This article forms part of this publication's latest research report, examining how to improve client experience in wealth management.

This forms part of WealthBriefing’s latest research report, The New Normal: Codifying Superior Client Experience In Wealth Management, which was produced in association with Barclays Wealth and Investment Management and launched yesterday. (This report is free to download as part of WealthBriefing member benefits, as is access to an extensive webcast of senior executives discussing its findings).

Here, Lisa Worley, head of marketing at Barclays Wealth and Investment Management , and David Hughes, head of Little Book of Wonders, explain how the firm’s “Little Book of Wonders” lifestyle web portal is a rare “win, win, win”.

The task of impressing the discerning HNW segment with exclusive events is a difficult one, not least because most are multi-banked and are therefore being wooed by several institutions simultaneously. In a bid to offer exceptional experiences for clients many firms have gone down the concierge route, however rather than waiting for clients to come up with ideas to be executed on their behalf, Barclays Wealth and Investment Management has decided to approach the task more proactively by going right back to the drawing board.

Little Book of Wonders is a lifestyle web portal which offers select clients a range of money-can’t-buy, pre-vetted events and experiences via a range of luxury brand partners like Rolls-Royce, Sotheby’s and Dunhill. Described by Hughes as a “curated world” of exclusive opportunities, Little Book of Wonders is in many ways breaking new ground in client appreciation. The portal may have only been launched in April 2012, but is already regarded by the bank as “an enormous success”, said Hughes.

Little Book of Wonders is described by Worley as “one of those rare instances of a real win, win, win” and is delivering significant benefits for Barclays, its brand partners and its clients. In essence, Little Book of Wonders is a triumph of leveraging synergies between organisations which are quite different in nature, but which are targeting the same HNW client base. Barclays wants to delight its clients by offering them a range of exceptional experiences, and high-end brands wants to meet with HNW individuals who are not already engaged with their brand. Thinking retrospectively, linking the two seems like a natural step.

Little Book of Wonders came about from the fact that luxury brands would often come to Barclays to ask if it had any clients who might want to attend a forthcoming event. But since this was often at too short notice (or it was unclear which clients would be interested) for the bank to be able to take full advantage, Barclays set about exploiting these opportunities in a more systematic way.

So how does it work?

Little Book of Wonders is a new way of doing things in that it puts clients in the driving seat when it comes to client appreciation – rather than being invited to an event, they self-select the opportunities that interest them, choosing from a range organised around 12 lifestyle themes. Users of the site can search for opportunities to suit their tastes via interest area “book covers” like “beauty and wellbeing” and “arts and culture”, which they can then register for online (with a notification then being sent to their banker). 

For Hughes, this “self-service” element of the service is absolutely key to its success.  By definition, any feature read or any event selected will be something that has “really piqued the interest of the client”, he explained. Not only does this mean that drop-out rates are “remarkably low”, but also “the brand is getting a fully-qualified and engaged audience, so the chemistry is superb,” said Hughes.

Access to this kind of audience is obviously of great value to Barclays’ brand partners, and they and the bank have been working hard to create events which are truly exceptional (as they must be to tempt the very wealthy). By way of example, in early 2013 Little Book of Wonders and Rolls-Royce offered a top-secret, exclusive preview of the prestigious brand’s latest model, The Wraith.  There is no shortage of high-profile personalities on offer either: one very popular event of last year was an evening at Sir Terence Conran’s apartment to hear about commissioning a dream home.

The Little Book of Wonders team and Barclays’ brand partners have clearly been extremely busy. As of March 2013, 145 events have been put on in collaboration with some 75 brand partners, and overall the bank is in talks with over 250 brands. Word has spread fast through the (relatively small) world of luxury branding and marketing, and this means that in over half of cases brand partners that are approached are already aware of Little Book of Wonders and are keen to be involved, said Hughes. 

That such a wide range of brand partners are on board has meant that a further level of collaboration has been possible. “We’ve been able to curate activities which bring several brand partners together to create a unique experience which unites the various aspects of what each of them can bring to the table,” said Worley, explaining that a car company, a venue and a luxury consumer brand might work together on a unique tasting or viewing. She added that these collaborative events represent experiences that are “even more unique” and are something that the brand partners themselves really value being able to offer to their own clients and prospects as they really widen their reach.

Client feedback

Little Book of Wonders was rolled out to selected clients in the UK last year, and the rollout will be extended more widely to the client base this year. The figures so far have been very encouraging on several fronts, Worley and Hughes explained.

Of the selected clients offered Little Book of Wonders (which was done through private bankers), around half took it up and started using it. Perhaps the “headline” figure here, however, is that 1,400 clients have attended events – a figure which Hughes notes is “enormous” given that the service has only been rolled out to a relatively small proportion of Barclays’ client base so far.

Significant numbers of clients are using Little Books of Wonders, and Hughes said he’s increasingly seeing repeat use by clients as well as brand partners. Users are also giving “unanimously positive” feedback, he said, with some clients even putting pen to paper, in addition to the emailed comments and feedback given to bankers. Client feedback concerning what other wealth managers are providing also means that Barclays can be pretty sure that Little Book of Wonders is a unique offering in the marketplace at present - something which brand partners confirm, said Hughes.

Overall, client feedback suggests that clients “love” Little Book of Wonder, Hughes continued, quipping “Why wouldn’t they?” As he points out, “Little Book of Wonders offers them exceptional experiences and exclusive editorial aligned to their interests.”

Engagement, satisfaction gains

The rollout of Little Book of Wonders is still in a relatively early stage, and so are efforts to quantify the effects it is having in terms of client engagement and satisfaction. There are some very encouraging signs however. At a simple level, “There is a significant number of clients using the platform every month and coming to events that they wouldn’t have been coming to before,” said Hughes, “that’s a quantifiable additional level of engagement.” Perhaps more importantly, he cites several cases where clients have for the first time engaged at the hospitality level with Barclays and the brand as a function of Little Book of Wonders”.  A couple of these instances have concerned UHNW clients, he said, suggesting that Little Book of Wonders might have successfully identified a very specific interest of theirs which might have been unknown previously.  

One of Hughes’ priorities going forward will be to examine NPS metrics to see if Little Book of Wonders boosts clients’ sense of warmth towards the organisation, but “there are already early indications that this is the case”, he said. As part of its initial research Barclays has taken the results of its latest client satisfaction survey and compared how satisfied with their bankers clients who have Little Book of Wonders are compared to those who do not. Satisfaction is indeed statistically higher among the former cohort, said Hughes, although more work will be needed before the veracity of a direct causal link can be tested fully.

The extent to which the client engagement and satisfaction gains Little Book of Wonders seems to be delivering will be monetised remains to be seen. Indeed quantifiably measuring how far any such initiative contributes to a deepening of wallet share and new business is a complex task. In terms of return on investment, Little Book of Wonders does seem however to be at a particular advantage over other types of client appreciation programme. “Through working with brand partners on this platform we’ve been able to create unique opportunities to engage with our clients in a way we couldn’t have before,” said Worley. “We’ve been able to do this in a much more cost-effective way and that benefits all of our clients and our organisation as a whole. In this environment, and particularly post-RDR, our clients are as cost-conscious as we are.”

While there may be a place for large (but inevitably cost-heavy) sponsorships in terms of building brand awareness and creating exclusive hospitality events, wealth managers seem to be increasingly focusing their client appreciation efforts on smaller, bespoke events. Precisely-targeted events might be quite labour-intensive to put together, but they clearly incur less “wastage” and are arguably a better way of demonstrating a deep understanding of the totality of clients’ lives. 

As discussed elsewhere in this report, maintaining a deep understanding of clients as they progress through their wealth journey is an ongoing process of information gathering and analysis. So does Barclays see Little Book of Wonders as a goldmine of information about lifestyles and aspirations? “Certainly,” said Hughes, “there are a number of ways the bank is looking to use Little Book of Wonders for both operational and strategic advantage by linking the better understanding we’re getting about our clients’ specific interests into our marketing, hospitality and sponsorship plans.”

Little Book of Wonders has made big strides in the year since its launch, and now stands as something of a blueprint for how the wealth management industry can still do top-level client appreciation in these cost-conscious times, and garner valuable insight data into the bargain. But in addition to the variety of concrete benefits Little Book of Wonders is delivering, Barclays also sees the way the service works as sending a powerful broader brand message.

“Little Book of Wonders shows clients that we’ve taken the time to know them and understand them, and used that knowledge to give them something really meaningful and that is tailored around what they want to do,” said Worley. “If they take it as a proof point that our empathy, our insight and our expertise has delivered something amazing for them then I hope that overlays in the same way to our wealth management offering.”