How Technology Changed Client Experience

The advisory business has grown on both the numbers of clients and the geographical reach. Digital advisors today are already playing an essential role in doing business. In finding advisors, investors usually do it through referrals, but also with the increase in doing internet searches and of course, the social media so that they will be able to establish a connection. It was also found out in a study that there are about 65% of the clients who do research for those potential advisors via social networks, and then 86% are using those networks to help them in their buying decisions.

In the event that clients are already becoming collaborators in their financial planning, some are calling it the “consumer revolution”. Today, investors are trained to expect efficiency, transparency, and accessibility via Fintech and social media. Thus, rather than having a relay of information from advisor to client, there is now limitless information on the internet along with the booming of client-focused technological innovation thereby enabling the client to exchange their ideas with his or her advisor.

According to a survey that was just recently conducted, the survey was able to deduce that there is an 88% of advisors who believe that their clients are more knowledgeable about the process of investing along with the available product solutions that what they from five years ago. The client’s need for data has become robust with nearly 49% of the advisor respondent reported that the information and research being asked by the clients are those which the firm does not routinely provide.

Those savvy advisors have been adjusting to this trend. That is, they are now providing interconnectivity to their client’s online dashboards by allowing the users to easily perform common personal finance tasks. So, when a client changes his or her goal, or when he sets up a new savings plan, the advisor is then notified and then pressed to reach out to the client to provide guidance regarding their decision. Therefore, it is essential that the advisor is attentive to the client, this is because even though the clients are now wielding more power, they may not know exactly what to do about it. Now with clients becoming more informed, the conversation between the advisor and the client is now reaching a new level of depth and strategy.

So, in order to be able to make the most of the changing landscape, it is but important to be able to think through your technology and how it can impact your client experience, that is by maintaining a personal contact with even more investor in accordance with their terms and to further on which will require the latest use of technology.

Another survey revealed that about 64% of the well-off investors are expecting that their financial management relationship is going to be digital in the future. There are even 65% who reported that they are planning to leave their advisor in the event that such an advisor cannot provide the investor with a tech-integrated experience.

The multiple points of contact are indeed imperative because limiting through the social media and online networking might seem to be distant, impersonal and unprofessional. For this reason, the demand of having more channels of communication is already rising, and with the increase of social media, it suggests that independent advisors will be able to benefit from it through the integration of a well-thought-out social strategy. There are about 2/3 of the advisors who will say that they are using social media to be able to interact with their clients. But of course, the difference in the investor’s preferences must also be taken into account, therefore, it is necessary to ask what they want and what they are expecting from you in terms of communication.

With investors also becoming as collaborators, the common and perhaps casual acts of video conference or tweeting is now paving their way into the financial planning set-up. The advisors now have an opportunity to show to the clients on the depth in relationship building and the industry knowledge. A recent survey even revealed that there are at least 43% of investors who are getting professional help are saying that they do not feel a long-term, and deep relationship with their advisors, and they also added that they do not get tailored attention.

There is indeed a gap between the supply and the demand for digital tools and the social media connections in the financial advising business. There is at least 75% of those advisors who say that clients are wanting more communication channels while there are only 62% of advisors who are using social media with the clients, and at least 54% of the advisors feel that their firm is performing enough to satisfy client’s expectations. The gap can, however, be addressed by increasing the points of connection and also with easing the path for the investors to find or interact with you. You may want to create an online onboarding workflow wherein the clients can just plug in the data and then create goals so that they will be able to get a jumpstart on their financial progress with you. There are many platforms for you to choose from in order to establish a meaningful connection with your clients.

There is also another platform that is more controversial, the platform is known as the digital advisor platform, or more commonly known as the “robo advisor”. This technology is sometimes adjudged as an advisor’s competition because this is an innovation which is putting too much emphasis on quick, and cheap advice. However, the advisor should not have the urge to reject the digital advice but instead, they can use it for them to be able to address an investor’s desire of getting efficient responses to their needs. There are even options like white-labeling, which is a platform that offers performance reporting and other sorts of benefits. Thus, opting to use a digital investment solution is not that bad, and can help with the efficiency in keeping smaller accounts profitable.