Clients expect their adviser's digital service to feel professional, safe, and easy to use. They also expect to be treated as individuals, which gets harder when every provider, platform, and portal asks them for another username and password.
On episode 49 of Regulated Digital, independent financial adviser Ben Beck, joins host Carole Howard to look at how advice firms can adopt new technology and keep the personal relationship that advice depends on.
Watch the full episode above, or listen on Apple or Spotify podcasts.
Created from episode transcript
What Clients Expect from an Adviser's Digital Service
Expectations vary by age group, but the core list holds across all of them: professional, safe, secure, and easy to use. Financial services hasn't always had a good reputation for technology or usability. In 2026, clients no longer make allowances for that.
Ease of use has to hold at both ends of the message. An adviser can adopt a tool that suits the office, but if the client struggles to open, read, or reply, the problem has simply moved to the client's side of the screen.
When Carole speaks to advice firms, usability is the first requirement they raise, for the adviser and for every client who receives a message.
Every Login Adds Another Step
Clients don't live in platforms and back-office systems the way advisers do. Changing home insurance, checking a pension, or renewing car cover all start with a username and password. Clients understand why, but each one still adds a step between them and the information they want.
Some providers have already removed the password altogether. The client enters an email address, receives a one-time sign-in link, and clicks straight through. For Ben, that is the direction of travel: take out every unnecessary step while keeping the process safe and secure.
How Many Accounts Clients Already Manage
In our 2024 account fatigue research among 1,000 UK adults, people held 119 digital accounts on average. Half felt overwhelmed by the number, and 43% said handling logins affects their willingness to use online services.
For an advice firm, the practical test is how many steps sit between a client and a document they need to read. Every extra step is a chance for the client to delay, phone the office, or ask for the document to be sent another way.
One Size Does Not Fit All
Every advice firm serves a broad client base. Within every age group, some people are comfortable with digital tools and some aren't. Since 31 July 2023, the FCA's Consumer Duty has required firms to deliver good outcomes for retail customers, including outcomes on consumer understanding and consumer support.
The range of needs is wide. The FCA's Financial Lives 2024 survey found that almost half of UK adults (49%, or 26.4 million people) showed one or more characteristics of vulnerability.
Ben's view is that the commitment starts when a firm takes a client on. A firm can decline clients who are uncomfortable with technology, but once it accepts them, it has to meet them where they are. For Ben, that can mean taking extra time and, if needed, going back to pen and paper.
"Being good with tech can have a vulnerability of its own. People can be overly trusting of different websites or portals. Whoever you take on as a client, you have a duty to meet them in the way they need, so they can understand the materials."
Confidence online brings its own risk, because a comfortable user may click through a convincing website without questioning it. At the other end of Ben's client base are people who don't trust any calling apps. Text messages and email are as far as they'll go, and beyond that the answer is a phone call.
Tell Clients Why the Extra Step Exists
Carole hears the same story from many firms. The secure communication tool they put in place doesn't meet every client's needs, and after reviewing their Consumer Duty outcomes they want ways to tailor secure communication to each client's preference.
The firms that handle this well explain the reason. They tell clients which risk the technology addresses, and that protecting their personal data is a priority. A secure message will always involve one more step than an ordinary email, and clients accept that step more readily when they know what it protects.
"There's always going to be an extra step compared to doing something the way you would ordinarily. Once a client is aware of why these steps are being taken and why the technology is being adopted, they're more than happy to do it. They might even thank you for it."
Carole Howard, Head of Networks, Beyond Encryption (Mailock)
Security and usability have to work together, and holding that balance takes effort. When a firm gets it right, the extra step reads as care for the client's data.
How Small Firms Can Choose the Right Technology
Many advice firms are small practices or sole traders, while much of the technology on the market is built and priced for large organisations. The rules are the same whatever the firm's size. Larger firms simply have more staff to research, test, and roll out new tools.
Ben doesn't skimp on security. An outsourced IT company looks after that side of his business. For client communication, his criteria were practical: a price point that works for a smaller firm, credibility, and ease of use.
Credibility came from the market around him. Several of the larger providers he deals with send secure emails using Mailock, which gave him confidence without weeks of comparing alternatives.
The client's side of the process matters to him too. A client receives an email, confirms who they are with a code sent to their mobile, and opens the message. With his own branding on the message, the client can see which firm sent it and that the firm has invested in protecting their information.
"When a client receives a secure email from me, first and foremost I want them to get that comforting feeling that I've invested in a secure solution. It looks good, it feels good, and it just works."
His measure of success is whether anyone has complained. So far, no client has told him they couldn't open a secure email or asked for it to be sent another way, and he hasn't had to reset anyone's account.
Sending Sensitive Documents to Your Clients?
Learn how Mailock helps financial advisers protect client information by email, with recipient checks, secure replies, and message tracking.
Ben also keeps backup options. No single solution will work for every client, so a firm needs one internal process that everyone follows, with enough flexibility for the client who won't use a particular tool.
Security as a Differentiator
Clients are often more aware of online risk than firms give them credit for. UK Finance's Annual Fraud Report 2026 recorded almost £1.3 billion stolen through fraud in 2025. Investment scams were the largest category of authorised push payment losses, at £221.5 million, up 40% on the year before.
Against that background, the protection a firm offers can set it apart from the adviser down the road. Carole suggests raising it in the onboarding meeting: what the firm does to protect client information, and why. A client who hears that early is more likely to be grateful for the checks when they arrive.
Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Secure Communication Tool
Can clients open a message without creating another account or password?
What is the documented alternative for a client who won't use the tool?
Will clients recognise the message as coming from your firm?
Is the cost proportionate for a firm of your size?
Can you explain to a client, in one sentence, why you use it?
Each of those questions starts from the client's experience of receiving the message, which is also where the Consumer Duty points a firm's attention.
Where the Adviser Relationship Goes Next
At industry conferences, Ben hears opinions pulling in opposite directions. Some expect advice to go fully digital, through video calls, apps, and online platforms, while others are moving back to face-to-face meetings because that is where they see the real value. In between sits AI and technology with a human layer on top.
He expects the next couple of years to work like any other evolution. New digital propositions will reach the market, some will take off, and some won't. There will still be demand for every part of the market, because a digital-only service suits some clients while others want a person they can speak to.
What excites him is access. AI-led propositions, financial coaching, and social media are opening up segments of the market that had little access to financial help before, including people who are happy with a digital-only service.
Regulation is moving the same way. The FCA's targeted support regime went live on 6 April 2026. The regulator estimates that at least 18 million people could be offered extra help with pensions and investments over the next decade, at a time when fewer than one in 10 people obtain regulated financial advice.
For a small advice firm, that means knowing which route each client will actually use, and checking that the technology behind it doesn't ask them for yet another password.
FAQs
How Can a Small Advice Firm Communicate Securely with Clients?
Choose a tool that protects sensitive information without adding accounts or passwords for the client, such as secure email that checks the recipient's identity before the message opens. Explain to clients why you use it, and keep a documented alternative, such as a phone call or post, for clients who won't use digital tools.
Does the Consumer Duty Require Advisers to Offer More than One Communication Channel?
The Consumer Duty doesn't prescribe specific channels. It does require firms to support consumer understanding and deliver good outcomes for all retail customers, including those with characteristics of vulnerability, which is why many firms tailor how they communicate to each client's needs and preferences.
Why Do Clients Accept Extra Security Steps?
Clients are more willing to take an extra step when they understand what it protects. Firms that explain which risk a security check addresses, ideally at onboarding, tend to find clients accept the check and sometimes thank them for it.
What Is Targeted Support?
Targeted support is an FCA regime that went live on 6 April 2026. It lets authorised firms offer ready-made suggestions on pensions and investments to groups of consumers with similar needs, without the individual assessment that regulated financial advice requires.
Carole Howard, our Head of Network Sales, is dedicated to delivering quality solutions and top-notch service. With vast experience in financial services, she is essential to our onboarding and sales support efforts.
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Carole Howard
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