Sunday Email: Client Portals / Client Goals

Read time: ~ 7.30 minutes

Happy Sunday!

Every Sunday I offer strategies for the week ahead and a thought to fuel your action.

We Hate Change.

Let’s be real for a moment. Picture yourself in a scenario you’ve likely encountered before:

Whichever smartphone operating system you use—Apple or Android—you’re probably so comfortable with it that navigating is second nature. You know where everything is, how to access your apps, send messages, and make calls without even thinking about it.

Now, imagine someone encouraging you to switch to the other operating system—the one you’re not used to. What’s your reaction?

For most of us, it’s hesitation. We weigh the potential benefits against the learning curve and discomfort that comes with change, and more often than not, we decide it’s not worth the hassle. The new option doesn’t offer a drastic improvement—certainly not enough to justify the switch.

So, we stick with what we know.

Let’s dive into an even smaller, everyday example.

Maybe you check the weather daily using a specific app you’ve trusted for years. Now imagine someone tells you there’s a better app out there. You might give it a try, but chances are you’ll revert back to your old standby because it’s familiar. The new app might be slightly better in some aspects, but it’s not a game-changer.

This brings us to the core issue: Change is undesirable unless the alternative is significantly better. In fact, for most people to embrace change, the new option must be at least 10 times better than what they’re used to.

This principle is at the heart of why client portals in wealth management aren’t revolutionizing the advisor-client relationship as much as they claim to.

Client portals are marketed as a solution to every advisor’s client experience challenges. The idea is that an all-in-one portal will streamline everything a client needs—account overviews, reports, communication tools—creating a seamless experience that boosts retention, enhances value perception, and even drives referrals.

The reality, however, often falls short. When every advisor is offering essentially the same portal experience, there’s little differentiation. Clients, meanwhile, stick to what they know and are comfortable with.

Think about it: Many clients have spent years or even decades logging into their portfolios whether it is at Schwab or Fidelity or another custodian and there they perform routine tasks like updating allocations or transferring funds. This habit is deeply ingrained, and switching to a new system—even one with a shiny new interface—feels more like a burden than an upgrade.

In wealth management, custodians remain the backbone of the client experience. They handle the essential tasks—executing trades, processing paperwork, and providing account information. As custodians invest in their technology, they continue to be the go-to platform for client actions.

Yet, portfolio management systems and financial planning tools are constantly vying for client attention. They offer branded portals with document vaults, interactive dashboards, and holistic views of a client’s financial life. But when it comes to taking real action—moving money, making updates—the client still has to log in to the custodian.

This introduces a significant friction point. Clients now need to juggle multiple logins, switching between platforms depending on what they need to do. And knowing which experience needs to be accessed for which action. The experience becomes fragmented and cumbersome.

Let’s address the elephant in the room: Despite all the investment and development in client portals, adoption remains low. According to a survey by eMoney, only 38% of clients who use a portal felt it deepened their relationship with their advisor. Moreover, while 66% of investors have access to a portal, only half are frequent users.

What’s happening here?

The answer lies in human behavior. People resist change unless it’s absolutely necessary or incredibly compelling. Behavioral inertia, or the tendency to stick with familiar routines, plays a huge role. Even when advisors try to drive portal adoption by uploading all client documents to the portal, clients often revert to what’s most convenient: logging into the custodian’s app to check their balances or performance.

Another factor is status quo bias, the preference for things to stay as they are. The fear of potential downsides from trying something new outweighs the perceived benefits. This is hardwired into us, going back to our evolutionary instincts. The risk of change is seen as greater than the reward.

In their book Switch, Dan and Chip Heath explore why people resist change and how to help them embrace it. One key idea is the concept of a clear path. If the steps to adopt something new are difficult or confusing, people tend to give up and default to what’s familiar.

A client portal, as it stands, doesn’t offer the kind of clear and compelling benefits needed to drive widespread change. For a technology solution to succeed in shifting behavior, it has to be 10 times better than what came before.

Consider the iPhone when it launched. It wasn’t just a marginal improvement over existing phones; it was a quantum leap forward with its sleek design, intuitive touch screen, and internet capabilities. It was 10 times better than anything else available.

Uber did the same for transportation. It took the clunky, unpredictable experience of hailing a taxi and made it seamless, more affordable, and far more user-friendly. Again, a 10x improvement.

The same can be said for Google Maps, which replaced the cumbersome process of printing out directions with real-time navigation and traffic updates. It was a no-brainer to switch because it was clearly superior.

Advisors are not, by default, tech experts, nor should they have to be. But as technology becomes more critical to client experiences, firms must prioritize having someone in-house who thinks about tech every day. It’s no longer just a back-office function; it’s a driver of client engagement and differentiation.

Building a unique client experience starts with understanding exactly what you want that experience to be—before you even think about technology. Get out a whiteboard, map out every touchpoint, and define what matters most. Only then should you start identifying which tech solutions best serve that vision.

But don’t rush into buying anything. Evaluate all your options, understand how they integrate, and determine if they fit together in a way that delivers the experience you’ve envisioned.

Once you have the right tools in place, it’s about selling clients on their value—continuously. You need to explain why your solution is better than what they currently use, focusing on their needs and habits. And remember, to create lasting behavior change, you must invest time in training clients—going beyond PDFs and videos to provide hands-on guidance.

Ultimately, the solution might be simpler than you think. Consider shifting from relying on clients to pull information (logging in to check updates) to pushing information out (via notifications, emails, or texts). This fits seamlessly into their routines without requiring them to learn something new.

And as we move toward a more connected world, the future of client experiences lies in removing unnecessary barriers, like extra logins. The goal is to make interactions as frictionless as possible while ensuring security.

Client portals will continue to promise the world. They’ll pitch themselves as the key to client engagement and retention, but adoption tells a different story. Human behavior resists change unless there’s a substantial reason to embrace it.

Advisors who truly want to differentiate themselves need to take control of the client experience. Technology should be an enabler, not the driver, of that experience. As technology advances, there will be more opportunities than ever to craft a unique, tailored client journey—but only if advisors focus on building it from the ground up.

In the end, advisors must realize that the experience they deliver is their own, and it’s worth investing in that vision. Technology is just the tool to bring it to life.

A Thought To Ponder This Week

There is always someone out there that has more than you.

We are driven to strive for growth.

We set goals to grow. Grow ourselves, grow our knowledge, grow our wealth.

And we accomplish goals.

Just to set new ones.

Is there ever a time when we have “made it?”

Life can feel like this never ending journey of more and it only stops when we die.

We were built this way. It doesn’t make it bad, but it does make it exhausting.

For families we serve though, is there an opportunity to slow down or pause this ever moving journey for more?

It lies in better understanding our clients purpose and values.

This extends beyond just having more money or buying more things. It’s deeper than a questionnaire.

Likely, they will depend on us to help them define this. Yet we spend time focusing on the financial aspects which we know so well.

This week, in one conversation, try to go deeper. Ask more questions. Be extremely present and set out to learn about the other person independent of how long you have known them.

I think you may find it rewarding.

The best is ahead!

-Matt