Challenge

Most Morgan Stanley financial advisors focused on IRA Rollovers because of the larger transaction size. In the aggregate, however the contributory IRA opportunity exceeded $7 billion in 2007 for existing Morgan Stanley clients. Additionally, FAs prefer no direct contact with their clients.

Solution

In 2007, we developed a pilot program and tested it in 4 districts.  Client names were loaded into a browser-based application which FAs used to opt-out clients from the mailing.  Clients were then mailed a single letter with a pre-filled perf-off coupon attached.

Results

The results were startling. Only 10% of clients were opted out from the mailing. The response rate among clients was over 6%, with contributions in the test cells rising from $1.7 million in 2006 to over $49 million in 2007.

Clients when surveyed said they were happy to be reminded to make their annual IRA contribution, and praised their advisors for thinking of them – especially for such a relatively small amount.

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