Years ago we all wanted our MTV; we wanted to be part of what, at the time, demonstrated that we had access to global pop culture.
Times have moved on quickly and now we don’t simply want to watch – we want to interact.
So how successful has the financial services industry been with delivering interaction? Financial services are stuck in the old world.
Old world engagement and selling was all about informing, but the new world is all about inspiring.
In the old world it was all about return on investment, while in the new world it is about return on interaction.
Research and knowledge may lead to convictions but it is emotion that leads to action. Action is what we all need, especially investors.
So what are we doing wrong? The answer I believe has nothing to do with the products and services our industry provides but rather how we engage with our clients. We do not empower our clients; we do not create desire and hence engagement for the investor with their investment portfolio.
We keep trying to tell our clients that their investments are one of the most important aspects of their lives as this is what ultimately sets the frame for their life in retirement. We have not been successful in getting this very true message across.
Just a few years ago, the differentiator in the platform space was focused on available fund range, products, the website and the tools that were offered for an adviser. Today, simply having these features are hygiene factors.
Differentiation is now all about interaction. Interaction takes many forms: face-to-face, phone and, of course, online. If your service interacts via all mediums then they all need to be at the standard that meets clients’ needs.
When clients are experiencing your service, you must question whether they enjoy it so much they wish to experience it again? Do they wish to share it and then the biggest compliment – do they wish to improve it? Many advisers have nailed this; it is the investment providers that still have much to learn.
At 7IM we have learnt first hand from our clients, which has resulted in us developing an online application.
To start the story at the beginning, we had a client who liked what we were doing with their money (phew!), they liked how we engaged directly with them face-to-face and over the phone but they felt we were letting them and ourselves down with our online experience.
Luckily for us this particular client was from the world of gaming technology and offered to help us build an app.
In the world of gaming, where the target audience are adolescents who usually have an attention span measured in seconds rather than minutes, it is critical to get engagement instantly. This has never before been the starting point for a financial services app but it was with ours.
Having an interactive experience with your investment portfolio is the innovation our industry needs and it is what we hope we have delivered.
Verona Smith is head of platform at Seven Investment Management
