(Darrell Ludowyke)
Empirics, the data specialist business which is part of the Link Group, has launched a new service for super funds and other organisations to help them better assess sentiment, problems and other information being discussed by their members and clients.
Empirics has been working on data from social media and other digital sources going back to 2012 for the new service, called MarketSuite Social. It has amassed about 40 billion digital media “mentions”.
Link Group provides super fund member administration for the vast majority of Australians, through its AAS and Superpartners’ businesses, which will gradually be integrated. Link announced recently it was taking a head lease on a new building in Melbourne, home of Superpartners, with an eye on future growth. AAS is based in Sydney.
Empirics already helps super funds better manage and capitalize on their own databases and digital contacts with members. For instance, if a member checks his or her account balance more than once within a week or so, odds are he or she is thinking about some sort of transaction, including moving funds. The business can also assist in the search for potential new members through various external database searches (as do some other firms such as Deloitte and KPMG).
Empirics said in a statement today (May 18) that: “The online insight and listening tool can extract information to ascertain details on discussion threads, influential authors and media coverage to gain insight into fund preference or even comparisons to self-managed super funds.
“MarketSuite Social data can be used to predict and influence how individuals engage across various stages of the customer’s decision-making life cycle. The data also enables organisations to understand and compare competitive positioning of brands and products in the online space.
“Empirics takes this one step further, by bringing in depth analysis and identifying the stages that individuals are at in the decision making process, before, during or after they’ve selected a fund’s product or service.”
Darrell Ludowyke said member engagement was a high priority for super funds. “The super industry is becoming increasingly competitive in Australia. Now, more than ever, funds need to better understand what members are saying about their brand online as well as better understand how they can influence that conversation. We have known for some time that funds are able to drive improved business outcomes and better customer experiences through the proper use of data. Social analytics can now be part of that.”
The banks and other big companies, such as retailers Coles and Woolworths and some telcos such as Telstra, have used their data and social media connections much more aggressively than the big super funds in the creation of new business opportunities and retention of existing customers.