Client engagement becoming a strong differentiator to intermediaries
07 February 2018
360 Dot Net is pleased to release its 2017 "year-in-review" infographic that presents strong evidence that clients are willing to digitally engage with advisers throughout the advice process and beyond.
In 2017 over 22,000 client FactFinds were electronically sent with 80% completed and returned, saving the adviser anything from 45 to 90 minutes of data entry prior to starting the FactFind. The client portal that helps advisers to send preconfigured actions to request and receive bank statements, payslips and other supporting information electronically had 8,500 new users with 69% of submitted actions completed and returned to the adviser. When investigating the likelihood of actions being completed by specific age group, the 18-24 and 55-64 groups showed the strongest engagement figures compared to the anecdotally time-poor 35-44 and 45-54 demographics.
Mark Dryden, Business Development Director of 360 Dot Net, commented "the figures demonstrate a willingness from clients to engage themselves into the advice process, especially during the initial data gathering stage. The obvious benefit is to the client who can provide this information quickly and securely when it is convenient to them, but we should be mindful of the benefits to the adviser - namely speeding up the process and removing unnecessary rekeying between FactFind and CRM. Of more interest is that once a trusting digital relationship has been established through the portal, how does regular and secure communications then maintain the relationship - certainly the initial signs we’re observing are very encouraging.”
Dryden continued, “There is a lot of excitement over the opportunities presented by Open Banking in the intermediary sector, the question that hasn’t been answered though is how this is delivered. Our research suggests that client facing tools are an extension of the adviser’s digital journey and it is these interfaces where intermediaries can deliver Open Banking capability through trusted and secure sites that fit naturally into the advice journey.”
