Clients view hyper-personalisation as a real differentiator between firms and according to research such as Capgemini’s most recent world wealth report, these personalised touchpoints referred to as ‘wow moments’ will strongly improve their overall perception of the firm.

For instance, receiving tailored reports based on individual preferences are a good example of a “wow moment”. Others include personalised portfolio recommendations and relevant interactions with specialists in the firm based on their stated personal preferences. Interestingly, over 60% of clients believe that digitally savvy firms may be better placed to deliver these personal wow moments. This is mainly because these firms are perceived to have a better handle on how to transform data into meaningful client outcomes which translates to an improved client experience.

So, is digital change the only answer to a better more personalised client experience?

The short answer is no but it can certainly go a long way to enabling it.

At a recent roundtable discussion organised by PAM, Objectway and senior executives from wealth management firms discussed the importance of hyper-personalisation and there were various viewpoints expressed.

Some firms believe their current clients will need a personalised experience which is very much human led and will be unwilling to interact digitally, this also applies to their attraction of new clients which are mainly via personal referrals. However, these firms see the value of digital change in enabling automation to improve inefficiencies in the background which free up employee time for more face-to-face interaction.

Other firms feel it is critical to digitalise the client experience from prospecting to onboarding to ongoing interactions such as personalised reports via a dedicated client portal which can be accessed on multi devices at any time, as they feel this is how clients want to interact more often in the future. These firms are also actively increasing their online marketing efforts and some have even hired specialists in digital social media to increase their brand awareness and increase their chances of attracting a “less traditional” demographic of client. The use of data and advanced analytics is also being discussed by firms who hold valuable client data. For example, this could be used to recommend personalised investments matched to client preferences and resonates with the wow moments mentioned earlier. However, the majority of firms are at a very early stage with respect to this and are also very cautious in their approach.

Overall, clients and firms broadly agree that the client experience will definitely benefit from more personalised content and that digital change can help enable humans to do this more effectively.