Free comes with a price: the hidden costs of a free client portal
If your firm serves successful individuals who value high standards, attention to detail and exceptional service, every client touchpoint needs to reflect that standard.
Delivering a basic, off-the-shelf digital experience just because it’s free risks undermining everything your brand stands for.
Why risk undermining your premium brand you’ve worked hard for with a digital experience that falls short?
Although it’s a convenient option, here are the hidden costs that come with a “free” client portal bundled with your adviser platform:
It doesn’t reflect your brand
A free portal is never truly yours. You can’t fully control the look, feel or content of the experience. That means your clients are interacting with a generic interface that does nothing to reinforce your firm’s value, personality or premium positioning.
It’s designed for the back office, not your clients
Most adviser platforms focus on CRM and back-office efficiency, not delivering an exceptional client experience. That’s why free portals tend to be limited in scope, slow to evolve and difficult for advisers and clients alike to use effectively.
Waiting for the next promised release to solve these problems isn’t a strategy, it’s a delay. And in the meantime, you risk client dissatisfaction and lost opportunities to differentiate your service.
With it designed for the back office and not your clients, the portal is almost bound to be clunky. Development teams can only do so much when their priority is building a back-office system, meaning user experience often takes a back seat.
That’s why firms choose moneyinfo; your clients benefit from an intuitive interface under your brand, while you can flexibly integrate with core systems without being locked into them.
It’s clunky and poorly designed
Your client portal is often your front office. It’s where clients experience your service, access their portfolios and communicate with your team. If that experience feels clunky, restrictive or not available under your brand on the app stores, it will jar with the premium image you’ve worked hard to build.
A poor digital experience casts a long shadow over even the best financial advice. And once that
How to overcome these challenges
A client portal shouldn’t be a bolt-on or an afterthought. It’s a critical part of how clients perceive your firm. Settling for the default portal bundled with your CRM is a missed opportunity.
Choosing a dedicated, independent digital relationship management platform like moneyinfo helps you stand out, and keeps you free to evolve your tech stack as your firm grows.
