How Financial Advisors Can Improve Client Engagement

Finding new clients can take a significant amount of time and energy, but keeping them requires just as much effort. That’s where client engagement becomes paramount. Engagement is part of an overall marketing strategy and it’s essential for building long-term relationships. When it’s well-executed, financial advisor client engagement can allow you to create consistent revenue from your existing base, while potentially helping you to bring in new clients through referrals.

SmartAsset’s Advisor Marketing Platform offers financial advisors services like client lead generation, automated marketing and more. Learn about SmartAsset AMP today.

Understanding the Importance of an Engaged Client Base

The advisory industry is highly competitive. How you approach client engagement can be critical when it comes to attracting new business while holding on to the clients you have. If your client relationships are superficial or bordering on nonexistent, your clients might not think twice about moving on to another firm. They’re also far less likely to offer you as a suggestion to friends and family who might be looking for an advisor.

Engagement is an opportunity to get to know your clients and better understand their needs and goals. The better you know them, the easier it becomes to offer advice and solutions that are tailored to their individual situation. That can lead to better outcomes for the client, which in turn, may encourage them to continue using your services and refer others to you.

In short, good client engagement can:

Build trust and strengthen client loyalty
Create repeat business and ongoing revenue for you
Provide you with the type of information you need to best serve your clients
Drive referrals

You don’t necessarily have to become your clients’ best friend. But your efforts to engage clients can let them know that you’re an ally and that they can count on you to be there when they need you.

While this can lead to referral opportunities, you may still need to find a more consistent way to bring in a steady flow of potential client leads. SmartAsset’s Advisor Marketing Platform (AMP) offers financial advisors services like client lead generation, automated marketing and more. Learn about SmartAsset AMP today.

Client Acquisition Simplified: For RIAs

Ideal for RIAs looking to scale.
Validated referrals to help build your pipeline efficiently.
Save time + optimize your close rate with high-touch, pre-built campaigns.

CFP®, CEO

Joe Anderson

Pure Financial Advisors

We have seen a remarkable return on investment and comparatively low client acquisition costs even as we’ve multiplied our spend over the years.

Pure Financial Advisors reports $1B in new AUM from SmartAsset investor referrals.

Financial Advisor Client Engagement Strategies

Client engagement is the term that refers to how happy clients are with your services and how much they trust your process. The less engaged clients are, the more likely they are to churn. Improving client engagement can be an ongoing process as you test what works and what doesn’t. With that in mind, here are some of the best ways to boost engagement as you interact with clients.

1. Set the Right Tone With Prospects

Engagement begins when you first connect with a prospective client, and it’s important to make a good first impression. Gathering some background information before your first meeting is one way to do that.

For example, you can ask them to complete a simple questionnaire before the meeting detailing things like their name, the number of people in their household, their income, assets and overall goals. When it’s time to meet, you’ll have a framework for guiding the conversation that’s personalized to their situation.

2. Simplify Onboarding

Once a client decides to work with you, the next step is guiding them through the onboarding process. This is another opportunity for you to engage as you walk clients through what they can expect and fill out the necessary paperwork.

The onboarding process shouldn’t feel burdensome, however. Keeping the process simple and being able to answer client questions as they move through the different stages can help them stay engaged so they’re not tempted to look elsewhere for advice.

3. Ask the Right Questions

Clients come to you because they need advice with financial planning, but they don’t want guidance that’s generic. Another key aspect of financial advisor-client engagement centers on creating a personalized experience that focuses on individual needs and goals.

It’s important to ask the usual questions, of course. For example, if a client comes to you for retirement planning advice, then you might ask if they have a target savings number in mind or how they’ve invested up to this point. But it’s also worthwhile to ask broader questions, such as:

What is your motivation for pursuing your financial goals?
What do you value most when it comes to developing your financial plan?
Is there anything you fear or that causes concern about your ability to reach your goals?

These kinds of questions can help your clients feel engaged and they can also offer you a better view of what they might need. As they move through different life stages, you can revisit these questions to see how their perspective may have shifted and what type of adjustments you might need to make in guiding their financial plan.

4. Schedule Regular Check-Ins

Part of client engagement as a financial advisor is simply showing up. How often you need to do that can depend largely on what your clients need. You can develop a schedule for meeting with clients simply by asking them what their preferences are.

For example, a client who’s going through a divorce may want to meet monthly if they’re sorting out some challenging financial issues. On the other hand, a client who’s put their financial plan on autopilot may prefer meeting once every six months.

If you’re not meeting as often in person, you can still maintain engagement through other means. Sending out a weekly email newsletter or text message lets clients know that they’re on your radar and just a phone call or email away.

5. Reward Referrals

Referrals can provide an important source of revenue for your business. The happier and more engaged your clients feel, the more likely they might be to refer you to friends, family or coworkers.

One way to encourage referrals is by offering some type of incentive. Advisors can pay for referrals and many of them choose this route. It’s important, however, to go about it the right way. You don’t want to seem desperate or pushy, and any incentive you offer should provide sufficient value to justify the referral. Also, be aware of the compliance rules regulating paid referrals and any disclosures you’re required to make.

6. Show Your Appreciation

Clients want to feel appreciated and there are a number of ways you can accomplish that goal, while simultaneously fostering engagement. It can be something as simple as sending a card on their birthday or sending them a handwritten thank you note on their anniversary of becoming your client.

You could also scale up and plan something larger, like a client appreciation event. The event could be social in nature, such as a bourbon tasting at a local distillery. Or you might choose something educational that provides a tangible value, such as a free estate planning workshop.

Scheduling these kinds of events once or twice a year is a great way to say “thank you” to your existing clients. It’s also a chance for you to interact with them outside of the traditional meeting space on a more personal level.

7. Create Compelling Content

If you’re using content to market your business, you have opportunities to engage with current clients and prospects alike. When your content is valuable and interesting, there’s a greater likelihood that those who encounter it will interact with and share it.

Simple ways to increase social media engagement include posting surveys or polls and asking followers to chime in; hosting a livestream Q&A; and discussing trending or newsworthy topics that have a controversial angle. Monitoring views, shares and comments for your content can help you dial in to which topics or formats receive the most engagement.

8. Expand Service Offerings

Developing a new service offering is an opportunity to tackle client pain points or challenges that may have gone unaddressed. It can also help you generate more revenue and potentially attract new clients to your firm who need help with the planning area you’re targeting. There may also be an opening to engage with the next generation of clients who aren’t working with an advisor yet.

For example, you might develop a new offering around estate planning or tax planning to help wealthier clients untangle some of the issues associated with passing wealth to their heirs. As you engage in conversations with clients, you can suggest adding their children or grandchildren to the discussion.

9. Leverage Technology

Technology can help improve client engagement, beyond the onboarding process. For example, clients may appreciate being able to monitor their accounts through a secure portal or dashboard they can access remotely. Or, they may value being able to see portfolio projections using visualizer tools.

Automation tools can help you stay connected with clients without being tied to your device. For example, you may use automated tools to schedule social media posts or send out email newsletters. Note-taking tools, meanwhile, can capture and summarize client meetings automatically so you can stay in the moment and focused on what your clients are saying.

10. Apply Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand and manage emotions, both within yourself and in others. This valuable skill, which is central to a behavioral finance approach, can make you better equipped to listen to clients, empathize with them and propose solutions that are tailored to their needs.

Developing emotional intelligence requires self-awareness, empathy and a commitment to actively listening to what your clients have to say. However, it’s worth making the effort if you want clients to feel that you’re truly hearing them and understand their perspective. When clients feel heard and believe that what they have to say is valuable to you, they may be more inclined to engage and less likely to look elsewhere for advice.

Exceed Client Expectations

Attract HNW clients that fit your firm. Get the all-in-one advisor marketing platform.

Bottom Line

Investing in client engagement efforts can yield impressive returns in the form of long-term business and recurring referrals. Your clients could reap the benefits as well if feeling engaged and valued helps them to become more confident with their financial decision-making.

Tips for Financial Advisor Marketing

Keeping clients happy can lead to referrals but you may need to find ways to bring in even more potential clients. SmartAsset AMP (Advisor Marketing Platform) is a holistic marketing service financial advisors can use for client lead generation and automated marketing. Sign up for a free demo to explore how SmartAsset AMP can help you expand your practice’s marketing operation. Get started today.
Expand your digital footprint. More people are increasingly turning to search engines to find financial advisors to work with. If you’re not leveraging the power of search yet with a website, blog or social media, using an online lead generation service can help you scale your business as you work on establishing your online presence.