Customer story
How Chicory modernized their retirement benefits
When their PEO was changing preferred 401(k) providers, Chicory saw an opportunity to switch from a legacy recordkeeper to a more tech-forward and user-friendly option. With Betterment at Work, they found a solution that excited employees and grew engagement with their 401(k) benefit.
Client of Betterment, who is a family member of an employee of Betterment. Views may not be representative. See more reviews at G2.
Quick Facts
Chicory is a contextual commerce advertising platform that provides solutions for CPG brands and retailers to reach 123 million high-intent grocery shoppers each month.
Industry: AdTech
# of employees: 52
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Poor user experience
With their incumbent provider, user glitches made it frustrating to log in and caused executives to lose faith in the backing technology. -
Lack of investment clarity
After years with their provider, they never found a way to easily view, access, and adjust their fund allocations or performance over time. -
Unresponsive service
Getting in touch with a representative at their previous provider felt impossible, and questions often took weeks to answer.
Challenge
Yuni Baker-Saito founded Chicory in 2013 and, from early on, believed that building a team of great people was key to the AdTech firm’s success. He knew that offering a 401(k) was market standard, so he began by offering their PEO’s preferred solution when they had just five employees.
But when their PEO announced that they would be switching preferred providers, he saw this as an opportunity to find a 401(k) solution that would better serve their employees. After years of using frustrating, antiquated systems and dealing with lackluster, sometimes non-existent service, they looked for a more tech-forward solution that employees would love.
“With the incumbents there is an element of feeling like they make pulling out or transferring money difficult on purpose.” said Yuni.
Having been a Betterment retail user for many years, Yuni wanted to provide the user experience and service he’d come to expect from Betterment to his employees, as well as a solution that offered more transparency into the investments and performance.
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Saying goodbye to glitches
Yuni’s experience with his existing recordkeeper was frustrating. He’d try to log in and be asked to change his password on some pages, while on others he’d be let in without issue, for example.
“Our previous recordkeeper’s site was difficult to use and a little glitchy. And so that did two things: One, it was frustrating, and two, it also made me lose a little bit of faith in the technology behind the company. If I can't use the platform, I thought, can I access my money if I need to? And I think that's a nagging feeling that you just don't want to have when it comes to retirement savings.”
With Betterment at Work, he was able to provide a seamless cross-device experience to employees, including a mobile app. The modern, easy-to-use interface led to increased assurance. “I can trust this,” he said, “they have a good experience.” -
Investments that were clear and approachable
Relatedly, the clunky user experience with Chicory’s previous provider led to unease about the investments themselves. He questioned how accessible funds would be, should he or employees encounter unforeseen hardships, or what investments would make the most sense for their long-term goals.
Betterment at Work provided a sense of relief for Yuni, in that he felt he could clearly view his retirement investments and could offer this to his employees too.
“I think a lot of people are more financially literate these days, but there’s still a bit of opaqueness around 401(k)s. And so with Betterment at Work, it takes a customer through, step by step, helping them to understand. As a business owner I believe that’s really helpful for my employees.
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On-demand service when needed
The benefits extended far beyond the tech that Betterment offered. Betterment at Work coupled strong technology and user experience with a positive customer service experience for both the plan sponsor and their participants. This, again, added to the trust that led Yuni to be so confident in his choice to make the switch.
“I don’t want my retirement to be locked up by a company that doesn't respond to me for weeks at a time,” he said. “That was the feeling.”
And this was validated in their onboarding process. Yuni expressed that Chicory had a smooth transition where they felt supported every step of the way. “Now if my employees need to, I know they can get in touch with someone at Betterment at Work. With our previous provider, it took us weeks to get in touch with a real person.” -
A solution that aligned with employee values
As a company, Chicory values providing the best tools and benefits to their employees. “Our whole management philosophy is around putting people first. We hire good, smart people and give them the resources, the safety, the tools, and the space to do their jobs,” said Yuni. “We really put people first.”
And a great retirement benefit was at the top of the list. It was both a market standard benefit that helped them compete for talent, but also an important benefit to provide for their employees’ overall well-being.
Not only was their 401(k) benefit well-received, but response to Betterment at Work was positive across the board. “We’ve had people who, when we switched, told us, I’m a Betterment retail customer. This is awesome.” And the employees who were new to Betterment have responded positively too. “It's been a benefit that's been well received.”
“The cost to the company is minimal,” he continued, “and the value to the employees is high.”
“It’s refreshing to have a 401(k) provider that’s not an incumbent. Being able to offer something to our employees that is more transparent and is more user-friendly feels good.”
Yuni Baker-Saito,
CEO at Chicory
CEO at Chicory
Client of Betterment, who is a family member of an employee of Betterment. Views may not be representative. See more reviews at G2.
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Ease of use
Chicory found a solution with Betterment at Work that was easy to use and made them feel more confident that their retirement savings were in good hands. -
Increased satisfaction
With Betterment at Work, Chicory says they went from a hands-off experience to proactive service and communication—for the plan sponsor and their employees. -
The lack of downsides
When asked about upsides of using Betterment at Work as their 401(k) provider, Yuni simply answered, “the lack of downsides!”