Almost 8 in 10 (78%) of wealth clients want direct contact with an individual that can support them when it comes to managing their money, according to a new report.

The overwhelming majority (95%) of wealth management clients told Simplify Consulting they prefer human interactions over machine/automated ones.

Traditional channels remain important, with 61% of clients wanting paper correspondence and 66% of clients over the age of 65 indicating that email is very important.

Younger clients were more likely to want to use social media to talk to their adviser, with 58% of under 34s seeing it as an important communication tool, in comparison to only 12% of over 65s.

Three quarters (74%) of clients said customer service is a key differentiator when selecting an adviser, with a similar number saying they want more access to their adviser at a time convenient to them (73%).

Carl Woodward, co-founder and director at Simplify Consulting, said: “In the past, wealth managers could be content with a relatively narrow demographic. Now they must serve more people across a much wider range of age groups through different forms of communication.

"Each age band has its own preferences – such as more social for younger clients, more email for older clients – but wealth managers must master them all.

“This means a sea change for the people who deliver wealth management: better skilled agents, especially with greater emotional intelligence; and operations staff ditching repetitive tasks and focusing on detailed oversight and technology configuration.”

• Simplify Consulting and YouGov interviewed a series of wealth clients from across the UK online in the first half of 2023.