Australia’s Association for Financial Advisers has released a white paper in conjunction with insurer Zurich, called Connected Convenience.

It looks at the use of mobile devices among financial adviser clients.

AFA chief executive Brad Fox warned that advisers needed to find new ways to stay top-of-mind in an evolving marketplace. "The need to stay relevant at all times is growing, because there are so many ways for a client to be distracted away from their current adviser. So if you aren't staying in their life between the 12-monthly catch-ups, then you will not be doing 12-monthly catch-ups soon," he said at the launch of the white paper.

The research found that financial advisers’ clients were more likely to use smartphones and tablets than the general public. Almost all of financial advice clients aged under 55 have a smartphone, 80% of 55 to 64-year-old clients have one and 54% of baby boomer clients. But 62% of high net-worth baby boomer clients own a smartphone.

Half of financial advice clients own a tablet, compared to 37% of the general public.

The AFA said advisers should tailor their communication strategies to the generation of clients they were dealing with. But it said there was a strong preference for digital communication among clients across all generations. Apps and social media were the second-most preferred “one to many” means of communication after electronic newsletters for baby boomers.

Advisers should consider the number of channels they were using to communicate – communicating through more channels had greater effect, the paper said.

Just under half of financial advice clients connect to businesses via email, 39% via LinkedIn, 32% via Facebook, 29% via Twitter and 26% via text message.