A Digital Customer Journey definition for Financial Planners

When was the last time you examined your digital customer journey for your clients? Understanding a customer’s demands and expectations is no longer enough as a financial planner. You need to know what consumers think and feel about every online interaction with your services. But also, you need to know what they can do in the future. This is where the digital customer journey becomes a crucial component of your financial advisor client retention strategy.

People’s daily routines and habits have been fundamentally altered by digital technology. The client-advisor relationship allows for more spontaneity and instantaneity. Everything clients need to know is at their fingertips these days. However, the information is not always interpreted correctly. Clients grow increasingly impatient and demanding as they gain more expertise or data from other online sources. It’s no longer enough to have a product or service on the market. Today’s customers are hyper-connected and anxious to use it immediately. You have to rethink your role as their financial advisor and put intention behind your digital customer journey.

The first thing you’ll need to understand is that people will go where they want, when they want, the way they want. You can’t control what a client will do, but you can track it and adapt it to suit their preferences.

 

Digital Customer Journey for a Financial Planner

Clients want the best of both worlds. They want information at their fingertips personalized to their interests, with instant access to an expert who can answer their questions. Mobile-friendly digital experiences a financial advisor offers are more competitive than a brick-and-mortar-based service that they’ll need to traditionally approach. This means scheduling their time according to the firm’s hours travelling to and from the office. But advisors have to consider taking more of their services online. This includes zoom meetings and video emails. Mobile searches related to financial planning and management have grown over 70%. Queries for a “retirement calculator” increased by 115%.  

Customer experience can be used to gain a long-term advantage in a constantly evolving industry. Clients are more inclined to switch wealth management providers in search of a better user experience. This is prompting financial advisors to innovate to keep up with the demand for their products and service offerings. The wealth manager-client relationship requires a shift in mentality on the part of firms to put individual clients’ needs first. In addition, customers like to interact conveniently through their devices rather than working around your schedule to book a meeting. As a consultant, you’ll still need to find a way to make it personal when you interact, but shift your methods that will be more accessible for them.

To provide a better customer experience, all processes, channels, and points of contact must be developed and implemented. The majority of this work is done digitally. This isn’t meant to turn your face-to-face relationship-building business into a purely cold and digital exchange. It’s used to enhance the experience, so when you’re speaking with your client, it’s about what matters. Additionally, the incorporation of digital technology into these journeys results in improved process efficiency and resilience and decreased operational risk. For example, technology may track customer behaviour and identify unique client offerings, allowing professionals to spend more time on high-impact tasks.

But how can we guarantee a consistently excellent digital experience at all times? You need to dive deep into all five stages of your digital customer journey.

 

1.   Awareness

The awareness stage is the first encounter with your clients. This can be achieved by people getting somehow to:

• You LinkedIn profile
• An Instagram post of your account
• An informative blog
• See a local advertisement of your company
• Networking events where you participate
• Hear about you from a friend or family member
• Receive your marketing emails
• Your blog through search engine results

Diving into this stage of the digital customer journey, you’ll want to list every possible connection point and how you can improve on it. For example, does your social media have a strong call to action in the bio or tagline that prompts people to get in touch with you? Does your page reflect exactly how you can help and the best way to get in touch? Try to enhance every aspect of the awareness stage for better brand recognition and more trust building. After you achieved this, you can lead them to the consideration stage.

 

2.   Consideration

When a potential client begins to consider your services or guidance as their financial advisor, they’ll begin to do a lot of research. Buying an item for $50 or less may be more impulsive, skipping right to the purchasing stage. But trusting someone with your financial legacy will certainly prompt some extra care around the consideration process.

They’ll likely visit your website, maybe even engage with a chatbot to get the conversation started. They’ll check your Google reviews and testimonials on your website, look at your services, and even sign up for an interesting webinar that’s relevant to them. Are you making it easy for them to see the benefits of working with you at this stage?

Do an online audit to ensure your best testimonials are front and centre on your website. These should be relevant to the type of client you’re trying to attract. Remember that convenience is key in the consideration stage. Someone may not want to wait for a scheduled webinar but have the time to download one that’s been pre-recorded to watch asap.

 

3.   Purchasing

A digital customer journey’s purchasing step is vastly different from a low-end project or one-time buy. Creating an individual experience that supports your client and empowers them to make an informed decision is key to having success in this stage and building a life-long relationship.

Are you making it easy for your clients during this stage? You may have to adapt to your client’s preferred method of communication, which may be virtual. Electronic signatures, zoom calls, office meetings or a casual business lunch are just some of the tools in your wheelhouse that can be used to connect with a new client. During this stage, map out each way you can support them to make it more convenient and personable for your new client.

 

4.   Experience

The experience portion of the digital customer journey refers to your relationship beyond the transaction. Do you provide ongoing financial support? Are there newsletters your clients can look forward to reading that will keep them up to date with the latest finance trends?

Putting together resources for clients to refer to, check-in emails, or social media interactions are just a few of the items that can enhance the client experience and move them to the next stage – loyalty.

 

5.   Loyalty

The client experience is the most important step that leads to the ultimate client stage – loyalty. This is when your current clients easily mention your name in a room full of people that are discussing how to build their wealth or who they trust to protect their finances. Do you make it easy for clients to refer you? A simple way to stay top of mind is by adding a referral link to the end of your email signature.

When you graphically map out your customers’ digital journey, which encompasses all of the devices and touchpoints they use, you’ll have a better understanding of how they make decisions, connect, and interact with your services. Your personal services offer more than a robo-advisor ever could. Now, you just need to pair that with convenience.

 

Do you need help identifying your digital customer journey and improving it?

Leading Advisor is helping financial advisors navigate the changing demands of service requirements without working longer hours. Contact us to learn more.