What You Need to Know About ... Mobile ­Strategies

Effective mobile strategies play a crucial role in developing a brand and interacting with clients.

A mobile-friendly website is particularly important for attracting clients. If prospects are unable to find your site or read information on their mobile devices, they may choose another firm. Twice as many financial professionals (22%) currently use mobile devices—such as iPads and other tablets—compared with usage a year ago (11%), according to an American Century Investments survey.

Creating a mobile strategy can be a daunting task, so it is important to lay the groundwork by first establishing objectives. Advisers should begin by asking themselves what works best for their business. “No two advisers have the exact same mechanism by which they work with their clients [and] attract new clients,” says Ethan Eden, founder and CEO of Market76, a New Haven, Connecticut-based technology and data management platform for financial services organizations.

Consider Client Needs 

Too often, technologies are chosen simply because they are “cool” rather than actually being useful to a firm, Eden says. Advisers predicate all of their other business decisions “on their clients’ needs, and, all of a sudden, in technology they don’t do that,” he cautions.

Determine what kind of tools work for both the adviser and the client. Are you the kind of adviser who often works remotely or are you headquarters-based? Do you have frequent phone conversations with clients or are most of your communications via email? Is your website more focused on attracting prospects or interacting with current clients? What is the unique value proposition you offer your clients? What are your strengths and weaknesses?

If you frequently conduct seminars, participate in conferences or meet with people on the go, mobile apps will be useful to you. If, on the other hand, your business centers around phone calls and periodic in-person meetings, apps may prove less important, Eden says.

After assessing your clients’ and your own needs, decide which apps will best support your mobile strategy. Apps that might be helpful analyze real-time financial market data, allow advisers to access and edit files on the go, or access client profiles. “Ultimately, you’re designing something,” Eden says, even if you are not building the technology yourself.

Next, advisers should determine whether the website will be mobile-focused. Eden suggests asking yourself: Do my clients actually use the website? Do they need to access information I retain for them, through a mobile device? What is my client demographic? If the clients are predominantly younger, apps and a mobile-focused website are essential, he says. 

Train the Advisers  

It is important that everyone at the advisory firm is comfortable with the technology. “Even if you’re great at computers, there are people at your firm who aren’t,” Eden says, which is why all of a firm’s advisers should be coached on new technology.

However, he emphasizes, this does not mean you must hire an information technology (IT) specialist to lead the training. Certain user-experience “modes” are consistent across different apps, so they should be fairly intuitive, and most advisers should be able to learn them quickly.

Measure Goals

Advisers should establish goals before implementing a mobile strategy and clarify why they are implementing it.

Perhaps your goal is to increase your value proposition, client tenure or client satisfaction by improving your clients’ experience via mobile enhancements. If so, you should establish metrics for measuring each.

If you predict a mobile strategy will greatly improve your value, do not be afraid to invest a considerable sum of money. But first, remember to determine your objectives.