Among next-generation high-net-worth heirs, 81% plan to switch wealth management firms in one to two years of receiving an inheritance, according to Capgemini’s World Wealth Report. The reason most cited might surprise you: it has nothing to do with performance or fees, but rather the firm’s communication having never adapted to the client. For example, a client portal that answers questions before they’re even asked, instead of a quarterly statement that reads like a form letter.
This is the wealth management communications gap, and it isn’t new. What is new is how expensive it’s become. The generation receiving the wealth transfer is moving assets at a pace the industry hasn’t seen before, client expectations have shifted faster than most communication programs have caught up to, and the firms still leaning on legacy types of outreach are watching relationships they’ve held for decades walk out the door with the next generation.
Key takeaways
- 81% of next-gen heirs plan to switch wealth management firms within one to two years of inheriting, citing limited personalization (Capgemini World Wealth Report).
- Clients who get frequent, personalized communication from their advisor are more than three times as confident in their financial plan during market volatility as clients who rarely hear from theirs (71% versus 22%, YCharts).
- SundaySky’s financial services customers have documented up to an 18% drop in service center call volume in onboarding programs, and personalized video has driven engagement as much as 16 times higher than email in other campaign benchmarks.
- Personalized video communications have driven NPS gains of 15 to 30 points in wealth management deployments, alongside reduced AUM outflow, according to SundaySky data.
The wealth management communications gap, quantified
Most wealth management communication programs were built around a regulatory reality that isn’t going anywhere: every client-facing message has to be documented and approved. What has changed is the client on the other end—and how personal compliant communication can now feel.
A 2025 Avaloq survey of more than 3,000 investors and 300 wealth management firms found that email still dominates how wealth managers reach clients, cited by 88% as their go-to channel, while nearly half of managers rarely or never use their own client portals. Investor preferences are moving in the opposite direction: online platforms and mobile apps are now their second- and third-most preferred ways to hear from their advisor, up from fifth and sixth place two years earlier. The result is a widening gap between how firms communicate and the seamless, engaging experience clients have come to expect.
That drift has a cost. A YCharts survey of financial advisor clients, cited by CFA Institute, found that clients who receive frequent, personalized communication are far more confident navigating a downturn than clients who don’t: 71% versus 22%. The same survey found 77% of clients said more personalized communication would boost their confidence in their advisor, and 78% said it would make them less likely to leave.
This comes down to whether a client understands their own financial picture well enough to trust the person managing it. A canned quarterly statement doesn’t foster that understanding, and a call center explaining the same statement (one call at a time) doesn’t scale it.
See it in action: Explore SundaySky’s wealth management solutions to see how the same account and CRM data already powering your statements can power compliant, personalized video too.
How video closes the wealth management communications gap
Video solves a problem that email and static statements structurally can’t: it delivers a compliant, individually accurate explanation to every client at once, without asking a service team to repeat the same conversation thousands of times.
Personalized statements and account updates
A firm’s existing account, portfolio, and CRM data (the same data already powering statements and portals) becomes the input for a video personalized to each client: their personal balance, contribution rate, and next steps. Instead of reading a static PDF and calling in with questions, the client watches a two-minute video that already answers them.
AI avatar advisor check-ins
The typical advisor-client relationship runs on one or two in-person meetings a year. SundaySky’s AI avatars let a firm build a custom likeness of an advisor once, then generate a personalized market update, portfolio recap, or check-in for every client on that advisor’s book, all without the advisor re-recording a single video. The relationship stays at the forefront between the in-person meetings instead of going quiet for months at a time.
Proactive communication during market volatility
Proactive communication is what separates the two ends of the confidence data above: clients who hear from their advisor before they have to ask are the ones who stay calm during a downturn. Video makes that kind of outreach possible at scale. For example, a personalized market update explaining what’s happening in the context of each client’s specific portfolio and goals, sent to every affected client, instead of waiting for a call center to field the same anxious question hundreds of times.
This level of personalization is a wholly different category than a simple mail-merge with a client’s name at the top. The video itself changes based on that specific client’s financial situation, going beyond just the name in the greeting.
What wealth management communications look like in practice
SundaySky’s customers have applied personalized video for high-stakes moments where confusion becomes most expensive: onboarding, annual statements, and open enrollment.
Onboarding is the clearest example: a personalized video walking new participants through account setup and next steps has been tied to an 18% reduction in service center calls in SundaySky’s work with a financial services client. Annual statements tell a similar story when delivered as video instead of a static PDF—helping reduce the call spikes that often follow a mailing.
Open enrollment works the same way. Education personalized to each participant’s plan options and contribution limits has driven engagement 16 times higher than the equivalent email in SundaySky’s broader engagement benchmarks.
| Moment | Communication Problem | Personalized Video Outcome |
| Onboarding | Static welcome packet explains account setup and next steps the same way to every participant | Personalized video walkthrough linked to up to an 18% reduction in service center calls (SundaySky financial services client) |
| Annual statements | A static PDF triggers the predictable post-mailing spike in inbound calls | Delivered as video instead of a PDF, which can help reduce those call spikes |
| Open enrollment | Generic plan-option emails go unread or unactioned before the deadline | Drives measurably higher engagement than static email, consistent with reported NPS gains and reduced AUM outflow |
Many wealth management and financial services teams may want to inject more video and personalization into their communications programs, but believe that between the governance needed for compliance and the time to get up and running, it’s not possible.
SundaySky was built to close this gap: a way to render individually accurate video from a firm’s existing account and CRM data, with the security certifications (SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, and HITRUST) and governance controls a regulated communication program needs. AI accelerates production, drafting, and assembling video faster than a traditional process would, but a human editor reviews and approves every piece of content before it ever reaches a client.
Getting started without a production team
The firms who find quick success with a platform like SundaySky tend to start with one high-volume, high-confusion moment (usually onboarding or the annual statement) and prove the outcome before expanding into other areas. This approach can work well because the resourcing reality is that most teams don’t have an in-house video production group, and a platform made for non-video experts is what makes starting with one use case more feasible than launching a multi-quarter project right from the start.
Frequently asked questions
What is the communication gap in wealth management?
It’s the widening distance between how wealth management firms currently communicate and how clients now expect to be communicated with. Firms created communication programs around compliance-approved channels: email, static statements, and scheduled calls. Clients, meanwhile, expect proactive, personalized updates delivered through the digital channels they already use daily—the same experience they get from their bank’s mobile app or a favorite retailer. The gap shows up most clearly in retention data among next-generation clients, who are far more likely than their parents to judge a firm on how well its communication fits their life and not just its investment performance.
Why do next-gen clients switch wealth management firms after inheriting assets?
Capgemini’s research points to limited personalization and outdated digital experiences as the leading reasons, cited by 81% of next-gen heirs who plan to switch firms within one to two years of inheriting. Many of these clients grew up with digital-first, individualized experiences in other parts of their lives, from banking apps to streaming services, which plausibly raises their expectations for firms now managing their inheritance. When a firm’s communication still looks like a form letter, it signals the relationship hasn’t been rebuilt around the new client, which can be a signal that pushes heirs to look elsewhere.
Can personalized video really work in a regulated environment like wealth management?
Yes, when the platform is built for it. SundaySky holds SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, and HITRUST certifications, and every video goes through human review before it reaches a client. AI assists with drafting and assembling video faster than a traditional production process would, but it doesn’t replace the compliance and editorial control that regulated communications require. Account administrators can also configure which AI tools their teams can use, so a firm’s compliance posture determines how the platform is used, not the other way around. That combination of governance and speed is what makes video viable for statements, onboarding, and other regulated client communications.
How is SundaySky different from a generic video or AI video tool?
Generic video and AI video tools optimize for creation speed: a single video, sometimes with a name or logo swapped in. SundaySky’s differentiation is personalization at enterprise scale. Every video is rendered individually from a firm’s live account, portfolio, and CRM data, so each client sees their personal balance, contribution rate, and/or next step rather than a generic script wearing their name. That level of personalization comes with the governance and compliance controls, including role-based access and human review, that a regulated wealth management firm needs before any client-facing content goes out.
Does personalized video replace the human advisor relationship?
No. It removes the burden of repeating routine explanations to one client at a time, which is a kind of communication that can consume significant advisor time without necessarily deepening the relationship. That frees up time for high-touch conversations that require an advisor’s judgment: life events, planning decisions, and moments where a client simply needs a person to refer to. The relationship stays human. The volume work—explaining a balance, a statement, or an enrollment deadline—doesn’t have to be, and offloading it is what gives advisors room to focus on the parts of the job only they can do.
Next steps
Wealth management’s communication gap won’t close on its own. The firms narrowing it are treating every client-facing moment as a chance to make a client’s financial picture clearer than it was before. Book a demo to see how SundaySky’s personalized video platform applies to onboarding, statement, and enrollment communications.
