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Mutual fund Web sites effective, but can be much better |
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Tuesday, 26 April 2005 |
A recently completed report issued by Dalbar states that Toronto-based Mackenzie Financial Corporation offers the mutual fund industry’s most effective Web site for financial advisors.
The report, titled WebMonitor, recognizes Mackenzie’s site for the amount of sales and marketing tools it provides to financial advisors, along with the breadth of information it provides on clients’ accounts. Placing second and third, respectively, in Dalbar's first quarter rankings were Fidelity Investments and AIM Trimark Investments.
“Mackenzie deserves congratulations both for being an innovator and for raising the standard of Internet services in the Canadian mutual fund industry,” said Dalbar's Mark McDonald. “Many companies are gradually using the Internet to arm financial advisors with more and more electronic assistance in expanding their businesses, which can only help advisors looking to make more efficient use of their time.”
Dalbar examined Web sites of 13 of Canada’s largest mutual fund companies and assigned a score out of 100 to each. Mackenzie’s received a score of 73.63, with Fidelity and AIM Trimark receiving scores of 72.71 and 70.20, respectively.
The study found that as a whole, Web sites that offer advisors the ability to access their clients’ accounts ranked highest, as this function meets one of the advisor’s most important needs. “This is gradually becoming more common across the industry, but some companies have yet to invest the technology into this feature,” McDonald said.
According to the study, companies can still improve on how they empower advisors to execute service inquiries that would normally require contact by phone. Only one site allows advisors to securely e-mail the company with account inquiries, and features such as downloadable presentations and customized account forms are similarly rare.
The next instalment of Dalbar's WebMonitor report is due to be released in July.
Dalbar, Inc. is a leading independent financial services research firm with offices in Toronto and Boston, specializing in measuring the performance of institutions and financial professionals in areas such as client satisfaction, service quality, and communications effectiveness.
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