Sustainability Community

Great to see Holly McKay from Boring Money at the Sustainable Investment Festival this week…

Some key takeaways for the Asset manager industry I noted….what do consumers want from us when presenting our products?

In short the disclosures need to answer the questions consumers have.

Some suggestions are as follows:

• Who is the manager – a great suggestion was a 90 second voice recording from the manager about their background, where they have worked, their education etc.
• How does the fund align to UN SDGs?
• Proof points of key metrics
• Independent ratings
• Example holdings which illustrate key points – for Sustainable products there is more demand to see ALL holdings.
• A fund objective they will actually understand.

And all of this…easily viewable on a mobile phone! 

Great to see Holly McKay from Boring Money at the Sustainable Investment Festival this week…

Some key takeaways for the Asset manager industry I noted….what do consumers want from us when presenting our products?

In short the disclosures need to answer the questions consumers have.

Some suggestions are as follows:

• Who is the manager – a great suggestion was a 90 second voice recording from the manager about their background, where they have worked, their education etc.
• How does the fund align to UN SDGs?
• Proof points of key metrics
• Independent ratings
• Example holdings which illustrate key points – for Sustainable products there is more demand to see ALL holdings.
• A fund objective they will actually understand.

And all of this…easily viewable on a mobile phone! 

Hi Francesca  I was also at the Festival and her presentation really illustrated a key challenge around sustainability that of communicating between different groups of people with different levels of knowledge and perspectives. All on mobile was spot on you need to deliver you message to where your customer is and now we are all increasingly consuming content on mobile full browser screen only versions risk harming user experience and reducing the audience reach and retention.

Very important to understand your audience and the retail investor even those without experience of the issues are not being well catered for.  There is a risk of being patronising which is a huge mistake but you have to speak in a language and with illustrations that connect to you audience.   I thought the market research Holly went through, based on the Boring Money retail investor subscriber and visitor base, was very revealing and evidenced the extent those involved in sustainable investment  need to get the message out, its not easy and we do inhabit a bit of an echo chamber and forget how immature the wider world's understanding of the challenge is..

Rebecca Kowalski's presentation at the Festival also highlighted the need for much wider education and participation, she focused on the role of the IFAs in educating clients and the wider population. 

• While we tend to focus on education our peers and immediate professional clients there is a need for much wider championing of the issues and need for behaviour change.
• To often materials are written to clear compliance and there is a habit to deal with the complexity of sustainability issues with complex explainations and as a presenter get drawn into jargon and deeper and deeper details
• Overall there is a huge need to take all stakeholders on a learning journey around the subject
• The key qualities to successfully engage investors in these products are to win their Trust and to communicate your authenticity around the subject.  Both these are qualities hard to establish and easy to destroy.

Great to see Holly McKay from Boring Money at the Sustainable Investment Festival this week…

Some key takeaways for the Asset manager industry I noted….what do consumers want from us when presenting our products?

In short the disclosures need to answer the questions consumers have.

Some suggestions are as follows:

• Who is the manager – a great suggestion was a 90 second voice recording from the manager about their background, where they have worked, their education etc.
• How does the fund align to UN SDGs?
• Proof points of key metrics
• Independent ratings
• Example holdings which illustrate key points – for Sustainable products there is more demand to see ALL holdings.
• A fund objective they will actually understand.

And all of this…easily viewable on a mobile phone! 

Hi David, Francesca, I've very recently joined the society, my background is marketing across several categories with brands such as Barclays and Virgin Atlantic.  Holly has some great research and shared some very informative insights, and you both make some great points I fully agree with.  Just to continue the conversation, don't forget the power of the brand - people make decisions emotionally, then back then up rationally.  There's plenty of research to evidence this.

Responsible or Sustainable Investment is great opportunity to build differentiation in an industry which often suffers from homogeneity at brand or product level.  How to do this?  Communicate the values and philosophy of the organisation and its funds.  These are more unique, own able and transparent.  Secondly, make an authentic connection between the brand, its products and the real world issues or impact it aims to address through its services.  This evidences the brand promise, builds consistency and helps consumers understand the environmental or social issues a fund may try to address.  In turn, this creates an authentic customer experience that leads to trust.        

Hi Francesca  I was also at the Festival and her presentation really illustrated a key challenge around sustainability that of communicating between different groups of people with different levels of knowledge and perspectives. All on mobile was spot on you need to deliver you message to where your customer is and now we are all increasingly consuming content on mobile full browser screen only versions risk harming user experience and reducing the audience reach and retention.

Very important to understand your audience and the retail investor even those without experience of the issues are not being well catered for.  There is a risk of being patronising which is a huge mistake but you have to speak in a language and with illustrations that connect to you audience.   I thought the market research Holly went through, based on the Boring Money retail investor subscriber and visitor base, was very revealing and evidenced the extent those involved in sustainable investment  need to get the message out, its not easy and we do inhabit a bit of an echo chamber and forget how immature the wider world's understanding of the challenge is..

Rebecca Kowalski's presentation at the Festival also highlighted the need for much wider education and participation, she focused on the role of the IFAs in educating clients and the wider population. 

• While we tend to focus on education our peers and immediate professional clients there is a need for much wider championing of the issues and need for behaviour change.
• To often materials are written to clear compliance and there is a habit to deal with the complexity of sustainability issues with complex explainations and as a presenter get drawn into jargon and deeper and deeper details
• Overall there is a huge need to take all stakeholders on a learning journey around the subject
• The key qualities to successfully engage investors in these products are to win their Trust and to communicate your authenticity around the subject.  Both these are qualities hard to establish and easy to destroy.

Great to see Holly McKay from Boring Money at the Sustainable Investment Festival this week…

Some key takeaways for the Asset manager industry I noted….what do consumers want from us when presenting our products?

In short the disclosures need to answer the questions consumers have.

Some suggestions are as follows:

• Who is the manager – a great suggestion was a 90 second voice recording from the manager about their background, where they have worked, their education etc.
• How does the fund align to UN SDGs?
• Proof points of key metrics
• Independent ratings
• Example holdings which illustrate key points – for Sustainable products there is more demand to see ALL holdings.
• A fund objective they will actually understand.

And all of this…easily viewable on a mobile phone!