Announcing the Client Behavior Benchmark 2.0
When Accomplish launched the revolutionary Client Behavior Benchmark in 2021, we committed to continually improve the value of our insights to asset managers.
As the latest delivery of that promise, we are proud to announce the Client Behavior Benchmark 2.0 that will feature 3 categories of upgrades to be implemented over the next few quarters:
- Q4 2024: Increased Actionability.
- Q1 2025: Spotlight on Differentiation.
- Q2 2025: Intermediary Version to comply with the UK’s Consumer Duty.
Some new features are revolutionary again – like the intermediary version of the Benchmark and related services – and others are evolutionary responses to our ongoing evaluation of the unique Benchmark’s performance.
This blog summarizes what you should expect.
Increased Actionability
Insights may be vital, but only action brings ROI, which the initial version of the Benchmark addressed in several ways.
It distils dozens of insights into 9 key messages, helping you to decide where to focus. You will still be able to view these on both your CX Scorecard and Client Journey, and Accomplish will continue to publish action logs and check in with you monthly about progress.
2.0 will go further by breaking down the Benchmark’s strategic use cases into 26 specific cases placed next to the relevant data:
- Stand out in an over-supplied market: 5 use cases.
- Design client-centric processes: 10 use cases.
- Deepen client engagement: 11 use cases.
In testing, this greater granularity increased the specificity of our recommendations, indicating that, depending on the data you submit, an average 2.0 report will yield between 15-25 recommendations. As before, they will be bespoke, unconflicted, and easy to consume.
Spotlight on Differentiation
Board directors often refer to their company’s “excellent” or “market-leading” CX as a source of differentiation. To support such statements, 2.0 will include upgraded visualizations that will reveal the distribution of results in each dataset. This will show you where your CX stood out and any improvements you need to achieve.
The initial version of the Benchmark used line graphs to unearth previously unavailable behavioral insights into the pre- and post-sale aspects of the client journey. Essential at the outset, these charts revealed the ballpark the industry was in for stimulating each client behavior and what constituted an average or exceptional result.
Now that we have gained this foundational knowledge, the next insight asset managers want is the level they need to achieve to stand apart positively from others in their chosen areas and to avoid standing out negatively in others. 2.0 will give them this insight.
Intermediary Version
Last but by no means least, the Client Behavior Benchmark 2.0 will include an intermediary version so asset managers can pinpoint, in time and money, the effect their CX has on the behavior of wholesale clients and financial advisors.
The intermediary market is vital to many asset managers’ distribution strategies, but it is crowded, creating a commercial imperative for firms to stand out.
Because these markets are more likely to be regulated nationally, we will take a country-by-country approach to rolling out the new Benchmark, starting in the UK, where the FCA’s Consumer Duty creates the perfect conditions.
It obliges UK-regulated entities to monitor “good outcomes” for clients by “considering how they behave … at every stage of the journey.” Additionally, firms should:
- “Take behavioral biases into account” while ensuring they “avoid inappropriately manipulating them.”
- Have “Board-level data and metrics” to support their compliance.
If a firm does not have direct contact with retail customers, “it should monitor the outcomes of its service within the distribution chain,” i.e. wholesalers and advisors.
This is precisely what the Benchmark achieves for institutional asset managers today.
As a result, an intermediary version will enable you to 1) prove your regulatory compliance within the retail distribution chain and 2) leverage statistically valid patterns of client behavior as a new source of differentiation.
3 steps to CX excellence
We are excited about all aspects of this upgrade to the Client Behavior Benchmark, and we hope you found this article useful.
If you would like to act further, here are Accomplish’s 3 steps to CX excellence:
- Book a personal tour.
- Check the readiness of your CX data.
- Pinpoint, in time and money, where your pre- and post-sale client experience out and underperforms at engaging clients.
