Client portals used to be filing cabinets with a password. Documents went in. Occasionally one came out. Nobody visited.
Those days are over and that is excellent news, because the portal has quietly become one of the best pieces of equipment in an advice practice. It is your front door, open at all hours, doing good work for you between meetings.
Your clients are ready for it
CapIntel asked 1,001 advised investors how they felt about their adviser. Seventy five per cent are satisfied (1). Start there, because that is a strong base to build on.
Then look at what they want more of. Personalised advice tied to their goals. Clearer conversations about fees. More financial education (1). Every one of those is something a good portal helps you deliver, at scale, without adding a single hour to your week.
Deloitte found that 38 per cent of investors would like interactive tools so they can explore their own position (2). Read that again. More than a third of your clients are volunteering to do some of the work. All you have to do is let them.
What the best portals carry
- A personal dashboard. Net worth, investments, superannuation, cash, loans and insurance, all in one view.
- Goal tracking. Retirement, education, a home, debt gone. This is the part clients love, because it connects the numbers to the life.
- A secure document vault. Everything important, in one safe place.
- Secure messaging. Encrypted. It joins the client record automatically.
- A mobile application. Your practice, on the device already in their hand.
- Digital onboarding. Fact finds, identity checks and signatures, without the paper chase.
- Task management. Everyone can see what is next.
- Appointment booking. Straight into your diary.
- Interactive calculators. Clients explore, then arrive at the review with better questions.
- Personalised insights. Content chosen for that client, not broadcast to everyone.
Two things worth getting right
Keep it to one login. Every extra portal makes the last one less likely to be used.
And make sure it sings on a phone. That is where your clients are and a portal that works there gets opened again and again.
The best part
EY found that clients will happily share more personal information than firms expect, as long as they can see what they get in return (3). Your portal is where they see it. Give people their goals back as visible progress and they will keep telling you more, which makes your advice better, which makes them happier. It compounds.
Better information leads to better advice. Better advice leads to better outcomes. Better outcomes lead to clients who tell their friends about you. All of it starts with a portal your clients actually enjoy opening.
Behind our recent work
The AstuteWheel Client Portal has been redesigned end to end. Every page, questionnaire and tool now works beautifully on a phone. Messaging sits inside the platform with push notifications, so client conversations stay out of the inbox and stay safe.
It does not replace you. It shows your clients you are there, even on the days you are not in the room.
References
- CapIntel (2024) Investor Engagement Report: What the Modern Investor Expects from Their Financial Advisor in 2024 and Beyond. CapIntel.
- Deloitte (2020) Wealth Management and Advice in the Time of Coronavirus. Deloitte LLP.
- EY (2021) How Digitalization Can Drive Personalization in Wealth Management. EY.
