Advisors believe many asset management websites miss the mark, J.D. Power study says

A new J.D. Power analysis suggests that when it comes to meeting the needs of financial advisors, the websites of many asset managers are barely scraping by.

Released last week, the 2023 J.D. Power U.S. Advisor Online Experience Study explores how financial advisors interact with asset manager websites as part of their efforts to help clients grow and manage their wealth with optimal investment products.

Craig Martin, executive managing director and head of wealth and lending intelligence at J.D. Power, said that asset manager websites need to meet three key criteria to deliver a superior digital experience. 

But few advisors believe all of those boxes are being checked. 

"Websites need to be foundationally sound from a design and usability standpoint; information needs to be easy to find and accessible; and they must effectively deliver clear, valuable information and insights. The problem is, just 17% of advisors say the asset management websites they use are delivering consistently on all three," Martin said. "Worse, 27% of advisors say at least some of the asset manager websites they've visited in the past month do not even deliver the basics for a foundational level engagement. 

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"The business effects of these shortfalls are already being felt and will only increase as digital becomes more critical for advisor engagement."

The study looked at the connection between digital experience and future investments, finding that more than half of advisors (58%) say they are "extremely likely" to invest new assets with a firm in the next three months when its asset management websites deliver on the three key criteria.

That percentage falls to 31% when asset management websites fail to deliver clear and valuable information, and strong future investment intent falls to just 20% when the sites are difficult to navigate and lack important details.

The study also determines that few asset management websites are getting the digital formula right. More than one-fourth (27%) of advisors say the asset manager websites they use do not meet the basic foundational criteria they expect, such as presenting information in an organized manner or meeting expectations for brand appearance and website performance.

And despite asset managers growing more reliant on websites as a first-line channel to support advisor education and relationship management, the study says there have not been significant improvements to the web properties. 

Overall advisor satisfaction scores with asset manager websites declined 3 points (on a 1,000-point scale) this year to 639. J.D. Power said individual scores and rankings are not provided in this benchmarking study. Firms evaluated in the study include the following:

AllianceBernstein
BlackRock
Capital Group
Charles Schwab
Columbia Threadneedle Investments
Fidelity Investments
Franklin Templeton
Invesco
J.P. Morgan
MFS Investment Management
Morgan Stanley
Nuveen
PIMCO
Prudential Financial
State Street Global Advisors (SSGA)
T. Rowe Price
Vanguard

J.D. Power's U.S. Advisor Online Experience Study evaluates advisor interaction with asset manager websites based on speed, information/content, visual appeal and navigation. The study is based on 2,500 evaluations from financial advisors and was fielded from May through August 2023.