Designing Targeted Support Final Report - Flipbook - Page 10
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Results
Targeted Support Increases Investing
All forms of Targeted Support increased the amount participants allocated to investments relative to the
control group. In the control group, the average allocation to investments was £6,650 of the £10,000
available. Under any form of recommendation, this rose to at least £8,100 – an increase of approximately
22%. The increase was observed across all treatment groups, confirming that providing any form of calibrated
recommendation – whether based on demographics alone or on attitudinal characteristics – positively shifts
investment attitudes.
Attitudinal Targeted Support Outperforms Demographics Alone
While demographics-based Targeted Support was effective, attitudinal Targeted Support delivered
substantially larger effects. The demographics-only treatment increased the average investment allocation
by approximately 18% (£1,200) compared with the control group. The attitudinal Targeted Support
treatments provided a greater uplift than demographics alone. The return expectations treatment produced
the largest increase of 26% (£1750) over the control group as a whole, followed by UK preference at 24%
(£1550) and risk tolerance at 21% (£1400).
The UK Preference Effect
The single most striking finding concerns individuals with a preference for UK-based investments. The Phase
1 survey established that a preference for keeping money in the UK is the strongest attitudinal predictor of
not investing: this preference represents a major barrier to investing.
The Phase 2 experiment showed that Targeted Support addressing this preference
is remarkably effective at overcoming that barrier. Individuals with a UK home bias
who received a UK-preference-tailored recommendation invested 47% more than
individuals with the same preference in the control group (£7,450, compared with
£5,050). This highlights the potential for Targeted Support to engage individuals
with strong preferences and suggests that aligning recommendations with those
preferences can help increase participation in investing.
The effects of the other attitudinal treatments were also substantial when examined by subgroup. Among
those with optimistic return expectations, Targeted Support based on return beliefs increased investment by
30% compared with the control group. Among those with low risk tolerance, risk-based Targeted Support
increased investment by 29%.
Our results in general suggest that individuals might be encouraged to begin their investing journey through
Targeted Support recommendations. In the case of those with a preference for investing in the UK,
accommodating consumer preference through recommending UK-centric diversified investing could be a
first step towards more diversified investing, helping savers become investors. Existing research suggests that
many savers feel they must become investment experts before making an initial investment. Research has
also documented the choice paralysis consumers often feel during an investment sales journey. This research
shows that designing Targeted Support to take account of attitudinal traits can shift consumer behaviour.
This is a first step, from which firms can build and increase consumer awareness of important investing
April 2026
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