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Every day, there’s an announcement about a new AI application that promises to revolutionize wealth management. They sound fantastic. Many are. They can help you run your practice more effectively and improve your life. But AI applications are only one piece of the client engagement puzzle. And they shouldn’t be your first stop for building digital engagement.
The foundation of digital engagement is automated reporting and multi-channel client communications. Automation is essential due to the frequency and customization required for successful digital client engagement. That poses the next question.
How often should you engage clients?
The most successful strategy is automated communication that clients engage with weekly. Every outreach should be branded and personalized. Layered on top of that, additional messages should deliver advisor-driven narratives. A monthly newsletter and sporadic or event-based communications, such as outlining market conditions, are two examples.
Using this combination, advisors may communicate with clients up to 150 times per year. You might think that’s too much. But those advisors have some of the happiest clients and the fastest-growing practices I’ve seen. Clients know the details of what's happening with their accounts, and they know the context.
What is effective client engagement?
Libby Greiwe, host of The Efficient Advisor podcast, told me that advisors put a lot of time into newsletters or wonderful YouTube videos, but open rates and views are terrible. No engagement. That’s because generic marketing with a general message virtually guarantees a low return on your efforts. Clients and consumers expect information specific to them.
Effective engagement isn’t about what you do. It’s about what your client does. Do they read or react to what you share? Client action determines engagement. If clients are not opening that email or viewing account information, you’re not engaging them. Your output must connect with clients to have an impact.
What gets a client’s attention?
Something very personal to the client gets their attention. If you answer the questions “What’s happening to me?” and “What’s changing for me?” then clients will engage.
Those questions are most acute when the market flashes red. It adds urgency and anxiety to those questions. If you’re not proactively reaching out during market turmoil, what happens? You get phone calls. "Hey, how's my account doing?" Or emails. "Oh my God, the market's off. What's happening?" Clients want to satisfy their concerns. They want to be comforted. Timely outreach with relevant information is the only way to do that.
What if you could stop the panic calls?
Proactive communication is critical during market turbulence. But it is even more important to communicate frequently before that. These automated, personalized client communications are like preventative medicine for panicked calls.
Automation is the only way
Even if you have a modest client base, automation is your only option. In both smooth and bumpy markets, automation takes care of extracting, personalizing, and delivering tailored information to clients. It is not feasible to communicate that frequently in a personalized manner without automation.
The results are impressive
My firm tracks 90% engagement rates with this type of comprehensive, consistent, automated outreach. Clients want to know that they are cared for and that everything will be fine.
With today's automation technology, this type of regularly tailored information can be relatively easy to disseminate. And, as we have seen from the millions of client communications we have delivered, it eliminates many of the panicked phone calls advisors typically receive.
Change is what attracts attention. Every day, your financial situation shifts slightly. Simple updates that focus on the big picture reconnect people to their money and their experience with their financial planner, reminding them of the value their advisor has provided.
John Prendergast is CEO and co-founder of Blueleaf, a leading all-in-one platform for RIAs and broker-dealers to deliver exceptional advisor and client experiences while simplifying operations. John also co-hosts The Augmented Advisor podcast, featuring industry leaders sharing tools and insights to succeed in a digital world.
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Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
