Updated on: July 6, 2021

Client websites, or personal financial management websites, have seen a dramatic rise in popularity – and it’s easy to see why. Having the ability to organize your financial life online is an extremely attractive concept. It keeps your clients’ accounts updated and organized, helps them to plan budgets and spending goals, brings their future goals into perspective, and more – all wrapped into one convenient, digital experience.

Often overlooked however, are the benefits client sites have for the advisors who provide them. In fact, client sites often provide more for advisors than they do the client.

Here are four of the top reasons why you should start launching client sites today.

1. Your Clients Already Manage Their Money Online…With or Without You

The market for online wealth management platforms has seen tremendous growth throughout the financial services industry. Credit card companies have spending analyzers, banks provide increasingly intuitive websites, app stores are flooded with personal finance applications, and robo advisors are growing at a rapid pace.

In fact, according to the World Wealth Report, “65% of High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) expect to run most of their wealth relationships digitally in five years… and more than half (57%) of HNWIs aged 40 and up would consider leaving their firm advisor today if an integrated technological solution was not offered to them.”

The trend is clear: clients – no matter their age – want and expect to manage their money online. Do you give your clients the financial management experience they require? Because the truth is: if you don’t, someone else will.

2. You Need to Attract the Next Generation

Clients are getting older. Between 2011 and 2014, the average age of clients rose consistently each year, from 60 in 2011 up to 61.7 in 2014. And while older clients actually do demand technology, adopting technology purely to service an aging book is just plain shortsighted. Not only does an older book leave you vulnerable to diminishing returns, but younger clients have been proven to be superior clients than older ones.

A study done by PriceMetrix found that, “Return on assets is 25% higher in books with younger clients – indicating these clients are more willing to pay a premium and are more productive for the advisor.” And that, “There are fewer household relationships to manage in younger books – contributing to a lower cost to service and higher ROA.”

As the data shows, advisors will need to cater their businesses more and more to the younger generations. Not just because they need to ensure the longevity, but also because younger clients lead to a more profitable business. And as any statistic, study, or plain old anecdotal evidence will tell you, technology is an absolute must for younger demographics.

3. Client Sites are Referral Machines

Referrals are an advisor’s best friend. After all, nothing helps grow a business more than satisfied clients spreading the word. But you’ve got to give them something worth spreading, and a client site does just that.

By providing a platform that dramatically improves the client experience, a client site makes you more referable, which is, after all, the first step in getting referrals. And once you’ve turned clients into advocates, it gives them more than just something to talk about, it gives them something to show and demonstrate. Making your service immediately tangible to their friends, contacts, and associates.

And to top it all off, client sites help you to stand out to those referrals turned prospects by adding significantly to your value proposition. Referral machines indeed.

4. A Client Site Positions You as the Primary Advisor

All of their assets (including those held away) on a website managed by you. All their important documents in the Vault you provide. And 24/7 access to their entire financial picture. With a client site, it won’t be long until clients come to you for answers to all their financial questions.

More importantly however, you will be more able to fully provide the service that comes with being a primary advisor. Because when every client site is linked to your intuitive advisor site, you are able to monitor your entire business using alerts, analyze and identify opportunities with in-depth analytics, and receive actionable information on assets held away – making you a more responsive and capable advisor.

Plus, the more clients who establish their own client site, the more tools you have to grow your business. That’s what we in the business call a win-win.

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