Michael Kitces is Head of Planning Strategy at Buckingham Strategic Wealth, a turnkey wealth management services provider supporting thousands of independent financial advisors. And amazingly enough, not only is getting the “right” communication channels an enhancement to the client relationship, but even just communication in clients more ways – across more channels – shows an increase an client satisfaction! Notwithstanding these challenges, though, the study supports a great deal of other research suggesting that effective client communication remains a key for client satisfaction, retention, and referrals. And notably – though perhaps not surprisingly – there are material differences in communication preferences amongst Baby Boomer, Gen X, and Gen Y clients. The results suggest that while meetings still dominate as a primary mode of communication, there is a great deal of variability about where those meetings should occur (in advisor’s office or elsewhere), how formal they should be, and where email, phone calls, and other communication plays a role. Are in-person meetings best, or are phone calls preferable? Is email better than a phone call? Where do one-to-many communications like newsletters and social media fit in?Ī recent Australian study of how clients prefer to be communicated with from their advisors sheds some interesting light on the challenge.

Communicating with clients effectively has become increasingly challenging in today’s world, not because it’s difficult to find a way to communicate with clients but because there’s often uncertainty about how much communication is appropriate, and by what means/channels.

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