With the news of the Optus data breach still fresh in our minds, it’s easy to perceive the risks of collecting and storing data in your practice. But financial planners are required to collect information in order to perform their roles and, properly harnessed, data can be your firm’s greatest asset.
The creation and consumption of data is exponentially increasing. In just a decade, from 2010 to 2020, the amount of data in circulation has increased by over 30 times. Businesses use that data every day to better manage their products and service. . The data financial planners collect about their clients is uniquely valuable, but how can advisers make the most of data in their business?
Source: Statista 2021
Using behavioural analytics
Behavioural analytics is the exploration of consumer behaviour data to extract insights. Its and extension of business analytics which focuses on the consumer, how they act and what appeals to them. It has a wide range of applications from recommender systems for personalised offers, to predicting future behaviour in consumers.
Behavioural analytics can be the tool to empower practices and better engage clients efficiently at scale. But a tool is only as great as its user. How can you use behavioural analytics to amplify the service you give to clients?
Research shows that clients of financial advisers want an active relationship with their adviser, but they also want to be in control when they access services. Tools based on behavioural analytics can help engage and maintain relationships by looking into patterns of behaviour, predicting future behaviour, or simply recommending when to best contact clients.
Let’s take an example from Netflix. They way the service presents content, recommends videos to watch and even what the cover art looks like all depends on the user. Data is collected when you browse, watch and interact with the service which is then used to recommend more content, all in an effort to keep you on the platform, increase watch time and retaining you as a customer. 80% of Netflix’s stream time is because of their recommender system, which just goes to show its importance.
What can it do for you?
For financial advisers, the goal is very different from Netflix, it’s to the duty of care to clients by maintaining a valuable relationship in a way that’s meaningful, personalised, and manageable.
Behavioural analytics can streamline this engagement and build in predictions and recommendations based on client’s behaviour. For example, it can recommend times to get in contact with a client, what to lead with, how to curate relevant content and how that communication should take place.
What kind of data do you need?
These kinds of insights are built on data. They are only as good as the data feeding into the systems. Financial advisers need to think about what kind of data they should collect. For data to be useful in needs 3 essential things:
1. It needs to be organised – Data you collect should be uniform and in a system that is easy to extract. It doesn’t need to be complicated, as long as its organised and accessible.
2. It needs to record interactions – This includes how the consumer interacts with the practice, for example, when, how and why. Ideally it also looks to measure critical outcomes.
3. It needs to be backed up by profiles – This is data that a practice can use to make better make sense of the interactions, relevance and personalised needs.
Using what you have now
It can be easy to get lost in the wide world of behavioural analytics, but the key message is that there is an opportunity to better leverage existing data and turn it into a competitive asset.
A simple approach may be the first step, using a rules-based approach system where, for example, an event or evident change will trigger a reminder for interaction with the client. This can be easily implemented and build up the data muscle in your practice. An evidence trail for the benefits of leveraging data analytics is crucial to building momentum. Don’t wait for perfection, just get started.
From reactive to proactive -
using your data effectively can be transformative
Deeper understanding of client needs, reactions and behaviours
Real time actionable insights
Proactive CRM
Personalisation
Operational efficiencies
Anthony Zhang is a Senior Data Analytics Consultant at MYMAVINS
Get in touch and we will send you our paper with some invaluable tips on making analytics work for your business. We would love to explore how we can help.
anthony@mymavins.com.au
