(Pictured: Joanna Davison)

A survey of about 6,000 members of 30 big super funds – and 50 employers from 11 of those funds – has found an increased, and continued positive, level of engagement.

The survey, the sixth annual undertaking, is a joint initiative of the Fund Executives Association Ltd (FEAL), the Melbourne Business School and Customer Service Benchmarking Australia (CSBA).

For the participating funds, the results of the survey were analyzed at a workshop at the Melbourne Business School. The survey uses a “net promoter score survey” technique which benchmarks customer satisfaction for each fund’s comparison.

Joanna Davison, acting chief executive of FEAL, said that, in Australia, a positive net promoter score (NPS) was seen as a great result for any industry.

“On that basis, the results for the super funds involved in the survey were excellent, in that the overall NPS remained positive among members.”

Both commercial and not-for-profit super funds have been under the pump for several years from members looking to either set up their own SMSFs or seek out a different form of investment strategy, now being widely referred to as “outcomes oriented”, following the global financial crisis.

SuperRatings predicted recently that when all the numbers are in for 2013, it will be the first year ever that super fund membership, on average for the full range of large funds in the company’s database, will have declined.

Davison said that for super funds looking to measure and improve member satisfaction and retention, the survey was a great, cost-effective initiative.

“It has become the recognised industry benchmark and, as a result, a number of boards and chief executives now require a benchmarked NPS in their regular reporting.”