One thing financial advisers must do to keep wealthy clients from walking away

Most experienced advisers will have well-tested strategies for keeping clients loyal but the latest Capgemini World Wealth Report reveals something that some advisers could benefit from doing better – providing personalised services.

The report itself covers a lot of ground and within it is the Capgemini 2019 Global HNW Insights Survey. This polled more than 2,500 wealthy individuals across 19 major wealth markets in North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.

Personalisation

One quote from the report that struck a chord with regard to keeping wealthy clients is “The key is to build a differentiated and personalised approach in areas where clients expect a personal connection rather than a self-service experience. The ability to demonstrate differentiation beyond investment performance is critical.”

The report shows that end clients value a personalised wealth management service and a lot don’t feel like they are getting it – just two in five of those surveyed said they were satisfied with the personalised offerings from their wealth managers.

For me, personalisation breaks down into two key areas:

  • Personalised service: not robo advice
  • Personalised portfolio: not standard model portfolios

Empirical evidence has shown trying to offer a personalised portfolio service on an advisory basis is very inefficient for advisers to do. It can also carry a relatively high level of risk.

However, the efficient way for advisers to offer a personalised portfolio service was always to introduce their clients to a third-party DFM.  This doesn’t work for a lot of advisers because it’s expensive, excludes some clients because of high minimums and introduces ‘three’s a crowd’ relationship issues.

Mass customisation

Technology is providing an answer to this issue though. Mass customisation (something we at PortfolioMetrix invented nine years ago and which is now being emulated – albeit not in the exactly the same way – by others) solves these issues. It works by allowing advisers to customise portfolios to better match their clients’ needs and, because it is powered by clever tech, it’s highly scalable across multiple clients.

Mass customisation delivers the personalised wealth management service that clients’ desire:

  • Personalised service – no relationship issues as the only interface clients have is with their adviser
  • Personalised portfolio with:
    • No high minimum
    • No expensive fees
    • Investment options that align with their individual needs

Adopting this type of investment proposition provides advisers the best of both worlds: the ability to offer clients the personalised service they crave and the benefit of running an efficient, cost effective business.