The Commission for Financial Capability (CFFC) is planning a major shake-up for its Sorted website, aiming to build a more “personalised experience” for users.
In a request for proposal (RFP) lodged on the GETS government procurement site late in July, the CFFC called for tenders to reboot Sorted for the modern age and under a new brand.
“Much like Google became a verb and an extension of ourselves, Sorted needs to become part of daily life and provide a unique experience for each individual (data on users will mean we can serve relevant content),” the RFP says. “The new brand proposition is ‘I SEE’, which must be reflected in the new digital environment.”
David Boyle, CFFC head of investor education, told the recent Workplace Savings NZ conference in Wellington, Sorted would be “turned upside down” during the revamp.
While Sorted has been popular – attracting more than 100,000 unique users each month – Boyle said the personal finance help site could be “a maze” at times.
“We’re going to improve the navigation and front-end experience,” he told Investment News NZ. “It will be giving users a personalised way to look forward and see what their futures might look like based on various factors.
“It’s not robo-advice, but eventually it should lead to people making better decisions around financial products.”
Boyle said the CFFC would encourage users to store and update personal information on the new Sorted – or ‘I SEE’ – to provide better guidance around individual’s unique circumstances.
He said other firms, including financial services providers, would be able to embed the Sorted tools on their own websites.
“Everyone is working on tools like these but it would help consumers if we did the same things across the board,” Boyle said.
In its RFP, the CFFC says its broad range of financial calculators would need to be redeveloped for broader use.
“[These calculators], among some of the most used pages on Sorted, need to be rethought and reworked under the new brand proposition to enhance their utility for our customers,” the RFP says. “In addition, these tools will be required to be ‘unbundled’ going forward: they will need to be developed so that they can be placed in a variety of online environments, not just on sorted.org.nz (as widgets or APIs to sit on other sites).”
As well as a greater emphasis on visualisation tools, rather than numerical presentations, the CFFC wants to build “gamified, interactive features and creating a personalised experience for each user”.
The rebuild would also integrate the ‘KiwiSaver Fund Finder’ within the main “Sorted solution”, the RFP says.
One of the CFFC’s ultimate aims is to push Sorted, under its rebranded identity, out to a wider spectrum of the New Zealand population.
“The investment in Sorted needs to support improved outcomes with vulnerable groups with relatively low financial capability,” the RFP says. “To date, data suggests Sorted has fulfilled a self-service need with people who are already relatively capable.”
Bidders have until August 26 to lodge a proposal, with the winning firm(s) expected to start the Sorted reconstruction late in September.