The importance of client journey mapping and how to get started

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1 The importance of client journey mapping and how to get started Striving to improve your digital strategy A digital whitepaper

2 The importance of client journey mapping and how to get started Striving to improve your digital strategy Client journey mapping is not always simple, especially for large organizations in a complicated regulatory environment with a diverse array of clients and a complex suite of products. Additionally, executives of these organizations often require proof that change is necessary prior to making decisions that impact their clients and revenue. In the financial services industry, firms must evaluate opportunities to enrich the current approach in a cost-effective way. In order to affordably prove the digital change is needed, the most beneficial exercise is to map out the client journey. What is a client journey? Everyone has a different idea of what is and should be a client journey. Many retail stores have a strict organization to their client journey that starts with a warm welcome followed by the customer browsing for the product they want or receiving assistance from an employee. Finally, the customer engages with the cashier and completes the transaction. On the other hand, some client journeys are little more than a haphazard attempt to get the product to the customer and get them out of the store. The client journey becomes much more complicated in the financial services industry, especially with the advent of new rules, regulations, and technological innovations. Advisors no longer have the luxury of selling a product to a client and sending them on their way. If an organization is to remain relevant, they must include strategies to proactively engage their clients at every stage of interaction especially after the sale of a product or investment vehicle. (855) advicent.com 2

3 Why does client journey mapping matter? Client journey mapping is an essential way for organizations to visualize the client experience from the client s perspective. It enables organizations to truly understand how clients perceive experiences at key touch points during the journey. By understanding the way clients interact with the organization digitally (and face-to-face), that organization is able to better understand where their weaknesses lie and implement new strategies into the journey to ensure higher retention and onboarding rates. In addition to understanding organizational weaknesses, client journey mapping provides many other benefits to an organization such as: 1 Focusing on the client, rather than on products and services: Organizations often focus on the products sold, rather than the value those products bring to the client. This approach ultimately alienates the client because they feel they are being sold a product rather than a solution for their needs. 2 Preventing organizations from being myopic in their delivery and client engagement: By developing a full understanding of the journey a client experiences, an organization is able to reduce redundant data and cut overhead by increasing efficiencies. 3 Highlighting deficiencies where the business is failing to meet client needs and expectations: Analyzing the journey and where clients disengage, organizations can fortify the weak points. Organizations can take a proactive approach to ensure that clients see the journey through to the end. 4 Exposing changes in client behavior, enabling an organization to adjust prospect approach: When an organization understands driving factors that change client behavior, it can adjust strategy in anticipation of behavioral trends. Advicent Solutions. Advicent is the trademark of Advicent Solutions, LP. (855) advicent.com 3

4 Starting small Digital change is intimidating, but it can be made manageable if organizations start small. Altering a client journey will change client expectations, meaning organizations will need to adapt. Starting small and slowly implenting changes firm-wide allow implementation teams to try several different strategies with a minimal impact to their client base. There are a few things organizations should know to be successful in mapping a client journey. 1 Begin by creating a small team to develop a plan and proof of concept: 2 Ensure the proof of concept is client-centric: This strategy allows a group to be agile in the implementation of a new digital client journey. By utilizing a small test (beta) group, an organization can ensure success before making a firm-wide change. By focusing on the client, an organization can ensure they are addressing both the unique needs and desires of the client with whom they work. 3 Carefully select products to drive the client journey: Most organizations hav multiple products. Select the ones that will be most impactful to improving the organization s client journey and digital strategy. 4 Prove effectiveness: The proof of concept should demonstrate what the change looks like and how it outperforms the current approach. This comparison will validate the proposal, demonstrate ROI, and reduce points of risk. (855) advicent.com 4

5 How to map a client journey The development of a client journey map is simple the challenge is accuracy. Ensuring accuracy involves engaging with as many clients as possible, drafting a visual of how users behave. This process takes time but proves invaluable when organzations begin comparing perception with reality. The following paragraphs provide the fundamentals on how to approach mapping a client journey. A client journey map is a timeline that illustrates the stages a client passes through in their interaction with an organization. Each touchpoint on the timeline should include information about what the client has done to get to this point; information that is gathered and known about the client; the goals to be accomplished at this point in the journey; and the conversion rate of moving them through the journey from this stage to the next. Stages will vary depending on the specific offerings of an organization, but the client journey should include steps such as educating, prospecting, demand generation, ordering, purchasing, training, support, and retention. Each organization will differ in the details; however, if a client journey does not include these basic stages, organizations are likely missing opportunities and losing existing customers to better experiences. For each stage, the client journey map will list the actions taken by the client which should include any touch points with the company. A touch point could include an , a website visit, a phone call, or any other type of engagement that the client has with the organization. Alongside these actions, the map should include the questions or obstacles that clients might encounter at each stage of the journey. By logging these questions, an organization can adjust the client journey to better anticipate situations before they arise. This will ultimately create a more streamlined process for onboarding new clients and expanding the relationship with existing customers. Finally, each stage in the process should outline the emotions of the client. By understanding the emotion of the prospect or client at each stage in the client journey, an organization is able to anticipate the best time to move to the next stage of the journey. Here are a few examples of questions to assess the next step: Is the customer excited about purchasing a product? If they are not excited about the potential purchase, the organization will have a major issue with converting prospects into clients and the retention of current clients. By exciting prospects and clients throughout the client journey, the organization will likely see a higher close rate, increased up sell, and a marked increase in profits. Is the customer concerned about cost? If clients and prospects are concerned about the cost of a service, product, or investment vehicle, then the perceived value has not been conveyed effectively. Adjusting the client journey to ensure that the organization is selling on value will minimize price objections. Is the customer experiencing buyer s remorse? Clients can broadcast their thoughts and opinions across the Internet for anyone to find. Analyzing why clients have buyer s remorse allows an organization to adjust the client journey to present better options to ensure the client remains satisfied with their purchase. (855) advicent.com 5

6 Mapping the organization to the client journey The client journey itself does not come as much of a surprise to organizations. It is only when you map it against the business operations that the full ramifications become clear. Most organizations have a reasonable handle on their clients behavior, and they realize that digital tools have changed how clients behave. What they fail to grasp, however, is how incompatible that makes their current processes. Mapping a client journey to the business processes will demonstrate the need to have organizational guardrails in place and will lead to new strategies for handling client service and digital implementation. Three questions organizations need to answer to map the business to the client journey are: Which department serves each of the client touch points? This question will help keep the correct amount of resources available at each stage of the client journey. How is communication regulated across different departments? By ensuring there is a consistent message, clients and prospects will feel assured that the organization is prepared for their business and will support them after the purchase. What processes exist for making sure clients do not fall between the gaps? It is imperative to have processes in place to keep prospects moving through the pipeline. Organizations must also have a strategy in place for continuously improving client retention. Implementing technology into your client journey The Consumer Revolution of financial technology is disrupting in more ways than previously imagined. Applications can scale to reach millions of users overnight. This shift is creating demand in the market to push their interactions with clients and prospects to leverage technology like never before. The DOL Conflict of Interest Rule also creates a need for advisors to provide sound advice with data to back it up. Creating a thorough client journey map enables organizations to keep up with these rising expectations and deepen the client-advisor relationship by providing clients a consistent experience through their engagement with the organization. Mapping out the client journey and implementing technology ensures the firm has a repeatable streamlined process to efficiently guide new and existing clients through every step of the firm s unique journey. (855) advicent.com 6

7 3 key takeaways Client journey mapping assists organizations in visualizing the client experience It is difficult to provide an exceptional client journey without fully understanding the interactions with the firm through the client s perspective. Financial services firms provide services and products for their clients; therefore, the organization must create a client-centric journey that focuses on the needs and behaviors of clients in relation to their products and services. By mapping out the current journey and then identifying gaps, firms are able to improve the interactions with customers to increase client conversion and retention. Digital change is intimidating but much more manageable if organizations start small By improving the client journey, clients will begin to shift their expectations to those changes. Some organizations may find that it is not practical to implement a process or digital tool throughout the entire organization immediately. In this case, beginning with small changes ensures that the client journey is not completely disrupted and has a minimal impact on clients while it is perfected. Mapping a client journey to the business processes demonstrates the potential need for new strategies It is not enough to simply map out the existing client journey. Organizations must leverage this map to guide them toward solutions and improvement. Once the current business processes are compared with the outlined journey, the organization can identify current gaps and determine operational strategies to better serve clients in every stage of the journey. About Advicent Advicent is the financial planning technology provider of choice for nearly 100,000 financial professionals within 4,000 clients worldwide, including four of the top five custodians, nine of the top 10 U.S. broker-dealers, seven of the top 10 North American banks, and three of the top five global insurance firms. Our decades of experience empower Advicent to create scalable technology prepared for regulatory changes; compliance workflow management; fully branded client experiences through industry-leading APIs; and superior cash flow and goal-based calculations. Advicent products are designed to satisfy the needs of every investor and are used in firms of all sizes. Through our innovative product capabilities and dedicated services, we are able to help thousands of financial professionals and their clients understand and impact their financial future. To learn more, visit advicent.com or call us at (855) Advicent, NaviPlan, Profiles, and Advisor Briefcase are trademarks of Advicent Solutions. 7