The average consumer relies on digital technology in nearly every facet of their life. Amazon surfaces product recommendations based on your purchase history and delivers them in one click. Netflix recommends movies and TV shows based on what they know viewers like. However, the investment banking industry lags behind in its digital transformation journey. 

As clients move from traditional in-person engagements to the digital-first world, investment banks need to transform in order to grow alongside their clients. Digital transformation can help banks improve their client relationships by increasing productivity and efficiency through automation and artificial intelligence. 

What your clients expect 

Today, clients want their banks to offer the same experiences they’ve come to expect from companies like Amazon and Netflix. They want personalized experiences that engage them on the topics that matter the most to their organizations. In fact, research by Accenture found that 78% of users expect tailored solutions and 76% want self-directed experiences.

How does that look in real-world terms? Modern clients want investment banks to know who they are and what they need. They also want their banker to routinely look for ways to deliver more value. 

Developing personalized, client-centric relationships starts with listening. If a client has a question or needs additional information regarding a specific product or service, they expect their banker to share content that guides them through the decision-making process. Put in Amazon terms, “we know you’re interested in the sale of securities, so we think you’ll like xyz content for more information.”

This isn’t as tedious as it seems. Digitally enabled bankers have the tools they need to personalize experiences and share more of the content they know works. 

What your bankers need 

In order to deliver experiences similar to Amazon and Netflix, investment banks need to create differentiated content experiences for clients.

As it stands, investment bankers spend an outsized portion of their time managing manual processes. Personalizing pitchbooks on a client-by-client basis is time-consuming. Producing and approving quarterly commentary often takes weeks and, without the right technology, bankers lack visibility into whether their clients review the materials. 

By automating repetitive tasks, it becomes easier to create personalized and interactive content that engages buyers and allows bankers to spend more time building relationships. Cloud-based enablement software allows investment bankers to automatically pull in bios, logos, and market commentary. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) can improve engagement

Understanding how and when clients interact with your content has a tremendous impact on your client relationships. Every time a client opens and reads a report, valuable data is generated. Clicks on a report can indicate interest and the insights from your content can tell you what your clients want you to produce more of, as well as what needs to be tweaked. 

AI-driven insights help remove the guesswork from content performance. If more clients interact with a specific asset, or if content generates more engagement at a certain time, AI can identify these patterns and generate intelligent insights regarding how and when to reach your clients. As you gather more data, over time, you can use AI to optimize and create more compelling content, as well as improve deal speed.

How Seismic can help  

The Seismic Sales Enablement platform is trusted by more than 315 financial services organizations. Nine of the top 10 US Banks turn to Seismic to deliver a world-class experience to banks, investment bankers, and their clients through every interaction and touchpoint.

Our platform supports investment bankers by allowing them to identify relationships with limited engagement and find value-add content to share. Automation capabilities streamline content personalization such as pitch decks and quarterly commentary. 

If you’d like to learn more about how you can engage your clients in the digital-first era, download our eBook, “Rewriting the Rules of Engagement for the Modern Financial Services Client.”