Building an advisory client database from the mass market
To keep up with today’s consumer in these ever-changing times, the wealth management industry needs quite a technology upgrade.
Human life applications have reshaped our lives, in particular the constant connection we have to information and how we interact with businesses and other people.
Today we are finding ourselves more-and-more in a position whereby financial advice is needing to be transformed and delivered the same way today’s consumers interact - via online life apps.
Advisory clients crave easy-to-use tech
Wealth advisers are yet to crack the mass market, there’s been a lack of tech innovation available to both advisers and consumers.
The Australian mass-affluent market is sized at around 3.3m, they have between $500,000-$2m+ in superannuation assets. The advisory industry has largely failed to service this market due to high servicing costs.
Over 39% of the mass-affluent market have a financial adviser and 19% are considering one. They are desperate to access financial advice in a cost-effective way. They also want smartphone access to their portfolio balances, goals, savings and tax reporting.
Robo advisors are on the rise
Robo-advisory services are on an increase due to demand from this mass-affluent market. 62.8% of wealth managers agree that the traditional wealth manager will begin to lose market share over the next 12 months to online digital services.
With major institutions extricated from wealth, small-to-mid-tier licensees and self-licensed advisory models are on the rise. We also see those incumbent financial institutions, targeting the wealthy, looking to introduce purely digital wealth platforms designed for the mass market. Over the coming years, global tech companies are expected to enter the market.
Research highlights the industry’s need for a complementary offering, a hybrid of human and digital financial advice, however, it needs to be served at a lower cost.
Solving the cost-inefficiency problem and offering services at scale, combined with an engaging client experience, is the conundrum this industry faces. The only way to solve this is via innovative technology.
Wealth advisory is a changing landscape, traditional advice offerings need to leverage tech in order to stay relevant and ahead of emerging players. The industry’s future will be in not automating its advisory services.
How do you build a financial advisory business from the mass-affluent consumer market?
The mass-affluent consumer has a higher propensity to engage with a financial provider over social media, and new data shows that more consumers are obtaining investment tips over social media and blogs.
Here are our top 5 tips to engage prospective consumers via social:
- Reveal yourself - clients like to know who their adviser is, who is the person they have a relationship with. Behind the scenes posts can help them to connect with you, your team, and your brand.
- Educate & enlighten - teach your followers, provide information that helps your clients, deliver them with relevant contextual content via video, blogs, or infographics.
- Become an expert - provide information and content that positions you as a thought leader. People are attracted to those that are the master of their field.
- Share content - share and component on other interesting content and posts, this helps build your shares and likes.
- Sell your services - as a small portion of your posts, you should also promote your services, webinars, or events.
Your social strategy must also provide a call to action. a.i.’s interactive discovery is a useful tool that can be linked to your website or social media. It provides an easy-to-follow four-step process that will help your prospects identify their goals, financial circumstances, and money behaviours, with an easy follow-up to book an appointment. This can help you generate leads more easily.
The value of advice will be much higher to your clients
Once you’ve generated leads, your advice experience must keep your prospective client engaged and wanting to pursue the advice process with you.
If your advice process is lengthy, manual, paper-based, and uninspiring, there’s a chance that they will detract from the process and be disengaged.
A redefined AdviceTech value proposition is what will help you to attract more prospects and clearly articulate and demonstrate the value of your advice in a way they will understand.
Improving this standard of advice and creating lasting client relationships is the key to retention, especially when an automated online option could be an alternative solution to their problem.
Financial planning delivered more efficiently and cost-effectively via hassle-free technological advancements, is set to have a substantially positive impact on the socio-economic wellbeing of many consumers - if done correctly.
The other positive net effect is on an advisory business’s bottom line. Less time and cost spent on admin means more time for generating new business and solidifying client relationships.
Human-centred financial planning in the palm of their hand
What does this new-world AdviceTech offering look like?
Everyone is on their smartphone digesting content natively, so providing clients with a non-digital SoA and no ability to interact with their goal & advice tracking is a barrier to success. Consumer expectations have elevated toward a fast and seamless client advice experience.
Today, 80% of Australians say they prefer to check account balances, pay bills, or transfer money digitally.
What will keep this highly sought-after mass-affluent market loyal? Increasingly, the answer revolves around technology. 69% stated they want the latest technology and it’s an important factor in choosing a financial product. Covid has also sped things up with the wider adoption of technology, which otherwise would have taken years.
Give advisory clients the same user experience as modern online banking
Financial advice needs to be delivered similarly to that of banking, a seamless online experience that’s accessible anytime.
Clients want access to their own personalised digital financial plan. A plan that is live, driven by bank account and investment data. A digital map that shows how they’re tracking in relation to their goals, their investment balances, and cash flow, with notifications that tell them when they’re heading off track.
They don’t just want a digital experience, they want it to go hand-in-hand with the ability to interact with a real person for at least some of their wealth management needs.
Ultimately, consumers want an easy, on-demand, experience that’s affordable, but can talk to someone when things get hard, such as finding a solution to a specific problem or understanding their financial position and life goals.
Establishing trust and showing value to your clients is key from the first step. a.i. ‘s WealthMap is a tech tool that supports advisers by enabling them to model their client's financials, goals, advice strategies, and stress tests as a client-facing experience, demonstrating how their advice can put their clients in a better position in relation to their goal achievability. Whether it’s buying their first home, that boat they’ve always dreamed of or retiring with enough.
It’s designed to be a collaboration process, one that’s transparent and meets the license holders' compliance obligations.
This type of digital-first, client-centric experience gives advisory businesses the edge they need to retain clients and keep ahead of tech companies that are expanding into financial service markets.
Your advisory clients are more likely to stick to their goals
The easier your clients can absorb your financial advice via digital and human interaction, mixed with how you can empower them to take control over their spending and saving (keeping their eye towards their life goals), means they are much more likely to stay with you long term for financial planning guidance.
Their goals may change over time due to life’s ups and downs, but their trust and relationship with you will only remain and get stronger over time.
Book A Free Live Demo to see our financial adviser software first hand or contact us directly to speak to our expert team.
Learn more about how the advice intelligence software can transform the efficiency of your advisory practice, reduce the cost to serve, and increase the value of your financial advice today.
