Less digitally-included people feel left behind. And the people who say they’re here to help may be making matters worse

The Nobody in the Dark campaign led by Quids in!, the Good Things Foundation and Mastercard during the pandemic responded to how people on low incomes felt left behind. Though they were often using Facebook or WhatsApp, their digital connections were limited. We aimed to show them where to look for support and guidance to unlock hundreds of pounds of savings and untapped income, from finding voucher codes to using benefits calculators.

Poorly developed digital communications across the public and third sectors, however, are making the problem worse. Misunderstanding risk and the cultural expectations of the target audience lead to outcomes like ‘the computer says ‘no’ or low engagement to the point where the exercise appears to have little value for money.

I’ve spent over ten years pondering the conundrum of linking low digital consumers to electronic communications. It’s one of the most pressing challenges for anyone involved in social change. The poverty premium is compounded by a lack of consumer power exacerbated by poor communications from those with the knowledge to share. For people who feel left in the dark, how do we switch the lights on?

The Quids in! Readers Club is a money email service for people on low incomes. Think MoneySavingExpert for people with weaker literacy or English as a second language, signposting benefits calculators over comparison sites for credit cards. It reaches over 30,000 households, many in partnership with social landlords who licence content to send out themselves to their tenants. We’ve learnt a thing or two about quality engagement. 

Here are our top ten tips.

1. Personalise Content

Personalised greetings deliver six-time higher engagement rates, according to Experian. Tailor content to the recipient, using segmentation to match articles to identified groups or readers who have shown interest before. Decent email platforms have methods for doing this and it’s important to capture as much about individuals as possible like location, employment or family status, for instance, when they sign up or become a customer.

2. Not Valued = No Value

If the reader does not feel they’ve received something worth getting, it’s of no value to them nor to the sender. Always provide practical, actionable advice. Content that fights their corner, provides the ‘inside track’, offers discounts and savings, and shows simple ways to get ahead, work best.

3. Speak Clearly… But Never Down

This is particularly important to Quids in! readers, ie, social tenants and claimants. We cannot assume high levels of literacy or English as a first language. Keep it light without being patronising, avoid jargon, and keep messages straightforward and easy to understand. Stories of readers who took action that paid off encourages engagement

4. Mobile-ise

Just over half of Quids in! readers open our Readers Club emails on a mobile. Emails must be easy to read on a smartphone. This includes keeping content bright, legible and bold, so clear even on a small (or cracked) screens

5. Confidence in Confidentiality

GDPR, or not understanding the law, has allowed essential communications about wellbeing to be withheld from people in hardship. Risk managers Quids in! works with have agreed licensed information can be shared with tenants because (1) no data changes hands, and (2) there a legitimate business interest is served when a landlord shares money tips and signposts support. Flaunting data protection law, especially GDPR, can trigger crippling fines, but the principles are less complex than people believe. Of course, consent is essential, but this can be collected as soon as customers provide an email, alongside an assurance their data is hack-proof. See our template Legitimate Interest Assessment form here.

6. Don’t Call It ‘Clickbait’…

The Subject line is for making email content seem unmissable. OptinMonster reckons 47 per cent of email recipients open emails based on the subject line alone. Always monitor open rates and compare different email campaigns to see which ones do best. The same goes for content links. Analytics data for direct subscribers to the Quids in! Readers Club finds anything that mentions Universal Credit gets a lot of traffic… A a super-personal subject line on a recent email I sent to professionals increased open rates from an industry standard 21-ish per cent to over 55 per cent.

7. Trust Me, I’m An Expert

People want information they can depend on. They trust their landlord but maybe they don’t want money advice from someone collecting money from them. Our most successful partnership is with Aster Group, who licence and co-brand Quids in! Readers Club emails to send to their tenants. Quids in! offers independence but also the strange engagement consumers save for glossy magazines and celebrities. Our 2023 cost-of-living survey revealed just 26 per cent would know where to turn if money became an issue. A minuscule number said they’d want to speak to their landlord but that survey achieved huge engagement with Aster tenants, willing to share their feelings with Quids in!

8. Picture This

Images, infographics and videos make content more engaging. Done well, these can convey information quicker than a page of text, and appeal to people with weaker literacy or where English is a second language. Talking of ESOL, digital comms provide a growing range of ways to incorporate translation

9. Click Here

Encourage recipients to take actions like requesting further information, downloading materials, or attending events. Unique links can be monitored to see which appeal most to readers. According to WordStream, emails with a single call-to-action increased clicks by 371 per cent. 

10. This or That?

A/B testing is about sending thousands of people the same emails with one difference, to test which works best. The Quids in! Readers Club once sent one version with negative headlines, another with positive ones. We were (pleasantly) surprised to find click-through rates were higher from upbeat stories. The goal is to maximise engagement and value for money, right? Ask readers what they want and continuously monitor what works to make content as engaging as possible. Email platforms provide masses of analytics – data that shows what works.

These tips, in the context of promoting tenants’ financial wellbeing, can ensure maximum impact from digital communications. Quids In!’s partnerships with landlords is all about proving and continuously improving the difference we make. Content from the Quids in! Readers Club is available for landlords and other stakeholders to licence – more here. Another cost of living survey will follow later this year and we’ll have further data on the needs of readers and the changes they made thanks to content they received.

Image: Markara / Shutterstock