Our 2023 client survey: all the unmissable insights from our amazing clients

After our 2023 client survey was conducted earlier this year, we’re thrilled to bring you the results.

Client feedback is so important to us here at PenLife. Our survey was designed to:

• Help us learn about which of our processes work best for clients
• Allow our clients the chance to offer their feedback, thoughts, and ideas
• Learn about what’s not working and tackle those issues head on
• Enable us to improve our service efficiently and based on feedback.

Read on to find out how our clients reviewed the service we provide, how we scored in client satisfaction, and the ways in which we’re implementing the feedback moving forward.

Our clients ranked the topics and relationship factors that they consider the most important. Here’s what they said

With so many factors making up our clients’ financial plans, it is important for us to know the topics they consider a priority, as well as the aspects of our working relationship they care about the most.

So, in our 2023 client survey, we asked our clients about the most important areas of discussion in meetings with their Financial Planner.

The top three answers selected were:

• “Discussing your long-term financial plans”
• “Investment performance since the last review meeting”
• “Updating us on changes to your financial and personal situation”.

Although we already discuss these topics with our clients regularly, we will continue to focus proactively on these subjects in our annual reviews and ad-hoc client conversations, so all our clients feel their voices are heard on issues that matter most to them.

In addition, to get a clear picture of the biggest reasons clients love working with PenLife, we asked them what they consider the most important factor in our working relationship.

Clients ranked these three answers most highly:

• “Support and assistance in meeting financial and life goals”
• “Providing a safe pair of hands”
• “Our knowledge and experience”.

It’s so important to us that our clients feel safe and supported by our Financial Planners, and that they have full trust in our expertise – so this was a great result, and we hope to continue impressing in these areas.

5 amazing highlights from our survey questionnaire

Our clients are incredibly satisfied with the service we provide here at PenLife – and we have the data to prove it.

Here are five amazing highlights from our survey.

1. 97% of clients were satisfied with the speed of response from their Financial Planner

Being able to contact your Financial Planner to discuss whatever you need is very important to us. So, we were delighted to see that 96.64% of our clients felt our response times are satisfactory.

2. 97% of clients were satisfied with the speed of response from our support team

We couldn’t operate without our fantastic support team – and from the results of our survey, we can see just how hard they work to look after our clients, with 97.28% of participants being satisfied with the speed of their responses.

3. 98% of clients were satisfied that we understood their needs, aims and objectives

One of the main reasons people seek help from a Financial Planner is for guidance with their overall needs, aims and objectives.

It was great to see that almost all – 98.29% – of respondents agreed that we understand their needs and goals.

4. 95% of clients were satisfied with our communication between meetings

We want our clients to feel acknowledged all year round, not just when they visit the PenLife offices.

96.63% of existing clients said they feel satisfied with how we communicate between meetings, which is lovely to see!

5. 97% of clients were satisfied with their annual reviews

Annual reviews are essential to our clients’ long-term financial goals, and allow them to express their concerns, ask questions, and renew their targets for the year ahead.

We’re very pleased that 97.2% of clients are happy with our annual review process.

The benefits of working with a PenLife Financial Planner, in our clients’ own words

In the 2023 client survey, we asked what we consider to be a million-dollar question: “What is the biggest benefit you get from working with us?”

Here are just some of the responses we received.

• “Achieving retirement earlier than originally envisaged.”
• “[PenLife] gave me the confidence that I could afford to move house. This has proved to be one of the best decisions I have ever made.”
• “The tax savings on my pension.”
• “Support in managing my money after the death of my husband, to allow me to live comfortably and finish work.”
• “Retiring at 56.”
• “The personal relationship and ease of communication.”
• “Knowing our finances are being looked after by experts, as we do not have sufficient knowledge or confidence to manage our own.”
• “It’s been a long-term relationship that has stability and ability, which has helped me tremendously in looking after more vulnerable family members.”
• “Knowing your expertise and understanding is helping us achieve the best with our funds, so we can meet our goals in a forever-changing financial world.”

On top of all this feedback, 41 of our clients simply answered, “peace of mind”.

Instilling peace of mind is so fundamental to what we do, and it’s incredibly affirming to see so many of our clients have experienced it when working with us.

Although we’re thrilled with the survey results, we won’t rest until our clients are 100% satisfied

We’re so pleased that more than 90% of our clients are satisfied with our service across the board, and reading all the wonderful testimonials was very encouraging.

However, we are committed to continuous improvement, and have already started implementing our clients’ feedback in our day-to-day operations.

For instance, some survey comments reflected that our communication between meetings, especially during times of market volatility like those we’ve seen in recent years, could be more regular and informative.

Since the survey was completed, we’ve:

• Reinstated our monthly newsletter, featuring articles on current financial topics and helpful tips clients can draw upon
• Started sending out a weekly market summary, so our clients are always up to date with market movements.
• Introduced a monthly market update which covers more in depth information on the markets.

Ultimately, we will not stop striving to improve the service we provide until every client rates us at 100%.

We would like to thank all our brilliant clients for their insightful feedback and continued trust in the work we do.

Get in touch

To get started on your own journey with a PenLife Financial Planner, or to discuss anything you’ve read about here, email us at enquiries@pen-life.co.uk, or call 01904 661140.

Please note

All information is correct at the time of writing and is subject to change in the future.