DST kasina Study Finds Asset Growth And Earned Media Are Most Popular Marketing Metrics For Asset Managers, Suggests More Focus On Advisor Customer Experience

NEW YORK, April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- DST kasina, LLC, a provider of business intelligence that transforms distribution, marketing, and product development for asset managers, today released a report on how effectively asset managers are measuring the financial impact of marketing on their firm's goals.

The DST kasina study Using Engagement Metrics to Demonstrate Marketing Impact indicates that as the industry seeks to become more customer-focused, firms are in need of more meaningful marketing metrics to track the impact of their marketing efforts.

Based on a survey of 23 Chief Marketing Officers and heads of marketing at asset management companies, DST kasina found that only one of the six most popular marketing metrics was customer-focused—timeliness of content, which was cited by just over 60% of firms. This disparity is evident in firms' relationship with their advisors, particularly in stressful market environments.

According to Tracy Needham, a Senior Research Analyst for DST kasina and primary author of the report, the study's results led to the development of a new model: The Advisor Engagement Score.

"Marketing plays a critical role in the advisor's customer experience, often interacting with them more frequently and consistently through channels like the website, email and content marketing. A key way to better demonstrate its contribution to the firm's goals is to demonstrate its impact on engaging advisors," says Needham. "The Advisor Engagement Score does just that and more."

Among the study's other key findings that led to the development of the model:

• Six in 10 firms cite asset growth as the top metric to demonstrate marketing's impact.

• Eight in 10 firms want to start or improve their tracking of customer retention and loyalty.

• Six in 10 managers said earned media and timeliness of content publication rank were leading metrics for measuring marketing quality.

• Six in 10 firms ranked time-to-lead-velocity as an important metrics for measuring marketing efficiency.

• Nearly eight in 10 firms cite an inability to attribute marketing's impact on a specific sale as a top obstacle for effectively measuring its contribution to the top and bottom line.

"The future is in personalizing the customer experience and our advisor decision journey is a key element of doing that," says Needham.  By building the Advisor Engagement Score around that model, marketing teams can not only better measure their ability to engage advisors, but enhance their ability to influence these journeys—and better attribute marketing touchpoints to a sale."

In addition to the study's findings, the DST kasina report outlines ways the Advisor Engagement Score can help firms forge deeper connections with advisors, as well as:

• Enrich advisor segmentation and the ability to engage the more profitable advisors;

• Identify advisors who are firm advocates for further engagement;

• Improve marketing attribution; and

• Better demonstrate marketing's contribution to the firm and calculate more strategic measures like customer lifetime value.

"In the end, it's the advisor who ultimately makes the decision about bringing or keeping his or her business with a firm," says Needham. "We think that asset managers utilizing the Advisor Engagement Score will be better positioned to attract assets and build customer loyalty."

For more information on DST kasina's "Using Engagement Metrics to Demonstrate Marketing Impact" report, contact Myra Bartalos, Head of Marketing, at mbartalos@kasina.com.

About DST kasina
DST kasina, LLC, provides business intelligence services to the asset management industry. Led by industry experts, DST kasina's consulting engagements cover distribution strategies, marketing plans, audits, and educational seminars, each designed to help financial service firms stay ahead of the forces driving the industry while boosting their effectiveness and profitability. With DST kasina WalletShare®, clients are able to integrate marketing automation, predictive analytics, third-party data, and proprietary firm information into one powerful, easy-to-use platform. For more information on how to leverage DST kasina's business solutions, visit www.kasina.com.

About DST
DST Systems, Inc. DST is a leading provider of specialized technology, strategic advisory, and business operations outsourcing to the financial and healthcare industries. Combining unmatched industry knowledge, critical infrastructure and service excellence, DST helps companies master complexity in the world's most demanding industries to ensure they continually stay ahead of and capitalize on ever-changing customer, business and regulatory requirements. For more information, visit the DST website at www.dstsystems.com.

Media Contact:

Laura M. Parsons
DST Global Public Relations
+1 816 843 9087                
mediarelations@dstsystems.com

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SOURCE DST Systems, Inc.