As markets settle following Trump’s tariff turmoil, now’s the perfect time to reflect on how advisers and planners communicated with their clients.
In the days following the announcement of the tariffs, advisers and planners broadly fell into three groups:
Group #1: Did nothing to communicate with their clients.
Group #2: Emailed all clients providing information, confidence, and reassurance (some advisers/planners also followed up with more personal communications).
Group #3: Communicated with selected clients they knew would be worried.
As the saying goes, there’s more than one way to skin a cat, but in our view, the advisers and planners in Group #2 followed the right strategy.
So, the next time we see significant market turmoil, here’s our five-point blueprint for getting your communications right.
- Recognise that some clients will still be worried despite how well you’ve “trained” them.
- Remember, you’re their adviser/planner, so they should get the information, reassurance, and confidence they crave from you, not someone else, not social media, and certainly not the bloke in the pub!
- For many, a simple email reminding them of investing/planning fundamentals will be enough to settle their nerves.
- Some clients might need more from you and will also appreciate a quick phone call or meeting.
- Remember that it’s time to step up when markets drop. If you don’t, clients will get their information elsewhere, and we know how dangerous that can be.
Bulk emails work, despite what some people say
I’ve seen a few people suggest that sending bulk emails was the wrong thing to do.
I respect their opinion and listened to their arguments, but I disagree with them (and so does the evidence – keep reading for some fascinating data).
There’s a lot to be said for personalisation, but that takes time, which was in short supply after Trump’s announcement. Markets fell sharply, while noise on traditional and social media was deafening.
There was a need for speed.
There were also practical problems with personalisation:
- Deciding which clients to contact first
- Identifying the clients suffering in silence, afraid to admit they are worried
- Finding time for client contact while dealing with tax year-end pressures
- Communicating with prospects, as well as clients, who might be more concerned than existing clients who’ve experienced this before.
In our view, dismissing the benefits of a bulk email is a mistake. Instead, we recommended that advisers and planners did two things:
- Send a bulk email to give immediate information, confidence, and reassurance
- Follow up with specific clients who you know get nervous when markets fall.
That approach gives the best of both worlds: speed and personalisation.
And here’s the proof that it worked well.
Anecdotes and evidence to prove that the bulk email worked
The evidence…
We selected 18 firms at random and compared the open rates on their Trump email with their monthly newsletter.
Here’s what we found:
- The open rate on the Trump email was higher for 16 out of the 18 firms
- It was lower for two firms but by tiny amounts, 1% and 0.37% respectively.
The data is clear; the Trump mailers received excellent engagement.
The anecdotes…
We helped dozens of firms send bulk emails to clients and prospects, and we have received lots of feedback showing how effective the strategy was:
“I just wanted to let you know that in our monthly meeting today, all of our advisers said how much they appreciated the mailer we sent out on Saturday. They said the content was great and they really felt it had helped to calm clients from whom they would normally have had a nervous phone call from, and in doing that, it had made what is a busy time with a lot of challenging conversations, just that little bit easier.”
“I very much appreciate you being proactive, I had been thinking about sending something and you have solved that for me – thank you!”
“Our Compliance Manager thought it is a great document and pitched just right.”
“Brilliant – it’s really timely as we were just looking at sending something.”
“A quick note to thank you for the excellent blog and the speed in reacting to the problems. It’s a perfect message and will hopefully help to calm most of our clients.”
And perhaps our favourite, from the client of a financial planner: “I just wanted to say that I’ve been very impressed by the quality of the emails you put out. This Trump email is a great example — well-timed, informative, measured, and reassuring.”
Don’t forget to communicate with prospective clients
Prospective clients are people who have previously enquired about becoming a client of yours but haven’t yet engaged.
They haven’t benefited from your wisdom, training, and education over the years, so they were probably even more worried than your clients.
If you were the person who provided the information, confidence, and reassurance they needed, they’re far more likely to return to you when the time comes for them to engage an adviser/planner.
Two ways we can help
Firstly, we’re running a free webinar on Wednesday, 14 May, at 7 p.m. Two leading behavioural finance experts, Neil Bage and James Woodfall, will join us for a Q&A, during which we’ll reveal our top tips for communicating effectively when markets fall.
Click here to grab your spot.
Secondly, if you subscribe to Yardstick Membership, our “done for you” newsletter and blogging service, we’ll help you communicate with clients and prospects the next time this happens.
If you’d like to learn more about Yardstick Membership, email abi@theyardstickagency.co.uk or call 0115 8965 300. We’d love to explain how it adds value to clients and prospects.
