Understanding the Web behaviors of clients in a financial advisory relationship is crucial for investment firms that want to leverage their Internet investments and drive client retention, according a new study by Gomez Inc. Unfortunately, the study found that significant online opportunities remain unexploited.

The study explores the online challenges financial advisory firms face in leveraging the Web to its fullest. It is based on approximately 3,000 online surveys of investors who use a professional financial advisor for their personal financial management.

The study found that approximately 44% of investors who work with an advisor want to understand everything the advisor is doing. Long-term investors and one-stop shoppers comprise the majority of investors who use the Internet to access their primary investment accounts at 42.7% and 27%, respectively.

On average, 52% of online advisory clients expect their firm to offer online financial planning tools but only 25.9% are satisfied with those tools. To migrate online the prospective 2.2 million advisory clients, firms must connect the advisor to the online learning process and enhance site usability.

According to Gomez, the key to fully exploiting the Web is to extend existing client relationships through Relationship Building Interactions that drive adoption of the online offering. RBIs are defined as any interaction between client and advisor prompted by the online channel.

“The online channel is crucial to advisors seeking to fortify client relationships,” explains Dan Burke, Gomez’s director of brokerage services and the report’s co-author. “To activate the relationship-building power of the online channel, firms must start by understanding clients’ individual intentions and current online behaviors.”

“The online initiatives of advisory firms are hampered by limited adoption, yet their clients commonly use the Internet to manage their finances,” adds Alyssa Sibley, Gomez’s senior brokerage analyst and co-author of the report. “To migrate these clients to their own online offering, firms must encourage advisors to promote their Internet offerings and educate clients about the benefits.”