Advising without personalization is like investing without a strategy — risky and ineffective.
Clients want a unique experience and recommendations tailored to their lifestyle, preferences and financial goals. According to a recent survey, the top thing clients value most from financial advisors: personalized financial planning. But delivering on personalization can be challenging, especially as firms grow.
Segmentation or creating client personas allows advisors to group clients by similarities to send relevant, targeted campaigns and personalized investment recommendations. Instead of looking at each client individually, advisors can break clients into groups by persona and then dive deeper with custom plans.
In this article, you’ll learn the importance of client personas, what to include, and share examples of client personas.
What is a Client Persona?
A client or buyer persona is a fictional representation of a type of client. Instead of thinking about clients in nebulous terms (such as their risk level or lifestyle) or demographics (such as their age or ethnicity), a client persona adds a human touch to help advisors understand their clients’ and potential clients’ needs, motivations, and concerns.
Client personas are detailed and usually include the following information:
- Client name and age
- Marital status
- Dependent ages
- Financial goals
- Values and beliefs
- Job and employment status
- Net worth
- Investment style and risk tolerance
Creating personas can help advisors better understand current clients and connect with potential clients. Advisors can use client personas to create targeted marketing campaigns and tailor their services to attract clients. Targeted marketing is powerful — only 8% of advisors actively pursue niche marketing, but they bring in significantly more clients than other firms.
Sample Client Personas for Financial Advisors
There’s no one-size-fits-all secret to client personas, just like there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to investing. However, here are sample client personas for inspiration:
Rowan and Jen, the Young Professionals
Rowan (age 29) and Jen (age 27) are starting in their careers and family and looking toward the future. Rowan works as an attorney, and Jen balances part-time work as a marketing consultant with some freelance income. They have a one-year-old son and are engaged to be married next year.
Rowan and Jen want to create a financial plan that will set them and their son up for the future. They want to be able to buy a house in the next few years and save and invest aggressively so they can fund their son’s future and retire early.
Rowan and Jen are excited about their financial goals, but they don’t know much about their investment options and have never thought about their finances beyond the next few years. They need help understanding their options, creating an aggressive financial plan, and staying disciplined.
Steve and Sandra, the Soon-to-be Retirees
Steve (age 56) and Sandra (age 58) plan to retire around age 65. Steve is a teacher, and Sandra works in insurance. They have two grown children and own their home.
Steve and Sandra have had investments, retirement accounts, and a financial plan for years, but with retirement getting closer, they are nervous they won’t have enough to live comfortably. They need an advisor who will set them up with a cautious to moderately risky plan for the next decade and help them transition from full-time work to retirement. Steve and Sandra are also looking at estate planning and want to make sure their assets are handled properly after their passing.
Mitch, the Entrepreneur
Mitch (age 44) is a serial entrepreneur and has started and sold multiple businesses. He currently runs an AI startup. Mitch is single and owns his home.
Mitch knows he has enough money to be decently prepared financially for the future, but he struggles with how to create a sustainable financial plan to make the most of his money. His income fluctuates based on his businesses, and he needs a financial plan that can be flexible. Mitch also needs guidance on how to save or reinvest his business income. He is open to taking risks and using new financial options like cryptocurrency.
What to Do With Client Personas
What’s next? Use these examples to create personas for your current or ideal clients. Need help getting started? Sort your CRM data based on client age, goals, or risk tolerance to find patterns in your clients. Use those insights to build your personas.
Once you’ve created personas, use them as the base for your outreach and marketing. If many of your clients are young professionals, like the Rowan and Jen persona, share updates about new products that could appeal to them. Use the client persona as a starting point to create further customized plans with clients. It’s important to note that segmenting clients is a good first step to personalization, but it is just the basics. True personalization comes from delivering hyper-focused campaigns and communication.
Client personas are just the beginning. The real impact comes when you turn those insights into efficient and personalized workflows that meet clients where they are and move them forward with confidence. Whether you are working with pre-retirees like Steve and Sandra or entrepreneurs like Mitch, Docupace helps you deliver customized service at scale. With paperless processes, built-in compliance and smart automation, you can focus on what matters most, your clients.
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