AI-Powered Personalisation Combats Customer Disengagement in Financial Services

Sunday, 8 March 20268 min read1 views

Legal & General (L&G) is leveraging AI and behavioural science to enhance customer engagement, particularly in retirement planning. This strategy aims to transform customer apathy into confident decision-making through highly personalised communications.

What Happened

•Legal & General (L&G) is deploying AI-driven personalisation strategies.
•The initiative focuses on overcoming customer disengagement, termed the 'ostrich effect', in complex financial areas like retirement.
•This approach integrates behavioural science principles to tailor communications.
•The goal is to foster 'decision confidence' among customers.
•The strategy aims to make complex financial planning more accessible and relevant.
•The news was reported by Marketing Week on 5 March 2026.

Why It Matters for NZ Marketers

•NZ financial institutions face similar challenges with customer apathy towards long-term planning, particularly for retirement.
•Local banks and KiwiSaver providers can adopt AI-driven personalisation to improve member engagement and understanding.
•The 'ostrich effect' is prevalent in NZ, where complex financial products often lead to customer inaction.
•Enhanced personalisation can improve financial literacy and participation among New Zealanders.
•This model offers a blueprint for NZ marketers to make critical, often dry, information more digestible and actionable.
•It presents an opportunity to differentiate services in a competitive NZ financial market.

Strategic Implications

•Invest in AI capabilities to analyse customer data and segment audiences for hyper-personalisation.
•Integrate behavioural science insights into marketing strategies to nudge customers towards desired actions.
•Prioritise clear, relevant, and timely communication to build customer trust and confidence.
•Develop content strategies that simplify complex topics, making them less intimidating for the average consumer.
•Measure the impact of personalised communications on customer engagement, conversion, and retention metrics.
•Explore cross-industry applications for AI-driven personalisation beyond financial services, e.g., healthcare or utilities.

Future Trend Signals

•The increasing reliance on AI and machine learning for granular customer segmentation and content delivery.
•A growing emphasis on behavioural economics to design more effective marketing interventions.
•The shift from broad-stroke campaigns to individualised customer journeys across all touchpoints.
•Expect more brands to use AI to tackle 'difficult' or 'boring' customer engagement challenges.

Sources

L&G on using personalisation to tackle retirement’s ‘ostrich effect’ — Marketing Week

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Editorial note: This analysis is original, AI-assisted editorial content. All source material is attributed with links. No full articles are reproduced. Short excerpts are used under fair dealing principles.