The financial services and wealth management industry is highly competitive. While estimates vary, there are approximately 300,000 financial advisors who work across a range of industries. Moreover, the financial services industry invested more than $36 billion in digital ad spending alone in the US in 2024. With such significant competition, a wealth management firm or financial services institution must cut through this noise and differentiate its offerings to catch the attention of new prospects.
A major challenge is that no two clients are alike: what delights one client may be very different than what satisfies another client. A one-size-fits all approach to marketing and financial management services will fail to maximize prospect interest and conversion. With so many financial services options available, understanding and engaging prospective clients with excellent, personalized service and differentiated marketing content is critical.
So, how do RIAs (Registered Investment Advisors), financial advisors, and wealth managers stand out in a crowd and appeal to different types of client prospects?
Psympl is dedicated to uncovering deep consumer insights to inform the strategies and marketing efforts for financial advisors and wealth managers. To help financial advisors understand consumers' attitudes, beliefs, and fears regarding investing and financial advisors, specifically, Psympl partnered with Ipsos in August 2024 to conduct a comprehensive study of consumers' approaches to investment and financial management. This online study involved n=3,000 respondents mirroring the U.S. Census (i.e., demographically and socioeconomically representative) with a comprehensive survey covering a variety of topics regarding financial investments, the role of financial advisors, and many topics related to wealth management.
One of the questions in the study asked:
Which characteristics are important to you when it comes to a professional financial advisor/wealth manager?
If the survey respondent did not currently work with a financial advisor, the question was framed:
While you indicated you do not currently have a professional financial advisor/wealth manager, if you were to consider working with one, which characteristics are the most important to you when considering a professional financial advisor/wealth manager?
Please rank the 3 most important with “1” being the most important and “3” being the 3rd most important
Respondents were offered 24 randomized characteristics:
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Advisor's age |
Length of advisor's experience |
Length of your relationship as a client with the advisor |
Amount of money currently being managed across all the advisor's clients |
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Advisor's academic degree (e.g., Bachelor's degree, MBA, etc.) |
Professional title (e.g., Certified Financial Planner, Chartered Financial Analyst, etc.) |
Where the advisor went to school/university |
Performance metrics/return on investments achieved (past performance) |
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Recommendation/Referral from trusted colleagues (professional colleagues, friends, or family) |
Recognition/awards earned from financial publications or associations |
Reputation of the company for whom the advisor works |
Reputation of the advisor him/herself |
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Quality of the advisor's company's research |
Knowledgeable about many and varied investments/financial instruments |
Willing to listen and act on your needs, preferences, and priorities regarding your investments |
Does not have inherent self-interest or financial incentive in steering you to a particular type of investment |
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Does not trade frequently into and out of different investments |
Brings you interesting opportunities that are unique before the rest of the market can act on them |
The advisor is friendly |
The advisor is easy to talk to and communicates effectively |
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Transparency/Advisor tells it like it is |
Good customer service |
Provides references from clients with needs similar to yours |
Helps reduce my tax liability |
Again, respondents were asked to rank up to three factors in order of impact. While most, if not all, characteristics listed above are important, this forced choice method would ensure prioritization. Out of the 24 characteristics offered, the following were the top choices in order of percentage chosen:
Among the Top 5 Characteristics:
Underscoring that no two clients are alike, no one characteristic was picked by a majority of respondents. Perhaps certain characteristics are more important to different consumer types?
Psympl's Method
A method for understanding psychological differences among a population is psychographic segmentation. Psychographics pertain to people's attitudes, values, beliefs, fears, personalities, and lifestyles, which are core to their motivations and priorities. Psychographic segmentation groups people according to these shared characteristics. A primary objective of Psympl's market research was to identify a psychographic model that explains consumers' decision-making processes and investment behaviors. Psympl identified five distinct psychographic segments for financial services:
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Segment 1 (17%) I'm financially comfortable and I invest, but I'm hands-off with my investments. I want professionals to guide my investments using a safe and predictable approach. |
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Segment 2 (22%) I'm financially secure and actively following the stock market and discussing finances. I favor a more aggressive approach, picking individual stocks myself and am interested in alternative investments like cryptocurrency. |
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Segment 3 (20%) I'm financially secure and confident in my financial standing and retirement. I'm comfortable making my own investment decisions, and prefer a balanced approach to risk, seeking both potential gains and security |
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Segment 4 (25%) I'm living paycheck to paycheck and worried about my retirement. I avoid investing and often carry credit card debt because of my financial situation. |
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Segment 5 (16%) I'm pretty financially secure. I don't invest or trust the stock market but I'm still on track for retirement. My finances aren't complex, so I prefer to just manage them myself. |
While these psychographic segments share some top characteristics sought in a financial advisor, there are some noticeable differences:
As outlined above, different psychographic segments prioritize different characteristics sought in a financial advisor or wealth manager. Effective communication is prized by several segments, while other segments focus on performance measurement. Segment 2 wants to stay ahead of the curve and take advantage of opportunities early, while Segment 4 values customer service. Segment 5 tends to favor older, more experienced advisors. Thus, client motivation analysis uncovers unique approaches to different investor types.
Depending on a financial institution's or financial advisor's strategies or desired client type(s), the targeted psychographic segment(s) should guide the focus and emphasis placed on the topic covered by marketing or client engagement messaging for true wealth management personalization.
Each psychographic segment requires unique engagement strategies (i.e., content/wording, channel(s), communication frequency) to appeal to them and activate desired behaviors. Psympl Psychographic AITM enables financial advisors to leverage psychographic insights and automated content generation for enhanced client engagement and financial planning.
To find out more about the Psympl Psychographic model, market research, and AI-driven customer insights, please download our whitepaper, Psychographics in Financial Services and Wealth Management