Top 5 Essential Topics for Asset Managers' Websites: #2 - Process

As discussed in the first blog in this series, asset manager websites have become more important than ever for building and maintaining relationships with investors and advisors.

Managers providing great websites and a great online experience grow AUM faster and are winning the competition for advisor and investor flows.

Every successful asset manager website educates visitors on the “5 P's.” In this article, we will highlight topic #2 of the “5 P's”: Process.

An Overview of Topic #2: Process

Effective investing is comparable to manufacturing:

• Does your process follow a set of clear rules?
• Is it consistent and repeatable?
• Is the process time-tested across multiple market environments?

Investors want both a high-level and detailed description of your process:

• How does your investment philosophy inform the process?
• What are the steps in research, analysis, and investment selection?
• How do those steps lead to returns and the targeted investment benefits?
• How is risk management incorporated into the process?
• Can the process adjust to changing markets?

Investors want assurance that the manager adheres to a well-defined process for sourcing and analyzing investments, delivering results, and running the business.

Describing your process is a great way to differentiate your firm from other asset managers. Unfortunately, fund and asset managers tend to sound the same.

A recent AI-assisted analysis of nearly 24,000 asset manager presentations by Michelle Shauf, Ph.D., Global Head of Client Experience for NASDAQ subsidiary eVestment, proved that most asset managers sound similar, use similar outlines, and use virtually the same words.

You Must Be Different

It is critical to set yourself apart from the universe of investment providers. 

One of the world’s leading asset managers provides a great case study of how to differentiate an asset management process. 

Their headline sets the tone:

“Invest in Unique Perspectives. Discover why we’re a different kind of investment partner”

Their website starts by offering an engaging video to prove the point:

“Watch our Story.”

The CEO provides the narration:

“When I think of what makes our firm a unique place and what enables us to deliver excellence for our clients what comes to mind is our belief in the power of collaboration.

Our mindset of sharing and welcoming multiple perspectives has been built and tested over many decades.”

The video continues with footage of their morning meeting with members of their investment team around the world. The CEO welcomes team members from North America, Europe, and Asia. We begin to see the collaborative process in action. The CEO describes their culture of sharing ideas in pursuit of better investing.

The website goes on to provide a schematic of the firm’s collaborative process

The website provides detail on each step of the process.

The firm’s website content includes the results of their collaborative process: numerous investment perspectives and insights from their investment team around the world.

The words of the CEO relate the process back to their investors:

“Clients are at the heart of everything we do. We owe it to them to harness multiple viewpoints in pursuit of better investment outcomes.”

This manager provides a model on how to illustrate an investment process, utilizing a spectrum of web-based communication techniques, from videos to blogs and infographics, and relating the benefits of the process to the investors.

Next Steps

Read the next blog in this 5-part series on the key topics for asset manager websites that help drive inflows: Topic #3: Price

To reach the next level in web-based sales and marketing for asset managers, watch our video series or download our eBook on Digital Distribution.