Salesforce Delivers Global '2016 Connected Investor Report' -- Exploring the Financial Advisor-Investor Relationship

SAN FRANCISCO, March 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Salesforce [NYSE: CRM], the Customer Success Platform and world's #1 CRM company, today released its global "2016 Connected Investor Report" surveying more than 7,900 adults across six markets (Australia, Canada, France, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S.). The survey, conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of Salesforce, found that 67% of investors believe that modern tools for financial planning are important factors when selecting an advisor. However, many investors still communicate with their advisors through old-fashioned channels, such as phone (45%), in-person (24%) or "snail mail" (7%).

Financial advisors today are under more pressure than ever before to meet the expectations of investors, who are conditioned by digital experiences from other aspects of their lives. In addition, recent market turbulence is driving uncertainty in investors, increasing the likelihood they will reach out to their advisors for more frequent information and advice. In fact, 61% of investors with financial advisors state they are "scared" about their financial well-being. At the same time, advisors struggle to increase their client-facing time, as their days are filled with manually gathering information from disparate systems to prepare for paper-based quarterly reviews. To succeed, wealth management firms must equip advisors with tools that increase productivity and collaboration, helping them prioritize their time, build deeper relationships with clients, and remove busywork and administrative tasks.

The study was commissioned by Salesforce and conducted online by Harris Poll from Feb. 24-29, 2016. To download the Salesforce "2016 Connected Investor Report," click here: http://sfdc.co/DnrA2.

"2016 Connected Investor Report" Key Report Findings

• Among investors who would like to change how they currently manage their investments, 63% would like to collaborate with their financial advisor — most notably in Japan and the U.K.
  • When citing key factors in choosing a financial advisor, many investors report technology-based reasons, such as the ability to get a holistic view of their accounts (76%) and modern tools for financial planning (67%).
  • Only 11% of investors across all six countries use a digital advice platform (e.g., "robo-advisor") to manage all or a portion of their investments.
• Global investors primarily meet or communicate with their advisors quarterly (32%) or annually (27%), with less than 10% meeting or communicating on a weekly basis.
  • The outlier was Japan, which had the highest frequency of advisors meeting with investors monthly (22%) or weekly (24%).
  • Communication between investors and advisors is done mostly via traditional means, according to investors, with activities such as checking the performance of their investment portfolio (37%), making investment decisions (50%) and sharing documents (39%) taking place in person.
  • Storing financial information is also done in an old-fashioned manner, with the largest percentage of investors (37%) stating they hold documents in a folder, shoebox or other home-based physical storage option.
• Economic volatility is exacerbating the need for advisors to provide transparency and communicate more frequently with investors.
  • Sixty-one percent of those who have a financial advisor report being "scared" of their financial well-being — with French (76%) and U.K. (70%) investors particularly concerned.
  • Forty-two percent of investors with financial advisors are unclear on the method or process by which their advisors make recommendations for their investments.
  • Less than a third (31%) of investors with a financial advisor believe their advisor would recognize them if they walked past them on the street.

Comments on the News

• "Investors today have a new set of expectations of their advisors. They are used to getting information in real-time, at their fingertips on their mobile devices. They want to be served on their terms, and across their entire financial lives," said Simon Mulcahy, senior vice president and general manager, Financial Services Industry, Salesforce. "To succeed in this new world, advisors need technology that empowers them to connect more frequently and more effectively with their clients."

Additional Resources

• Download a full copy of the report http://sfdc.co/DnrA2 from the Salesforce Financial Services Team.
• Like Salesforce on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/salesforce.
• Follow @salesforce on Twitter.

Methodology
This survey was conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of Salesforce from Feb. 24-29, among 7,922 adults ages 18+ in Australia (n=1,019), Canada (n=1,354), France (n=1,076), Japan (n=1,318), the U.K. (n=1,080) and the U.S. (n=2,075), including 4,944 "investors": adults ages 18+ who currently have money invested (e.g., stock market, bonds, retirement accounts) – 606 in Australia, 884 in Canada, 792 in France, 757 in Japan, 672 in the U.K. and 1,233 in the U.S. Raw data were weighted by the following demographic variables where necessary to reflect the general adult (or online adult) population in each country as follows: Australia (age within gender, education, region, and income); Canada (age within gender, education, race/ethnicity, region, income, and language); France (age within gender, region, and education); Japan (age within gender, region, income, education, and marital status); U.K. (age within gender, education, region, and internet usage); U.S. (age within gender, education, race/ethnicity, region, and income). For the six-country total, an additional post-weight was applied to give each country equal weight within the total.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Poll avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal. Respondents for this survey were selected among those who have agreed to participate in online surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. No estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

About Salesforce
Salesforce, the Customer Success Platform and world's #1 CRM company, empowers companies to connect with their customers in a whole new way. For more information about Salesforce (NYSE:CRM), visit: http://www.salesforce.com.

Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other press releases or public statements are not currently available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase Salesforce applications should make their purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available. Salesforce has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "CRM." For more information please visit http://www.salesforce.com, or call 1-800-NO-SOFTWARE.

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