Fund profile pages allow financial advisors to stay abreast of fund strategies, performance and risk data, expense details, and benefits, thereby helping them sell products and manage client portfolios more effectively. According to Corporate Insight’s 2018 Financial Advisor Survey, detailed fund information is important to all age groups. 84% of Millennials, 73% of Gen Xers and 80% of Boomers+ assign top-two box importance to the category. 54% of all advisors viewed or downloaded fund profiles in the past 12 months, making it the most popular website activity by a significant margin.
Asset management firms need to keep this aspect of their sites detailed and up to date if they want to keep advisors engaged. Our recent report on fund profile pages assesses the interfaces of 18 of the firms in the Asset Management Monitor – Advisor coverage set.
Industry standards emerge for fund profile pages as firms keep pace with advisor expectations
Nearly every firm in this report offers profile resources that cover the key fund factors:
- Performance
- Risk
- Expenses
- Composition
Firms now place higher importance on ease of navigation between profiles than in years past, with some presenting fund search functions on their homepages or even ways to toggle between funds directly from other funds’ pages. Manager bios are now commonplace in fund overview sections, so firms have begun supplying more detailed information—including headshots and tenure—to stay ahead of the curve.
Two firms offer robust and engaging product data for a best-in-class advisor experience
Columbia Threadneedle and Vanguard stand out for their comprehensive fund profile pages that provide wide scopes of coverage, data presentation and value-added features. Interactive graphs and charts, especially customizable hypothetical growth charts, are becoming industry standard, and additional functionalities like sharing capabilities help firms’ resources stand out among peers.
Key summary findings for fund profiles pages
Our report identifies several overarching key findings, best practices and industry trends regarding asset managers’ fund profile pages:
- Interactive hypothetical growth charts let advisors visualize and forecast investment performance while providing personalization options essential in creating a comprehensive user experience
- Value-added features like sharing capabilities help meet rising advisor expectations
- Firms are making it easier to navigate between separate fund profiles
- Manager bios are now commonplace, while more detailed information helps build trust with advisors
Subscribers can read the full report on fund profile pages on our client portal. For access, or for more competitive intelligence on the user experience that asset managers provide to advisors, check out Corporate Insight’s Asset Management Monitor – Advisor research services.
