Why a CRM supplier is the wrong choice for your client portal
Here’s a view from an adviser firm just like yours:
“My previous portal from my CRM supplier logically made sense but in practice you soon find out the limitations.
I was finding that I was apologising in advance of giving clients access to it. The client experience simply wasn’t strong enough and it made me nervous putting my brand on it.
We wanted something which clients wanted to use on a day to day basis not just because we tell them to when we send them a communication.
When my clients eventually got into the portal, it was slow, clunky and complicated and because clients did not use it often enough they frequently had to call me for password requests which just added to everyone’s frustration.
moneyinfo is the experience we have since put in front of our clients and you can see that the team have really thought about engaging the client first and then cleverly mapping it back to how we operate.
We now have our own brand in the Appstores rather than having to push our clients to download an app from a brand they do not recognise.”
Andrew Platt, CEO, Callisto Wealth
When it comes to selecting a client portal to give your clients access to their finances online there are a range of factors to consider.
Probably the most Important consideration is to have a portal that is not tied to your CRM supplier.
This may seem counter-intuitive but let's consider it:
1) When you roll-out your client portal, it should provide your clients with the best experience possible. It Is the most important piece of software to get right to improve the efficiency of your business.
You can hide an inefficient back-office process from your clients but you can't hide from an inefficient or hard to use portal and if it's too clunky your clients simply won't use it - which defeats the object as you won't get any benefit from a portal your clients don’t use.
2) At some point in the future, it may happen that you want to switch your CRM supplier. It's complicated enough to migrate all of your data and processes over to a new piece of software and re-train your staff but how much more complicated will it be, if you have to re-train all your clients as well and coordinate the switch over of both your back-office and portal together?
We are the only portal supplier able to integrate with all the main CRM suppliers - Iress, Intelliflo, Curo, Pulse, Pershing, iMix etc. which means you can switch between CRMs to suit the needs of your business and without affecting your client experience.
Can your CRM supplier offer this flexibility?
You can also run multiple back-offices from different suppliers at the same time, whilst delivering a consistent client experience - very helpful if you intend to acquire other businesses.
3) And then there's data management. Many firms we talk with are unable to consistently keep their CRM/Back office data up to date. At moneyinfo you outsource the problem of data management to us.
We manage all your platform & provider feeds for you, ensuring you deliver your clients with up-to-date valuations and we take the responsibility to fix any data issues that occur.
These are just some of the reasons for choosing a portal independent of your CRM but in case that hasn't convinced you, here are a few more:
Accessibility: Your clients need access on the devices they use everyday - their smartphone, tablets and PCs.
Security: It must take everything away from email leaving nothing stored locally on any client devices.
Ease of Use: It should be as easy to use as WhatsApp not more complicated than the Times crossword.
Differentiation: Your clients should download your own branded app from the Apple or Android Appstores, not a third-party brand your clients will not recognise.
Complementary: Your portal must complement the service you deliver and increase your client's financial peace of mind.
Engagement: It should give your clients something they will want to use, not just an ability to view the output of your services. Get this wrong and it will be just another login for them to forget.
Adoption support: your client portal supplier should support you with ongoing marketing materials and strategies to ensure ongoing adoption. Our interests for client adoption are aligned with yours.
Tracking: If its measured, its managed. Measure your ongoing adoption and fine tune your communications to ensure frequency of login.
Innovation: Select a supplier who can bring new ideas to improve your operating model like onboarding, client reviews and rebalancing.
Focus: Select a service provider whose business is 100% focused on client portals.
Data Security and GDPR Compliance: So important we'll say it twice, your portal must offer easy to use, secure GDPR compliant communications and privacy controls.
Confidence: And finally be confident in your choice and roll out a client portal you are proud of.
At moneyinfo we’ll take your business further than you thought possible.
Sim Sangha
Business Development Director
moneyinfo limited
Book a 1-2-1 demo here.
03303 600 300