Creating an evidence-based Client Experience Framework so digital initiatives focus on what really matters
The client
Milford Asset Management, an Australian and New Zealand wealth management firm, currently with over $32bn of funds under management.
Opportunity
Milford had shipped a run of digital tools and applications in quick succession, each reasonable on its own, but the organisation had no single, evidence based view of what those tools added up to for the clients using them. Before deciding what to build next, Milford needed to know how its products actually combined into one client experience, where the real gaps sat, and which investment would genuinely grow client value.
Approach
More digital tools were not the answer if nobody could say which dimensions of the client experience they were meant to improve, so the first job was to diagnose those dimensions before recommending anything.
We ran three phases. Domain analysis came first: workshops and stakeholder interviews to align on Milford’s strategic intent and get an honest picture of the current client and operational landscape, separate from what the organisation assumed was true. Client research came next, a series of in depth interviews that surfaced what being a Milford client actually involves, where the experience worked, where it did not, and the role clients wanted Milford to play in helping them reach their goals. The final phase synthesised both into a performance framework: the dimensions of the client experience that matter, made explicit and defensible, together with a horizon based roadmap that gave Milford an evidence based way to decide which enhancements to pursue first.
Outcomes
Milford ended up with more than a set of recommendations. It had a Client Experience Framework it could hold itself to, grounded in what clients had actually said mattered rather than internal assumption, and a shared vocabulary for talking about client experience that has stayed in use since. The framework also surfaced specific new digital initiatives worth building, giving Milford a prioritised, evidence backed direction for where its client experience investment should go next.
