How Financial Advisors Can Build a Better Client Communication Cadence

Financial advisors sometimes think of client communication like flossing: they know they should do more of it, but nobody tells them how much is actually enough. Recent research suggests that communication can shape how clients perceive the relationship, while advisors and clients do not always agree on how often that contact should occur. A defined cadence can help advisors create more consistent, useful interactions without treating every client the same. Here’s what that cadence may look like in practice.

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Why Communication Cadence Is Tied to Whether Clients Stay

An advisor may be monitoring a portfolio closely while the client remains unsure whether anyone is paying attention. Scheduled conversations create opportunities to explain decisions, revisit goals and hear concerns, rather than leaving clients to initiate every discussion. That makes communication part of the service clients experience, not simply a reminder that their advisor is available.

Clients themselves connect that contact with whether they stay with their advisor. In YCharts’ 2024 Advisor-Client Communication Survey, 78% of respondents said increased frequency and/or personalized communication influences their decision to continue retaining their advisor’s services. That number is even higher (88%) among clients with more than $500,000 in assets under management. ¹

The practical goal is to check the relationship as well as the portfolio. Even when no investment change is needed, there may still be a reason to explain the current approach, discuss what would prompt an adjustment or ask whether the client’s priorities have changed.

Related: How to Communicate With Clients Across Generations and Demographics

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What Clients Actually Want From Advisor Communication

A quarterly touchpoint that lands in an inbox and goes unread satisfies a cadence requirement without accomplishing anything. Frequency is the easier half of the problem.

The harder half is whether the message contains something the client wanted explained, whether they can connect it to their own situation and whether it arrived in a form they can actually engage with. Those are three separate questions, and advisors who treat them separately may get better answers.

What Does the Client Want Explained?

Research from Orion and Logica Research found demand clustered around a few recurring subjects: 48% of investors wanted more discussion of market conditions, 48% wanted to spend more time hearing about new investment options and 47% wanted more on portfolio performance. ² None of that is surprising. What it establishes is that clients are asking for substance rather than reassurance, and that the appetite is specific enough to plan around.

Does Advisor Outreach Tie Back to the Client’s Plan?

This is where communication can become more useful. A general market recap reports what happened. A conversation about whether the last quarter changes the size or timing of a client’s planned withdrawals helps them interpret what happened. The first is a broadcast; the second is advice.

The distinction matters most when the same information means different things to different clients. A drawdown may be a non-event for a client who is still 15 years from retirement and an immediate question for one who is drawing income from the portfolio. Sending both the same commentary leaves each of them to work out which situation applies.

Which Format Lets Them Absorb It and Respond?

Channel preferences look contradictory until you notice the questions differ. YCharts asked how clients want to receive their advisor’s perspectives, and 61% chose email. Orion asked about communication preferences more broadly and found phone calls at 33% and in-person meetings at 26%.

Both are plausible, because a client can prefer reading commentary at their own pace while still wanting a voice on the line when a decision is on the table.

The practical takeaway is to ask about the two separately. Find out how a client wants educational updates delivered, then ask the same question about personal discussions, and expect the answers to diverge. A written note is well suited to explaining something. A conversation is better suited for deciding something.

Choose the channel for the conversation you need to have, not simply for the message you need to send.

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How Often Should Financial Advisors Actually Contact Clients?

There is no single communication schedule that fits every client, but quarterly contact can provide a useful starting point. Orion’s 2025 Investor Survey found that 66% of investors preferred to meet with their advisor at least quarterly, compared with just 30% of advisors who preferred meeting that often. Most advisors, 69%, favored semiannual or annual meetings instead.

YCharts found a similar preference. In its 2024 survey, 79% of clients said they wanted their advisor to contact them at least every three months to discuss their financial plan and progress toward their goals. That included 39% who preferred monthly or more frequent contact.

Separate Meetings From Other Outreach

That does not necessarily mean advisors need to schedule four formal reviews for every client each year. A communication cadence can combine substantive planning meetings with shorter check-ins, educational emails and outreach tied to market developments or changes in a client’s circumstances.

For example, an advisor might hold two comprehensive reviews while using the intervening quarters for shorter conversations about progress, upcoming decisions or questions that have surfaced. Event-driven outreach can supplement that schedule when something warrants attention before the next planned conversation.

Confirm the Client’s Preference

Frequency should ultimately reflect what the client wants. Orion found that 78% of investors wanted to maintain their existing communication cadence, while 20% wanted more communication and just 2% wanted less.

Rather than assuming more contact is always better, advisors can agree on a baseline schedule with each client and revisit it periodically. The goal is to make communication predictable while leaving enough flexibility to increase or decrease contact as the client’s needs change.

Standardize What You Can and Personalize What Matters

A communication cadence is easier to maintain when the routine parts are standardized. Advisors can set up recurring outreach schedules, meeting-preparation checklists, reminder workflows and follow-up templates so the next touchpoint does not depend on someone remembering to start it.

But standardization should apply to the process, not the conversation. One client’s agenda may center on retirement income. Another may need to talk through concentrated stock, taxes or an upcoming liquidity event.

Personalize Around Client Goals

That distinction matches what investors say personalization means. In Orion’s 2025 survey, 75% of investors named their financial goals as one of the three most important attributes of personalized advice, well ahead of desired rate of return at 42% and risk tolerance at 36%.

Advisors can use those goals to decide what belongs in each conversation. A quarterly check-in can follow the same internal workflow across the firm while the topics, questions and follow-up actions change based on what each client is trying to accomplish.

Build Client Preferences Into the Workflow

Personalization becomes easier to deliver consistently when client preferences are recorded rather than left to memory. Advisors can document how each client prefers to communicate, which topics tend to require more discussion, what decisions or deadlines are approaching and which follow-up items remain open.

That information can then shape future outreach without requiring the firm to build a separate process for every relationship. Meeting templates, CRM tasks and recurring reminders can stay standardized, while the agenda and follow-up reflect the individual client.

The result is a repeatable system for communication without making every client interaction interchangeable.

Bottom Line

The risk is not simply too little communication, but a mismatch between the cadence advisors assume is sufficient and what individual clients actually expect. Set a baseline schedule with each client, ask separately how they want updates and decisions delivered, and tie each conversation to what they are trying to accomplish. Systems can carry the scheduling and follow-up. What the client hears is the part that has to be yours.

Tips for Improving Customer Service

• Automating certain aspects of your lead generation and marketing efforts can free up time and energy to devote to serving existing clients. SmartAsset AMP (Advisor Marketing Platform) is a holistic marketing service financial advisors can use for client lead generation and automated marketing. Sign up for a free demo to explore how SmartAsset AMP can help you expand your practice’s marketing operation. Get started today.
• After each meeting, send a brief recap outlining the decisions made, outstanding questions and next steps. Specify who is responsible for each action and when it should be completed. Use plain language and invite clients to flag anything they do not understand before moving forward.

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