Background: Previous RRC participant engagement studies have found cautionary messages were slightly more effective than encouraging ones. This was further explored in a recent RRC study to evaluate the actions of participants across one large plan. Based on a survey of over 1,500 participants with the Indiana Public Retirement System (INPRS), messages to engage included sentiments that were either congratulatory or cautionary based on projected retirement replacement ratios. The survey gauged whether participants opened the email and whether they clicked through to log into their account.Findings: The analysis found that emails with encouraging messages were more likely (39%) to be opened as opposed to 34% of cautionary emails. Among those who opened the email, those with an encouraging message were significantly more likely to log into their account (21% versus 12% for those given cautionary messages). The study found that encouraging messages had a 1.2x greater likelihood of open rate and 1.9x greater likelihood of login rate (contrary to cautionary messaging results).Bottom line: While our previous work found that cautionary messages resonated more in a theoretical setting, an encouraging message in a real-world setting proved to generate more engagement. This study highlights the need for varied and creative communications to connect with employees and encourage involvement.