“Advisorcomms 2019” Survey Finds Nearly 90% of Advisory Firm Employees Believe Their Clients Would Like to Communicate With Them via Text Message
Redtail Technology , a leading provider of client relationship management (CRM) solutions for financial services firms, published the results from its “AdvisorComms 2019” survey, which found that in-person meetings generate the most client engagement (76%) followed by phone calls (66%). On the flip side, print newsletters (10%), podcasts/radio (3%) and webinars (2.7%) are securing the least amount of engagement from clients. The survey polled more than 3,200 financial advisory professionals across the country in an effort to understand industry trends related to client communication.
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“While our industry continues to evolve and expand the tools for wealth management firms to connect with their clients, it appears that advisors are still most comfortable using traditional communication methods,” said Redtail Technology CEO Brian McLaughlin. “It’s important for the industry that fintech firms like Redtail continue to work closely with financial advice firms on the adoption resources like the ones we are building at Redtail to ensure advisors are getting the most out of the technology.”
Another key finding was that while 87% of advisory firm employees believe their clients would like to communicate with them via text, 29% of firms have a “no client texting” policy in their office. In addition, 40% of respondents’ broker-dealers have not approved texting as a form of communication with clients. Regardless, 31% of respondents are planning to adopt texting as a communications channel within the next year.
“We expect technology like texting and video calls to become more widely used among financial advisors as they experience increasing demand from clients to leverage the technology – and the need to handle growing pressure from fee compression to use their time more efficiently than ever,” continued McLaughlin.
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Additional findings from Redtail’s “AdvisorComms 2019” survey found:
- 45% of financial advisory firms cite customizing content for clients as a top challenge;
- Other challenges include engaging clients outside of meetings (40%) and producing unique (30%) and consistent (28%) content;
- While 22% of respondents do not tailor content to their clients, the remaining employees are tailoring communication based on the following:
- Age – 73%
- Income – 44%
- Gender – 28%
- Nearly half (48%) of advisory firms aren’t tailoring their communications to prospects; and 48% of advisory firms aren’t communicating with their clients’ families;
- 41% of advisors don’t measure engagement when communicating with their clients;
- 62% of financial advice employees follow up with clients via email, and 38% via the phone;
- 59% of respondents do not currently communicate with clients via video.
McLaughlin concludes, “We anticipate that once advisors start tailoring their communication directly to clients and prospects, they will start seeing a greater return on their investment, especially in terms of utilizing the technology available to them. At Redtail, our mission is to help advisors best communicate with their clients, and these insights are invaluable to us as we continue to build and expand our offerings.”
