Investors are on edge these days due to a number of concerns, including economic headwinds, protracted trade wars, and inverted yield curves. When investors are anxious, investment managers need to have the tools and technology to communicate effectively with them. Your clients want ongoing, on-demand market appraisals, timely reporting, and peace of mind that your firm is working to help them achieve the best outcomes. Does your client communications solution meet their needs?
The quality of your communications is important for client relations and vital for client retention, as firms battle high churn rates and aggressive competition. Investment firms that have the technology to offer their clients on-demand information and individually tailored reports have an advantage over those stuck in the past. We find this to be true across both the institutional and wealth segments of the market.
Based on SS&C’s experience with a broad and diverse global client base, we’ve identified the following key client communication solution requirements to boost client satisfaction and loyalty – especially needed in times of market volatility.
- More frequent, multi-channel communications. The rule of thumb is shifting to “more is more.” This mandates a single platform for both online and offline client communications to generate high-quality, consistently-branded materials quickly and accurately. The preference for digital communications is undeniable – it also enhances your ability to deliver key insights to your clients more rapidly.
- Reporting that looks and feels modern. Online reporting functionality must be intuitive, accurate, relevant and visually compelling. This means your communications platform must have the flexibility to handle custom layouts to accommodate client preferences, client-specific subscriptions to content, and line-of-business or strategy-specific branding. It must have innate, drag-and-drop tools with configurable, auditable and reusable components that can be accessed through an intuitive, web-based interface.
- Customized content. Your client communications solution must be able to tailor communications to include the exact data that clients need to see quickly and easily. You’ll need the capability to pull data directly from source systems, such as accounting, performance, market data, customer relationship management, data warehouses and other systems. Document-specific workflows need to be automated to efficiently adjust existing content, create new content and ensure reports and other communications are both accurate and in compliance with corporate standards.
- Around-the-clock access. The expectation of 24x7 access raises the bar for client online portals, particularly in volatile markets when investors are more prone to demand more regular updates on market values, performance and other attributes. Intuitive, self-directed and rich portals deliver exceptional value.
Our recent half-hour webinar “Are Your Communications Meeting Client Needs in Uncertain Times?” explored the challenges, expectations and opportunities that client communications present. I shared how cutting-edge communications can provide your clients with the information they need in the way they demand, and help your investment firm keep them confident in your capabilities when the markets look murky.
