Client onboarding can be challenging, time consuming, costly and you are never guaranteed success. After reading this article you’ll know of some of the smartest onboarding strategies out there including how to help customers see it as a single process and giving them the anywhere and anytime access they want.
Related: Can you build trust with clients and prospects over the phone? Not without co-browsing
Did you know that only 14% of users stay on a site after one day of trialing and 2.7% after one week?
So how do you ensure your clients will stick with you for the long run?
We’ve looked into how 10 finance companies onboard their clients and the strategies they use to retain them.
1. Cognizant’s guide wants us to know that it is all about the client!
Cognizant, a leading specialist services company that works across all industries from Healthcare to Finance hones in on how ‘Efficient Client Onboarding is the key to empowering banks’.
The theme running throughout Deepak Mohanty’s findings is that the focal point needs to be all about the client, finance companies need to move away from seeing onboarding as a routine process and need to move towards understanding what the client needs and wants.
“In response to regulatory trends and requirements, banks are shifting away from proprietary trading toward flow business. Investment banks and prime brokers must therefore focus more on how they onboard, understand and treat their clients.”
Read more on Cognizant’s Efficient Client Onboarding
2. Incredible tech that Freedom Financial used for onboarding over the phone
When you phone a client or prospect, you are just a voice on the phone.
It's hard to build trust without being able to see each other or see 'something'.
It is now possible, without any downloads required, for you to phone your customer and show them a presentation on their phone or desktop and make it feel like you're sitting there next to them scrolling through that presentation and pointing at the important parts together.
Freedom financial's debt relief division used Upscope co-browsing to significantly increase their conversion rates and smooth out onboarding by remotely running through presentations with clients.
Debt relief agents remotely controlled the presentation, on the client's phone, as they explained how the debt relief process works.
Why did this work?
It's hard to trust a voice on the phone. When you see a presentation, including the caller's credentials, how much money you'll save, how many others used that company's products, how they used it, then you build trust in the process.
To provide that experience, they used Upscope co-browsing and here is a link to the Freedom customer story.
3. Teamwork & the use of referrals is the key for Vance Wealth Group
John Vance the founder of Vance Wealth Group, a financial advisory firm, has experience in onboarding with a small team.
For him it was crucial that his team were able to carry out the tasks so he could concentrate on development of the business.
They believe that ‘client experience is built on communication, service, and personalized advice.’
‘’Most of our clients come from referrals, I wanted to make sure everyone coming through the door had the same experience as everyone else”
“Word gets around.”
Read more on Vance’s Client Onboarding Process for Financial Planners
4. Client Wise make sure they live up to the great expectations
Ray Sclafani, the founder of Client Wise, which specialises in coaching for financial professionals highlights the importance of setting expectations before onboarding begins.
“When you meet with a potential client (and again in an initial e-mail after the relationship has been formalized), lay out how the onboarding process works and what documents and materials are needed to transfer accounts, create a financial plan and start the relationship.’’
Read more (updated link as old article link has been removed) on Client Wise’s Onboarding Checklist
5. Kofax understands how one second is the new one minute
Kofax is a digital service provider for customer onboarding, they discuss how in banking the need for quick and easy onboarding is essential.
“It’s important for your customers to see onboarding as a single process, no matter how many channels they use. To avoid losing customers, your onboarding strategy must offer leading-edge experiences that:
– Are consistent across multiple channels
– Avoid repeatedly asking customers for the same information
– Are near-real time and reliably accurate
– Keep customers informed"
Read more on Take Banking Customers Where They Want to Go
6. Out with the paper, in with the technology is KPMG’s strategy
Many financial companies and banks still use paperwork for client details and forms, the need for industries to keep up with the technology age is essential now more than ever.
We live in a society where we are used to giving out and receiving information instantly. Along with this we expect it to be carried out with excellent customer service.
Michael Henry, the principal at KPMG, a professional services company, understands the importance of a technology based approach to client onboarding.
“For far too long, client onboarding has been viewed as a back-office function, tangential to fostering a positive client experience… In offering this paper to the marketplace, we present ideas to make the technology-based approach logical and strategic.”
Read more on KPMG’s Transforming Client Onboarding
7. Accenture explain the importance of the client, advisor and firm relationship
Accenture, a Global Management consulting and professional services firm, practices the importance of the client, advisor and firm expectations.
“An effective onboarding strategy should respect the expectations of all parties involved in setting up the new wealth management relationship
Firms providing wealth management services know that getting the client onboarding experience right over the first 90 to 120 days of the relationship is essential. Performed properly, onboarding helps set the foundation for a deeper, more profitable long-term relationship.’’
Read more on Accenture’s Getting it right from the start: Taking a strategic approach to client onboarding
8. Pitney Bowes stress the need to know what your customers want
‘Pitney Bowes business insight’ knows that it is crucial to retain your existing customers through building a relationship where you know what they need and want.
‘’An effective customer strategy is crucial to gain an edge over the competition, and in both the minds and hearts of customers. It is a fairly simple formula — customers want to feel known and wanted by their financial institutions, while financial institutions want to know their customers to increase effectiveness, retention, and promote cross-sell and up-sell opportunities.’’
Read more on Pitney Bowe’s Next Generation Customer Onboarding
9. Acquiring the ‘right’ customers is Harland Clarke’s must for onboarding
When onboarding customers finding the right match for your business is essential, not only does this mean your services will help your customer but they are more likely to stay with you than switch to one of your competitors.
‘’Consumers usually only change financial institutions when they are dissatisfied with their current institution, have a life event (marriage, birth of child, etc.) or have moved.
The key is to develop a program that finds microgeographic areas where consumers are “in transition” and match these areas with local branches that have had success opening new accounts. This process leads to improved targeting and a lower level of attrition at the outset. It also brings in new account holders more likely to respond to onboarding communication.’’
Read more on Harland Clarke’s 10 strategies for onboarding
10. Zurich knows how the importance of onboarding gets overlooked
Zurich financial services found that –
‘Research conducted by the Aite Group1, in the US, found that only 30% percent of wealth management businesses regard the client onboarding process as an opportunity to create competitive differentiation’
‘89 percent of consumer began doing business with a competitor following a poor experience’
Read more on Zurich’s Client Onboarding
The need for the finance industry to realise that onboarding is the most important factor for client retention and success is essential. If only 30% of wealth management businesses believe that client onboarding can help them against the competition then it is your chance to do what others are not — act now and get ahead of the game!
New technology for onboarding clients remotely without the disconnected feeling
Remotely onboarding clients is hard work without seeing what they see during a phone call. Use Upscope to not only see what they see but move through a presentation on their phone or desktop as if you're sitting next to them pointing at their screen.
