Client Engagement Tools Every RIA Needs

Client engagement is all about creating a consistent and timely experience for both prospects and existing clients. It’s slightly different from client satisfaction, which only measures how content a client is with your service. Instead, client engagement indicates how emotionally and rationally a client is attached to your business. It’s a higher level of trust.

Both client engagement and satisfaction are linked to client experience. In fact, 72% will share their positive experience with 6 or more people, resulting in both client retention and referrals. 

Advisory firms looking to foster client loyalty need to include engagement as part of their overall strategy. Which can mean investing in an engagement platform and other user experience tools.  

Before we dig into core client engagement software options, let’s review how client engagement tools differ from other advisory software. 

How Are Client Engagement Tools Different From Other Advisor Tools?

Advisors typically have a developed tech stack, including:

• Custodians
• Financial planning tools
• Document management software
• Research platforms
• Portfolio management
• Risk analytics

However, these solutions aren’t oriented toward your clients. Advisory firms require additional software to maintain their client database, facilitate communication, and gauge client expectations. 

These core tools enable RIAs to present the best recommendations possible for various clients. Meanwhile, client-facing tools offer several ways that advisors can connect with current and prospective clients. 

6 Types of Tools You Need to Streamline Client Engagement

There are many engagement tools to choose from, but there are some solutions every advisor should have in their tech stack:

1. Client Relationship Management (CRM) Platforms

The first tool in any advisor’s arsenal should be a CRM. This platform stores and helps you manage client data, including names, email addresses, phone numbers, and other data. You can also see their previous communication history, the prospect-to-client pipeline, analytics, and other essential information. 

These benefits may sound like back-end administration, but it has an impact on the client experience, too. One study found that 85% of CRM users believed an improved client experience to be a top advantage of the software. As your CRM centers around client communication, it is a core component of your overall client retention and client engagement strategy. 

There are several CRM options for advisors. Some of the most common include AdvisorEngine, Salesforce, and Wealthbox. For more, you can check out our integrations page. 

2. Interactive Risk Assessment Questionnaires 

Another tool type advisors can use to boost client engagement is Nitrogen’s risk assessment questionnaire. Rather than depending on static PDFs or in-person interviews, advisors send an interactive questionnaire to clients digitally or go through the questionnaire in-person. This not only provides convenience to you and your clients, removes risk stereotyping. It is the best way to set expectations with clients.  

3. Proposals

Client proposals offer a chance to impress. Consistent, thoughtful, and concise proposals that show clients how you plan to work in their best interests drive up conversion rates. You can also quickly implement these proposals when integrating a proposal engine with your asset platform.

These proposals set client expectations and highlight how you are thinking about their long-term financial well-being.  

Another benefit of proposals is record-keeping. Keeping these proposals on file serves for easier audits and better informs your clients—thus building trust and loyalty. 

4. Brief Client Surveys

How do you know when you should follow up with a client? Typically, you don’t unless they call you first. If you want to be proactive, you must contact individual clients individually or send out a generic mass email. This can result in irregular communication, missed calls, and unhappy clients. 

A brief survey can enable you to prioritize your check-ins more effectively. For example, advisors can use Nitrogen’s Growth Platform to create brief check-in messages asking clients how they feel about the market and their portfolio. When combined with their Risk Number, advisors can prioritize follow-ups based on the client’s risk tolerance and timely client feedback.

This approach allows advisors to meet client needs and anticipate their concerns, thus boosting their engagement and satisfaction. 

5. Personalized Emails

Email has long been an effective client engagement tool across industries for clear client communication. In fact, consumers rank email as their preferred digital communication option.

There are several ways to use email to your advantage. This includes sending check-in surveys or proposals, creating a newsletter to discuss the market, providing client support, and setting up appointments. 

In addition, you can use email marketing to appeal to prospective clients. When integrated with your CRM, you can communicate with prospects and better identify warm leads. 

6. Investment visualizations

It’s often challenging for clients to grasp potential risks and rewards based on different investments. An engagement tool that transforms analytics and complicated data into easy-to-understand graphs, thus improving client satisfaction. After all, a client relationship hinges not only on your success in preserving or growing their wealth but also on your ability to communicate strategies. 

Several generic products generate data visualizations; however, not all are geared toward advisors or their clients. As a part of Nitrogen’s Growth Platform features clear stress tests, scenarios, and Risk Numbers for engaging clients.

More on Successful Client Engagement

No single client interaction will inspire long-term loyalty. And inconsistent communication can be just as ineffective. But leveraging client engagement tools can help your advisory firm offer better client support, streamline communication, and improve the overall client journey. 

Choosing the engagement software is only part of your overall client engagement strategy. These tools are just that—tools. How you use them matters just as much as having them. Ideally, these solutions should create value for clients, and support your advisors. Because at the end of the day, helping advisors spend more quality time with clients is one of the most powerful engagement strategies out there. 

For more on upgrading your client relationships through engagement, check out our guide to client engagement strategies for financial advisors.