Most financial planners are not fully leveraging the client engagement opportunities mobile digital technology presents, according to an Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) white paper.
The study, conducted by Beddoes Institute with the support of Zurich and the AFA, showed ownership of mobile devices, including smartphones and ‘tablets’, is significantly higher among financial advice clients than the general population.
It found 77 per cent of the 779 advice clients surveyed owned a smart phone and 56 per cent owned a tablet. Comparable figures among Australian consumers are 65 per cent and 37 per cent.
Despite the opportunity this presents for reaching existing and potential clients – beyond face-to-face interaction, voice calls and email – only a small proportion of planners have a website that can be viewed clearly on a mobile device.
“When you look at the advice sector…the vast majority of advisers that we work with do not even have a mobile optimised website…and we work with the top 20 per cent of adviser groups,” says Dr Rebecca Sheils, director, Beddoes Institute.
“We ask them, ‘do you have an optimised website? If people can’t access your website or can’t see it in a format that’s accessible to them on their devices, then you’re going to create a bad impression.’”
This number could be lower than 10 per cent, according to Richard Dunkerley, head of marketing and communication, Zurich Life and Investments. “It’s easily less than 10 per cent [of planner web sites that are optimised,” he says, referring to informal surveys it has conducted.
He suggests many planners also don’t fully understand that a website which merely displays on a mobile phone or tablet is not necessarily optimised for these formats. Mobile optimised websites automatically resize images and text layout according to the screen size of the device used, whether a mobile phone, tablet or desktop display.
“The study identifies compelling reasons why advisers need to consider their mobile digital strategy.
“Advice clients are even more predisposed to accessing mobile technology than the unadvised population,” Sheils says.
The study also debunked a common misperception that older demographics do not use tablet devices, showing that financial advice clients of the baby boomer generation and older have a higher uptake than the general public.
While the rate of smart phone ownership is significantly lower among baby boomer clients, their ownership of tablets is almost on par with Generations X and Y (53 per cent versus 55 per cent and 65 per cent respectively).
“Baby boomers are owning and using tablets almost as much as their younger counterparts,” Sheils says.
The ownership of tablet devices is higher still among high net worth baby boomer clients, climbing to 62 per cent.
“The study shows that smartphones are used for high frequency transactional activity, including phone calls, text messages, emails, quickly browsing the internet and accessing crucial information.
“Tablets are used for immersive activities, things like buying…and reading and video viewing. Clients use smartphones differently from tablets, which has important implications for the way advisers communicate with their clients,” Sheils says.
Licensee value proposition to advisers
Digital engagement channels may also represent another aspect of the value proposition Australian Financial Services (AFS) licensees offer – or don’t offer – their authorised representatives.
While individual planners or practice principals may be keen to take advantage of digital engagement opportunities, the interplay of licensees and any dealer group structures must also be considered.
“For an adviser, they need to understand what a licensee will and won’t let them do, and I think it will become an increasing question that advisers will consider when it comes to choosing what licensee they want to be in,” says Brad Fox, chief executive officer, AFA.
“This can stifle their opportunity to provide value and relevance to their existing clients and find their next potential client. To that extent, the licensee approach to this is critical.”
He suggests a first step might involve “setting clients up on social media, provided you are generating content there…with none of the costs that are involved in app development or in optimising a website.”
