At Charles Stanley, we are focused on providing our clients with the best client experience possible. In order to assess the effectiveness of our client experiences, we invited a cross-section of 53,608* of our private clients to provide feedback on their experience with us through our Client Satisfaction and Experience Survey. Feedback from this survey is extremely important to us and helps us to continue to raise the standards of our business and ensure we deliver an enhanced service to all of our clients.
4,655 responded, representing a 9% response rate. As a thank you to all our clients who responded, we donated £4,400 to our 2020 Charity of the Year, The National Autistic Society (NAS).
We are delighted to announce the following highlights from our Private Client Satisfaction and Experience Survey 2020:
- 88% of our clients who responded to our survey are satisfied with Charles Stanley overall,
- 86% of our clients who responded to our survey are satisfied with their primary contact, their Investment Manager, Financial Planner or Client Relationship Manager.
When looking at our different services in more detail it is important for us to understand what our clients’ value about our services.
Focusing on our Financial Planning and Wealth Management clients
The likelihood that a client will recommend us is a great indicator of how much they value our service. Our business grows through referrals and we’re proud that so many of our clients are likely to recommend us to family members, friends, colleagues, clients or associates who might benefit from using our services.
The calculation of a net promoter score (NPS) comes from asking the question “On a scale of 0 – 10, how likely would you be to recommend Charles Stanley to a family or friend” – those that score 10 or 9 are classified as promoters and those that score less than 7 are classified as detractors. NPS = promoters% - detractors%, thus meaning the score can be anything between -100% and 100%.
Key results to note from our Wealth Management clients are:
- 98% of our clients who responded to our survey are satisfied with their primary Financial Planner,
- 95% of our clients who responded to our survey agree that the range of products and services from Charles Stanley are meeting their individual needs and goals
Focusing on our Discretionary Managed clients
Providing financial peace of mind is at the core of what we do, and therefore the relationship and trust our clients built up with their Investment Manager is extremely important.
Key results to note from our Discretionary clients are:
- 95% of our clients who responded to our survey are satisfied with the level of personalised contact they receive from their Investment Manager,
- 94% of our clients who responded to our survey are satisfied with Charles Stanley’s day-to-day activities managing their wealth.
Focusing on our Charles Stanley Direct clients
Despite being a DIY online investing service, the helpdesk provides invaluable support to our clients when they need someone to speak to about their issues. The team in Edinburgh provides a helping hand to our Charles Stanley Direct clients, from resetting passwords to providing guidance with complex transfers.
Key results to note from our Charles Stanley Direct clients are:
- 92% of our clients who responded to our survey are satisfied with the security of the Charles Stanley Direct service,
- 89% of our clients who responded to our survey are satisfied with the reliability of the Charles Stanley Direct service.
Focusing on our Charles Stanley Investment Choices clients
We don’t just analyse the scores our clients provide, we take the time to look through the individual comments that clients leave. This feedback enables us to continually enhance the service we provide.
Whilst the Charles Stanley Investment Choices Client Relationship Managers are not able to provide advice or a personal recommendation, they are able to provide information, help and guidance to support clients in making their own investment decisions.
Key results to note from our Charles Stanley Investment Choices clients are:
- 90% of our clients who responded to our survey are satisfied with their primary contact (Relationship Manager),
- 87% of our clients who responded to our survey are satisfied with the range of products and services.
Our results also provide guidance on areas for improvement, and the results of this survey are influential in shaping the services and experiences that we provide our clients in the future. This year we are focusing on further improving communication, especially in light of the recent Covid-19 pandemic. In addition to this, we want to work closely with our clients to help educate them on their financial affairs and portfolios, as well Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing, which is increasingly an area of interest to our clients.