Do Your Clients Actually Read Your Investment Communications?

There’s a dangerous joke in financial communications: Clients don’t really read most of the content we produce – they just care about numbers.

Why is this thinking dangerous?

Because your clients have no reason to choose you over another firm – or to stick with you during down markets – if they’re focused solely on numbers.

If you want investors to focus on the long term – and to be long-term clients – you must focus on the long term, too. Specifically, you need to put meaningful effort into building lasting client relationships built on empathy, engagement, and trust.

From Out of Touch to Building Trust

In the age of social media and “fake news,” the foundations of trust have changed. Authority, formality, the “top down” approach – traditional ways to communicate expertise – come across as remote, impersonal, and out of touch. People trust sources that sound empathetic to, and engaged with, their concerns.

Direct, everyday language communicates honest authenticity in today’s world. It’s also the simplest way to show you care about helping clients understand what’s happening with their money.

How effective are your communications at achieving client trust? Grab any communications output from your company – an investment report, an RFP, a marketing brochure – and ask yourself the following questions:

• Empathy:  Does this piece reflect the client’s point of view, or yours? Is it meeting their needs, or yours?
• Engagement:  Are you using language that’s familiar to your audience? If you’re not sure, why not?
• Trust:  Is what you’re saying as clear and simple as the truth?

If you’re having trouble engaging your audience, we can help you create accurate, professional communications in language that’s clear, approachable, and trustworthy.