Automated Outreach

There are many flavours of client outreach—from onboarding and compliance to ongoing relationship management. Historically, firms leaned on personal touchpoints: regular calls, in-person meetings, and the white-glove service that defined client experience, especially in private wealth. But expectations have changed.

Today’s clients, especially digital natives, increasingly prefer mobile-first, on-demand service—some even opting for zero human interaction. This creates a tension: how do firms scale outreach without eroding the client experience?

LLMs like ChatGPT have added fuel to the conversation. Their ability to deliver personalised responses at speed is impressive—but they come with baggage. Financial services isn’t a playground; when precision and auditability are table stakes, models that are only “probably right” aren’t enough. The risk of hallucinations or brand-damaging drift is real, particularly in regulated sectors.

This isn’t just about functionality. It’s about brand perception. Language plays a huge role in client experience—firms spend heavily to ensure tone of voice is on-brand and consistent. Poorly phrased or overly robotic interactions don’t just break immersion; they can break trust. Some clients might find automation slick and progressive. Others? Cold or careless.

Not every use case needs the firepower (and unpredictability) of a general-purpose LLM. Smaller, domain-specific models—SLMs—offer more control. Paired with structured guardrails, they stay on message, on brand, and within compliance boundaries.

Take KYC outreach. It’s repetitive but critical. An automated agent can:

• Detect what data is needed from the client,
• Initiate and follow up on communications,
• Check responses for completeness,
• And close the loop—cleanly and compliantly.

That frees up advisors to focus on more complex or sensitive client needs.

As always, new tech gets better, cheaper, and faster. But that doesn’t mean you jump in headfirst. A phased, feedback-driven rollout is key. Start with structured tasks, gather insights, refine the experience—and scale with confidence.

Done right, automated outreach isn’t just a cost saver. It’s a competitive edge—redefining engagement in a digital-first world, one interaction at a time.