increase in digital events registration compared to in-person
increase in digital event attendance compared to in-person
greater YoY conference registration
Products: ON24 Webcast Elite, ON24 Engagement Hub
Use cases: Member enrollment, partner enablement
Industry: Financial services
Number of employees: 1,001-2,500
UniSuper is one of Australia’s largest superannuation funds, and is run solely for the benefit of its members. UniSuper currently invests around $100 billion on behalf of more than 450,000 members.
One of UniSuper’s key objectives is to help its members manage their own super accounts. A superannuation account is similar to a 401K in America.
Through research and years of experience, UniSuper knows that member education leads to higher engagement and member retention, advocacy and satisfaction. Education as a service offering is a high priority. Education about superannuation, financial wellbeing and managing finances is also beneficial to members as it leads to better decision making, planning and retirement outcomes.
Kathleen joined UniSuper as an event manager in January 2020 with the intention of managing in-person educational, executive and client events throughout the country. She delivered one in-person client roadshow before Australia went into lockdown.
“I joined UniSuper eight weeks before lockdown one started. I had never heard of ON24 platform. I’d never produced a webcast in my life,” said Kathleen.
As the sole event manager for the company, she needed to find a way to continue hosting events and connecting with her different audiences. Digital events and webinars were the obvious choice, but Kathleen had never produced or hosted a webinar before, so she knew she needed a webinar platform that was user friendly for both her and UniSuper’s members.
She spent the first week of Australia’s lockdown familiarizing herself with the ON24 Platform and completing all the training modules to successfully produce and deliver her first webinar.
“Members can search for live and on-demand content as well as learn about upcoming events that may be of interest to them.”
Kathleen Ayris,
Event Manager at UniSuper
With ON24, Kathleen quickly became a virtual-event expert. Using the robust engagement data generated by the platform, she was able to identify her four main audience targets, and the types events that would most effectively help the company connect with those audiences.
• Members: UniSuper provides member education seminars targeting different life stages and knowledge levels.
These seminars are designed to support members with information ranging from the basics of investing a super to understanding pensions.
• Employers and B2B Colleagues: Occasionally UniSuper invites employers and B2B colleagues to bespoke events delivering customised content relevant to them.
• Advice Events: One of the many services UniSuper provides for its members is financial advice. Clients are invited to exclusive webinars on topics such as investment markets and estate planning both showcasing UniSuper’s talent and providing exclusive opportunities for members to access topical insights and education.
• Prospects and Acquisitions: UniSuper recently opened its doors to members outside of the higher education and research sectors. As the company looks to grow its member base, webinars and virtual events will be used to deepen engagement with prospective members.
With the various audience segments and types of events UniSuper hosts, Kathleen leverages ON24’s webinar console templates to successfully host hundreds of events per year. “This platform is just so robust and reliable. It never breaks, the modules are user friendly and it allows enough customization to reflect your brand professionally,” said Kathleen.
Kathleen worked with her colleagues to create an internal request tool for webcasts that allows efficient advance planning of the educational event calendar. All of her materials are organized by topic, so she can easily add pre and post-event communications, slides and feedback forms that are relevant to each event topic.
With ON24’s customization capabilities, Kathleen can create webinar console templates featuring UniSuper’s custom branding that can then be cloned and modified for each individual event. She also employs surveys for member feedback and calls-to-action within the webinar console to encourage members to book one-on-one appointments with UniSuper representatives.
With so many events and tons of useful content, UniSuper decided to use ON24 Engagement Hub as a resource library. “We use the Engagement Hub as a one-stop-shop for all our content,” said Kathleen. “Members can search for live and on-demand content as well as learn about upcoming events that may be of interest to them.”
For Kathleen and UniSuper, the benefits of virtual events are clear. Not only are virtual events more flexible for participants, but they are also infinitely scalable. Another benefit UniSuper realized was that virtual events provided a level of anonymity for sensitive topics like workforce planning and redundancies. Members could attend events and get help and support with stressful financial situations without having to be in a room with colleagues.
“This platform is just so robust and reliable. It never breaks, the modules are user friendly and it allows enough customization to reflect your brand professionally.”
Kathleen Ayris
Event Manager at UniSuper
