How your legacy asset management firm can still create memorable digital experiences

Compared to financial start-ups like Mint or Robinhood, you’re not quite sure where your legacy asset management company fits into the fintech landscape. For one thing, your model of doing business and building brand awareness is fundamentally old school and mostly relationship-based — wining and dining your customer, and selling your product through advisors. Although, as you may have already discovered, this arcane process hinders your ability to build brand recognition in an ever-changing digital space.

Without a solid brand strategy, you feel like it’s only a matter of time before newer fintech companies surpass you. And you’re not off-base. These companies capture the market’s attention with customer-centric, intuitive, and delightful design that sells. Does yours measure up?

Modern asset managers selling direct-to-consumer are humanizing their brands and crowding out competitors. They see opportunities to shape their customers’ experiences across their larger brand landscape and cement their brand in the fintech world.

How do you bring your company up to speed with today’s consumer expectations? We have a few suggestions.

1. Humanize your design experience

Many asset management companies miss the mark in this regard because they’re more concerned with the technical aspects of their financial product, and assume their audience is, too. We assure you, they’re not. It’s like describing how a car works to a customer, but not how it feels to drive it.

To humanize your brand, you need to know your audience. Here’s where to start:

Do your research

Customer insight programs and user testing help you understand your audience and meet them where they are. Armed with this insight, you can test new product features and tweak them as the needs of your customer evolve. Customer insight is the foundation for product design that reads as more intuitive, sympathetic, and human.

Speak your customer’s language

We mean this both literally as well as from a design perspective. When you communicate with your customer, use casual (but still professional) language that evokes honesty and approachability. And when it comes to actual product design, a friendly and warm visual interface goes a long way to communicate that same approachable, trustworthy persona.

Illustration-heavy design is also a more humanized way to speak to today’s consumer. It’s a trend you’ve probably noticed in modern startups. Illustrations can go a long way in delighting a customer. Well thought-out visuals demonstrate your personality and can make your audience feel like they’re interacting with real people behind a digital touchpoint.

Stop using blue (seriously)

Too many financial services brands are stuck in one slice of the color wheel. We’re kind of over it — and the customer is, too. 

Blue is officially bland. It’s ubiquitous enough in the fintech space that, should you use it in your branding, you’ll just blend in with the others that aim to communicate “trust” and “safety” through their palette. The market is literally oversaturated. So pick a hue that differentiates you from other digital financial services companies.

Use AI

Admittedly, this may seem counterintuitive to our whole “human-friendly design” thing. But there’s a reason why more financial services companies are leaning on AI in the form of chatbots, for example. It’s because bots make the whole user experience feel much more intuitive and, well, human. Bots can guide the user through a process (say, onboarding) in a way that anticipates the needs of a customer, often even better than a human can.

It’s all about trust

Trust is a huge theme in financial services, particularly for asset management. Humanizing a product with the right language and design generates brand trust, which is important for companies that promise ROI. Your customer wants to know that their investment is in safe hands, as they should.

Today’s audience is particularly skeptical of legacy financial institutions because of recent fractures in consumer trust and evasions of accountability among people in power. That’s why they’re more drawn to digital products that make them feel like they’re in control of their investments. If you want to cater to this new wave of customers, make sure your digital product is transparent, aligns with your customer’s values, and reads as more human than the average asset management company.

2. Deliver solid UX beyond your marketing site

Speaking of trust, make sure your brand messaging is consistent across all digital channels and touchpoints. Otherwise, you will erode your customer’s confidence in your product. One mistake we see all the time with asset management companies is when their websites are decoupled from their larger brand ecosystems — your apps, social media, digital ads, etc. — and customer loyalty suffers for it. 

One typical reason for this disconnect is when communication is siloed across departments. This makes it hard to design consistent and cohesive digital touchpoints. Instead, think of your website as one part of an entire digital experience platform (DXP). It should work in tandem with other touchpoints in the customer journey (e.g., social channels, app, ads) to create a streamlined experience.

To make your digital product more cohesive, make sure the lines of communication between internal stakeholders are open and that everyone is aligned on a customer-centric approach to building products. When you achieve this alignment, everything about your branding will feel smoother.

3. Team up with a customer experience consultancy

If you’re reading this, you’re likely aware that your financial services product needs a reboot. However, it’s hard to be the only one sounding the alarm when the rest of your in-house team is happy with the status quo. If it were up to them, they would keep relying on their Rolodex to drive sales.

Hiring a financial services customer experience consultancy will help:

• Bolster your claim that your enterprise needs to modernize its digital product, convincing stakeholders who still have their heads in the sand.
• Determine what your financial enterprise needs to differentiate it from other institutions.
• Provide data-driven recommendations. Product visions are based on the voice of the customer, which is hard for stakeholders to argue against if they’re in the business of delivering essential financial products. 
• Get your digital product across the finish line with a customer consultancy. They make your ideal DXP or new feature a reality with their design capabilities.

There’s an easier path to modernizing your financial enterprise. Interested in learning more? Let’s talk.