrolment. Knowledge about automatic enrolment is actually below average for job changers who are not automatically enrolled.

Overall conclusion

The Inland Revenue campaign has reached almost all of those within the target audience. The advertising and communication were particularly well recognised by the younger population. It should be noted that the campaign has operated in a largely favourable media environment - there is a lot of buzz around KiwiSaver and public opinion of the initiative is mostly positive or mixed.

The advertising campaign was well received by the public with very high likeability scores and high scores for relevance and timeliness. The campaign has communicated its intended messages to most people.

Whereas the advertising was central to raising awareness, the employee information pack and Inland Revenue information on websites were valuable resources used to inform people about the details of KiwiSaver. Inland Revenue sources, as well as communication with friends, family and workmates, were found to be useful for people making decisions about KiwiSaver.

Some of the KiwiSaver incentives were well known by the public, while others were less well known, such as the potential first home subsidy and government payments for scheme provider fees.

Although the majority of the population have a reasonable understanding of how KiwiSaver works, some groups such as those on lower income, those who are not employed, and Maori and Pacific peoples, were generally less knowledgeable about KiwiSaver compared to the rest of the population.

It was expected that knowledge about KiwiSaver would be higher for those who had started a new job or changed jobs recently (because they were more likely to encounter KiwiSaver). However, this proved not to be the case. Many were unaware of the obligation on employers to automatically enrol new (eligible) employees.

If the aim is to increase take up of KiwiSaver, then the focus of communication should now provide more detailed information around the key benefits of KiwiSaver. An increased focus on targeted communication aimed at particular groups should be considered because the motivations and barriers to joining are different for different groups. For example, potential home owners could be made more aware of the options for using KiwiSaver towards a deposit. Wealthier individuals often say they will not join KiwiSaver because they have an existing superannuation scheme - focused communication about how KiwiSaver impacts existing schemes may redress this issue for some. Those entering the job market could be made more aware about how KiwiSaver will affect them.

It is possible that an increased focus on targeting those who are less financially literate will increase take up because many within these groups are responsive to the idea of KiwiSaver but are not fully aware of the benefits - using KiwiSaver for family savings or to save towards a home deposit is attractive for these groups. Further review of the process and communication surrounding automatic enrolment should also act to increase membership among younger and lower income groups. Ideally, awareness of the benefits of KiwiSaver should be high across all groups of the population regardless of background or level of financial literacy.

¹ Although people with existing superannuation schemes can join KiwiSaver this was still a perceived barrier for some.

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