What can plan sponsors do when adding or revamping a retirement plan that could make that plan more effective? Some tactics don't work well, although at first look they appear to be slam-dunks: Explaining things in detail for employees: great. Overloading them with documentation: Not so great. Many of them don't bother to read it anyway. Remember that people are loss-averse, so if you frame your materials to reflect how much they'll gain by saving, or how much they'll lose out on if they don't, it will be more influential. Point out, for instance, that they'll gain 6 percent (or however much the employer match is) by contributing enough to qualify—or let them know that if they fail to contribute enough to qualify, they'll "lose" that 6 percent. Remind them of things like the tax reduction they'll experience by contributing—point out how much of a gain that is when compared to failing to contribute. In addition to such tactics, however, there are specific actions you can take when implementing or changing a plan that will gain better results for you and for them. Here are five suggestions.