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The Need for Greater Personalization

by Lauren

In the movie, The Minority Report, when a customer walks into a Gap in 2054, they are greeted by a friendly Gap employee on a giant flat-screen monitor, who directly addresses them and references their most recent purchase: "Good afternoon, Mr. Yakamoto. How did you like that three-pack of tank tops you bought last time you were in?"

While personalization hasn't reached this level just yet in 2007, many elements of personalization are evident on the internet today, but rarely on asset management Web sites. Why is this? With almost 80% of consumers in favor of receiving personalized content online, why are asset managers so reticent to provide better customer service?

With the core building blocks in place, personalization is the key to taking advisor sites and key account relationships to the next level. When advisors can get information about products anywhere, the value-add of the Web site lies in providing personalized, tailored content they can't get anywhere else.

Certainly, implementing advanced personalization is not easy to accomplish. However, firms should think about even simple steps that they can take on their advisor Web sites, especially for independent advisors:

• Customizing featured marketing materials based on previous orders
• Integrating details about an advisors' book of business

The increasing control exerted by broker-dealers and distribution partners in general means that this type of basic personalization may become more of a necessity than a differentiator. Regardless of whether or not this type of content is provided on a microsite or the firm's general advisor Web site though, the need to tailor content to particular audiences is an increasingly important way for firms to demonstrate a commitment to their business partners both large and small.