In our recent webinar, BehindLogin shared findings from their industry-first pensions app benchmarking report.
It’s the first time anyone’s properly lifted the lid on what members actually experience when they open their pension app. The results are both sobering and encouraging, as explained to us by BehindLogin CEO, Oliver Lane.
The best pension app scored just 49%
BehindLogin looked at 10 top Master Trust apps through the eyes of real members. They asked people to share their screens and walk through common tasks. Things like checking your pension value, looking at transactions, or trying to change contributions.
They scored each app on these criteria:
- Can you find what you need?
- Is it easy to navigate?
- Does the language make sense?
- Is it pleasant to use?
- Are there any clever innovations?
The maximum score in their final report was 1,000. The top performer scored 491.
Yes, the best pension app in the market scored less than half of the marks available. It sits in what BehindLogin calls the “meets expectations” category. Not bad. Not great. Just… fine.
Most pension apps are stuck in the middle
Most providers scored within a tight band. There’s very little separating the top performers from the middle of the pack. Pretty much everyone’s doing roughly the same things in roughly the same ways.
This might be OK if users were rating the apps against other pension apps. But they’re not. They’re rating them against everything else on their phone and in their digital life.
Banking apps score 800 while pensions barely hit 400
It’s not just Uber and Amazon who do apps well. The gap between pension apps and leading financial services is stark. While pension apps hover around 400-500 points, the best banking and investment apps score 800-900.
Ollie called out 3 examples of these:
- Monzo’s navigation. Despite offering hundreds of features, everything feels findable and logical. They group features by user needs, not internal product structures.
- PensionBee’s comms and copy. They explain complex concepts in plain English. And they have a multitude of ways to learn, from quizzes to videos.
- Crypto app Coinbase’s maturity and innovation. Their features include ‘learn and earn’, that educates and rewards users at the same time.
90% of app visits are just to check pension value
Ollie shared something that won’t surprise anyone who’s worked on a pension app. Around 90% of sessions involve the same simple task. Members open the app, check their pension value, maybe glance at recent transactions, then close it again.
Yet even this basic journey often frustrates people. Ollie showed Nest’s high-scoring journey as an example of how to do it well. Pension value at the top, clearly and prominently. A visual breakdown showing member contributions, employer contributions and tax relief. A straightforward transaction history.
No jargon. No unnecessary steps. Just the information people want, presented clearly.
Ten major app updates launched in just 3 months
Encouragingly, in the 3 months between the research and Ollie’s presentation, BehindLogin tracked 10 significant app updates across the providers studied. New features, design refreshes, improved calculators.
The pace of change is accelerating. Digital transformation programmes that started years ago are finally bearing fruit. Regulatory pressure around value for money and consumer duty is focusing minds. And AI is opening up new possibilities, particularly for member support.
Small improvements could make you a market leader
The clustering of scores creates opportunity. With most providers bunched together, relatively modest improvements could vault you up the rankings. You don’t need to rebuild everything – you need to fix the basics.
Start with your most-used journeys. Can members check their pension value without confusion? Is your language clear? Does the app work smoothly?
Then look at what other sectors do well. Not to copy blindly, but to understand what members expect from their digital experiences.
Finally, remember that mobile isn’t optional anymore. Ollie made this point forcefully. Mobile is becoming the primary channel for member engagement. Desktop-first thinking belongs in the past.
Pension apps finally have a way to measure success
This benchmarking feels significant because it makes member experience measurable and comparable. For years, we’ve talked about the gap between pension experiences and consumer expectations. Now we can quantify it. We can track progress. We can learn from each other.
The next 12 months could see real change. Any provider willing to invest in user experience could differentiate themselves. New entrants could disrupt the market. And you never know – members might actually start enjoying their pension interactions.
