Author: Leighton Langan

A client communication strategy streamlines collecting client feedback, determining key workflows for regular check-ins, and encouraging client engagement. And it’s a common denominator of high-growth advisory firms.

According to Nitrogen’s 2023 Growth Survey, high-growth firms rank client communication as a priority more so than low-growth firms. They also consider regular client meetings and client personalization as critical for growth.

But today, effective communication is more than answering the phone and making a call. And manually calling or writing personalized emails is not sustainable if you want to scale your firm.

Thus, many advisory firms can tap into growth by optimizing their client communication.

Taking Stock of Your Communication Capacity

There’s no question that client communication is essential for success. But the question is whether or not your strategy is scalable in the long term.

Communication isn’t a quick task, particularly if you have dozens of clients. For growing firms with multiple advisors, communication becomes even more complex. Should all your advisors maintain the same brand tone? Should they be given room for their own personas?

Yet, if you want to reduce client turnover while facilitating growth, finding time and resources for effective client communication is mandatory. Without it, clients may feel like a number—and start looking for a new advisor.

Before anything else, it’s important to consider your communication capacity. In other words, how often can you realistically take per week to communicate with clients? Ideally, you could take stock of how much time you spend on communicating, what tools you use, and client reactions to it. This will enable you to better map out your strategy.

Once your process is mapped and you know your initial commitment, you can develop a stronger client communication strategy.

Top Tips for an Effective Client Communication Strategy

Stay Empathetic 

Empathy should be the foundation of a communication plan. Anticipating clients’ needs, concerns, and questions makes it easier to draft a solid communication workflow and build strong relationships.

Centering empathy is also known to accelerate growth. One study by the Harvard Business Review found that the top 10 most empathetic companies generated 50% more earnings than the bottom ten companies.

Follow Communication Preferences

It’s helpful to consider how your clients prefer to be connected. Not everyone wants a phone call or has time for a face-to-face meeting. Video calls, pre-recorded videos, emails, and text messages are good alternatives.

Communication is also a two-way street. It’s essential to have a clear channel for clients to contact you. Again, email, virtual calendars, and your phone number are typically the main modes. However, you may also want to consider automation solutions, such as live chats, that can answer simple questions about your firm—including how they can book an appointment, opening hours, and your services.

Personalize Whenever Possible

Another key component is personalization, or ensuring each communication is tailored to specific clients. The challenge is that many forms of personalization aren’t scalable.

For example, calling a client twice a month for a 10-minute update is easily one of the most personalized communication methods. But it’s incredibly time-consuming and challenging to continue as you grow.

However, there are other ways to personalize communications, such as:

• Using client’s names in emails, even general emails sent to all clients
• Sending curated content relevant to client interests (updates on IRA contributions to individuals saving for retirement)
• Financial plans and reports with unique scenarios specific to clients’ portfolios and concerns.

A tool like Nitrogen’s Check-ins enables advisors to communicate in a way that is both scalable and personalized. Check-ins is an automated communication feature that allows the advisor to take the pulse of clients and receive an early warning sign if a client’s psychology needs a little care.

Build a Seamless Tech Stack

Next, you’ll want to consider what tools you will use. Your communication tech stack should be intuitive for both your advisors and your users. Challenging or overly complicated tools can be cumbersome to use and waste more time.

Ideally, you should also be able to integrate these tools with your other advisor software. Centralizing data and connecting communications with your CRM or portfolio management platform has a few benefits. First, it makes auditing a cinch. Second, this setup makes it easier for advisors to review specific client concerns. And finally, your software may make prioritizing check-ins based on client information easier.

When selecting communication software, a collection of best-of-breed tools ensures you’re getting the top performance in each specific area, whereas all-in-one solutions might compromise on certain functionalities to provide a broader range of features. To achieve a seamless tech stack, find the best software in each category that integrates together.

Decide on Communication Frequency

How often will you communicate with clients? The frequency depends on how you are contacting them.

Let’s take email, for example. In this case, less isn’t more. Thirty-three percent of marketers send weekly emails, although this may initially appear challenging. You’ll want to send a message at least once a month or quarter. Typically, emails are the best mode for general communications, client feedback surveys, and other general updates.

However, when looking at phone calls and one-on-one meetings, determining the regularity can be more complex. Considering each client has a different risk tolerance and communication style, some may require more attention than others. In addition to annual reviews, it’s important to prioritize client communication needs and schedule additional meetings when necessary. But during a downturn, you may need to allot more time and resources to your communication plan. Nitrogen Check-ins can help you identify which clients need more personalized care, and which don’t.

Whatever frequency you choose, it should be regular. Inconsistent communication will keep clients guessing and will negatively affect engagement.

Track Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

It’s impossible to track and optimize the effect of your client communication on retention if data isn’t tracked and analyzed. Luckily, many platforms offer client communication management modules that include data.

For example, your email marketing platform may include how many recipients have opened your email or where they have clicked. A client communication tool that includes automated check-ins, such as Nitrogen, may also provide insight into which accounts require immediate attention.

You can use clicks, opens, and several calls to gauge how often you communicate with clients. You can also look at the average resolution time – a metric to determine how quickly you or your team resolve client questions. Tracking client satisfaction can also give you better insight into the client experience.

Analyze Time Spent on Client Communication

How much time can you realistically spend per day or week? Setting realistic expectations enables you to be consistent—which is just as important as frequency.

Effective communication shouldn’t take hours or days. And much of it can be automated.

For example, some general messages in your communication plan can be automated:

• Meeting reminders
• Reminder to book a call
• Client feedback surveys
• Check-in questions
• Mass email updates about the general market

Reducing time spent on repetitive, low-impact but necessary messages can help you free up more minutes for other important tasks.

Draft a Communication Policy

For growing firms with multiple advisors, a communication policy is vital. This streamlines the process and builds the firm’s reputation, not just the single advisor.

For most businesses, communication policies are a part of their brand guidelines. But while 85% of organizations say they have developed brand guidelines, only 30% said they can enforce them. Complex rules are challenging to enforce within a small firm, and the larger your operation grows, the harder it is to ensure that advisors stay on brand. Furthermore, attempting to regulate an individual’s communication skills can add unnecessary friction between the firm and its advisors.

It’s better to balance communication policies and rules with individual advisor personalities and communication skills. Too much structure creates a general, robotic voice that doesn’t sound like your specific advisors, and this can throw off clients. It can also decrease personalization.

Differentiate Between Client vs. Prospect Communication 

Next, there are two types of communication: clients and prospective clients. And the communication styles should be distinct.

Clients have already decided to work with you or your firm. The emphasis becomes client satisfaction and a strong relationship.

But for a prospect, good communication revolves around answering questions about your practice, highlighting your value, and learning more about the prospect’s needs.

Effective client communication should go far deeper than it is for prospects.

Beyond Communication

Client communication management is the foundation of all other client engagement initiatives. Once you have a strong communication plan, it’s easier to move on to other strategies to keep clients engaged and loyal to your firm.

Learn more strategies in our recent article on client engagement.

Digitalization is unavoidable for RIAs and financial advisors. Firms already operate with online custodians and financial planning platforms. However, digital touchpoints fall short when it comes to client interaction. 

Applying digital tools to the client relationship often appears counterproductive. It’s easy to imagine a one-size-fits-all, generalized approach to client communication, resulting in confusion and consumer dissatisfaction. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

According to Salesforce, 57% of consumers prefer digital communication in 2020, and that number has only grown over the years.  A sound digital strategy often enables firms to provide a more personalized experience and meet client needs without sacrificing efficiency or scale. 

While statistics on how digital transformation offers a better client experience are great, it’s important to look at how digital tools can affect your firm, individual advisors, and your clients. 

Is a digitized client experience really better?

There are several benefits for both advisors and clients when it comes to digitizing your process. 

For advisors, a robust financial planning platform provides numerous advantages. There are solutions for managing client portfolios, automating check-ins, monitoring portfolio risk, generating reports, and streamlining marketing. All of these save advisors time and resources—which can be better spent on one-on-one communication with clients. It can also boost revenue. One study found that using digital tools can boost an organization’s revenue by 20%. 

Your clients also benefit. Digital tools allow them to better reach your office, whether by email or video call. Adding a chatbot to your site or Facebook page enables you to respond to general queries from current and potential clients faster. And since you are more efficiently monitoring their portfolio with digital technology, you can more proactively answer their concerns. When showcasing your process or explaining your recommendations, your clients may feel more confident knowing you are using the best tools available.  

But simply tacking on automation or digital touchpoints as an afterthought or based on the latest trends isn’t enough. 

The key to successfully implementing your digital transformation is understanding what can (and cannot) be digitized.

What parts of the advisory process can be digitized?

Financial advisory and fiduciary duty primarily lean on personalized, one-on-one interactions. Financial advisors are aware that while robo-advisors can be nice in the short-term, with small investments, most clients want an expert to manage their accounts and thoroughly explain market shifts. The last thing you want to do is generate a report without commentary, automate an templated email campaign, or send mass recordings to clients explaining the current market. All of these are possible and “digital” solutions that appear to save time and resources, but this version of the client journey still forces the client to figure things out on their own.

At the same time, completing every task manually hinders growth—and easily becomes a competitive disadvantage. Not only that but younger clients have come to expect seamless, digital communication.

The question for many advisors is what processes they can digitize (and potentially automate) without sacrificing a personalized experience. The answer is quite a lot! Here are just a few of the primary processes that advisors can digitize:

• Following-up with clients through Zoom or another video conferencing tool
• Developing financial models
• Managing client accounts 
• Reviewing portfolios 
• Generating investment or financial planning reports
• Building your client contact list
• Marketing, including websites, social media, videos, email and other methods
• Billing and eStatements

Including some or all of these digital touchpoints into your strategy can turn otherwise time-consuming tasks into a competitive advantage. 

That said, there are some tasks you shouldn’t entirely digitize or try to automate:

• Explaining financial plan proposals with clients
• New client introductions and assessments
• Selecting investments
• Answering complex questions about a portfolio, the market, or your investment style
• Presenting investment plans
• Client service and support questions

Essentially, any task that requires complex decision-making or empathy is better left to humans, not the machines. 

5 factors to consider when digitizing your client experience

Not every firm will need the same digital tools or use the same approach to digitization. Each RIA likely has their own idea of an ideal client and will use a different digital strategy to achieve a competitive advantage. 

There are various factors that go into designing your strategy, but here are 5 critical considerations:

1. Demographics

Who you work with should determine some aspect of your digital tools–particularly client communication. Elderly clients may be unable or find it challenging to use video calls or open digital files, at least compared to younger clients. 

Your ideal client persona will determine the digital technology you use across all communication touchpoints – from follow-ups to billing and marketing. 

However, there is something to be said for covering multiple bases. For example, if you primarily work with retirees but want to target late-working age consumers, using a mixture of digital and manual tools can work. You may offer the option for video calls, phone calls, and in-person visits, for example. You may also choose to use both digital marketing and use paper flyers or newspapers ads. 

2. Compliance and Security

Whatever programs you use, from marketing to portfolio management, should maintain compliance. And being able to rapidly flag issues, identify misalignment, and analyze your book of business at a granular level both assists you in staying compliant and improving your client relationship. 

But another part of digitizing the client experience and compliance is security. 

The last thing you want is to expose sensitive client information to an insecure platform. The digital tools you use should have thorough security measures and keep logs of all information for potential audits.  For example, Nitrogen highlights its security policies, including measures like SOC 2 compliance, risk and fraud assessment, data backups, and encryption. 

3. Client usability

Whenever you use a digital tool to communicate with clients, it should be easy to navigate. A whopping 88% of consumers said they are less likely to return to a website after a poor user experience. This same perspective applies across your digital assets: Your website, financial reports, video call invites, newsletters, webinars, and more. 

The best way to improve client usability is to keep things simple. From your website navigation to disclosures and email layouts, you should design for readability and accessibility. 

4. Scalability

One of the biggest challenges any independent firm faces is how to foster and cope with growth. Digital platforms offer the opportunity to rapidly complete tasks without sacrificing quality or personalization. 

Digital transformation automates manual, repetitive tasks. For example, rather than review each portfolio manually for risk misalignment, Nitrogen’s Growth Platform can identify and alert you to potential issues. You can then use the time saved from automating this process towards meeting with your clients. And no matter how many clients you have, the platform will continue to analyze your book of business just as quickly. 

In other words, your infrastructure can grow as you expand your firm.   

5. Integrations

Another key aspect to look for is what integrations work together. There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to running an advisory firm. But being able to centralize data from your CRM, portfolio management software, research tools, custodians, and other software enables advisors to better identify market behavior and risk alignment. 

The next step: Automating growth

According to Nitrogen’s 2023 Firm Growth Survey, hyper-growth advisory firms considered client satisfaction to be one of the most important factors for growth. These firms also prioritize their tech stack. 

Digitizing the client experience is the first step towards greater client engagement and retention, but you can take growth a step further with automation. Streamlining your with automated check-ins, lead generation, and account alignment creates scalable processes that grow with your firm. 

For more on boosting client satsfaction and retention, check out our guide to effective client engagement stratgies.