Identity Resolution For Best Match Rates & Unique Pre-Built Profiles

identity resolution

Identity Resolution For Best Match Rates & Unique Pre-Built Profiles

September 11, 2019
Sharanya Venkatesh

As the proliferation of data continues, identity resolution or entity resolution becomes a topic of greater importance. You may be wondering how such a specific technicality may affect your business. Our in-house expert, Glen Ireland actually answers that question and more on our podcast. Let’s begin with the basics.

Listen to the full podcast here:

What is Identity Resolution?

Identity resolution is the process of matching data from multiple sources with one entity. It can also be referred to more generally as entity
resolution. Basically, when several data points are matched with a person and the association is confirmed, it is identity resolution.

For example, let’s say there’s a contact named Eric Smith in your database. You may find out from another data source that Eric Smith has a net worth of $10M. The problem is that there could be ten different people with the name Eric Smith among your contacts. Identity resolution comes in when you need to find the right one to associate the net worth with.

Businesses Can Also Face Identity Loss

Not only does entity resolution affect people, but it also affects organizations. Even if your organization deals with other businesses, identity resolution could become important for you.

For example, your system may have stored IBM as IBM, International Business Machine, and as IBM Corp. When you add new data, you may add each data point to a different entity. In this case, your data will not be able to paint a holistic picture of the entity for you.

In these instances, computers cannot make judgment calls. Human intervention may be needed. Of course, when you try to achieve entity resolution at scale, you can do this through algorithms.

Entity Resolution & Wealth Data Analytics

When it comes to your wealth data analytics, identity resolution becomes paramount. Let’s consider the case of WealthEngine. Identity resolution enables us to pre-form profiles about every adult in the US. These pre-
formed profiles allow WealthEngine to offer solutions like WE Prospect, and WE Analyze.

Furthermore, with entity resolution, you can perform a nationwide quick search. This means you can look up any individual adult in the US or create segments in the WealthEngine database.

Identity resolution lets WealthEngine procure data from several different data sources. So, each data source has its own unique identifier for each person. WealthEngine can then match all these data sources through entity resolution. This helps us build pre-formed profiles and to update and enrich them over time.

WealthEngine invests millions in acquiring high-quality data from different sources. This means you can learn more and more about Eric Smith on your contacts list with WealthEngine. This includes demographics, lifestyle, behavior, interests, and affinities. Our algorithms and data science help make sure that you have up to date and extensive information to work with.

Identity Resolution to Match Vendor & Customer Data

So, how do you match data from different sources and vendors? Although this is a complex process, two basic techniques can be used. For instance, the main attributes we use to match entities are their name and primary address.

A best practice for identity resolution is standardizing the format for names. To illustrate, turn nicknames into formal names, remove any punctuation from names, etc. You may also want to standardize addresses by reformatting them. The format should match deliverable USPS addresses. Those are two basic things that can be done to enable entity resolution.

There are also other sophisticated techniques to accommodate misspellings. We use some of these advanced practices at WealthEngine. For example, a vendor might send a record with a name that’s missing one character. Similarly, there could be a street name that’s missing two characters. In these instances, we use something called edit distance algorithms. We may also use this and similar techniques to accommodate misspellings in first names, last names, or street names when ingesting vendor data.

Advanced Technology for Higher Match Rates

The above were general best practices, but the process becomes complex at scale. Furthermore, as you ingest data from more sources, you need more sophisticated data science to ensure accuracy. WealthEngine’s industry-leading technology means that our clients can enjoy up to 90% match rates.

In fact, clients have confirmed that other analytics solutions offer about 30-60% while WealthEngine can get them to 90%. This is because WealthEngine has spent 20 years coming up with sophisticated techniques beyond the basics.  For example, we can also use attributes like spouse name or business name to increase that metric.

This is important because both husband and wife can make a decision on something. If you’re targeting a specific individual, you may want to bear in mind that the spouse might actually be the decision-maker. These could be decisions about a donation, about buying a particular product, or using a certain financial services firm. With this being the case, it’s very important to have identity resolution be as accurate as possible.

What Happens When There Is No Match

If a record from a vendor cannot be matched to a profile, WealthEngine has to decide whether or not to create a new profile. If the record coming in from the vendor is complete enough, and it seems like a person that is not already in the database, we create a new profile. For instance, there are something like 10,000 17-year-olds turning 18 every day. They would all be eligible for being loaded into the WealthEngine database.

In other situations, a customer record may match multiple profiles. In this instance of entity resolution, let’s say you add some extra pieces of information to WealthEngine. This may cause one customer record to match multiple WealthEngine profiles. Then, WealthEngine appends information from all matching profiles to the customer record to enrich it as much as possible.

Does this work?

Yes, because  WealthEngine sometimes has more than one profile per person. The reason behind this is that we want to shy away from over-merging. This means, you never want to use identity resolution to combine two different people.  WealthEngine tends to err on the side of what’s called under-merging, where one person is represented by multiple profiles in the WealthEngine database. In fact, competing solutions may have greater inaccuracy because of this.

How You Can Benefit From Identity Resolution

Identity resolution ultimately increases the accuracy of information for customers. This means you can simply search for a person and see all their information compiled into a profile. These profiles are built using data from several different sources. Thus, this presents itself as a convenience for you.

Secondly, having reliable entity resolution in place means you get higher match rates. For instance, WealthEngine match rates are very high, at about 90%. So, when you find out that Eric Smith’s net worth is $10M, you can be sure that it is the right person.

Furthermore, you can keep on enriching your contacts’ profiles with more information. With WealthEngine, the enrichment is automated in most cases. There is a small percentage of data that WealthEngine cannot match. However, with a feature called Find More in WealthEngine9, even this has a solution.

If your customer record does not match a WealthEngine profile, we will still store that record in your My Profiles tab. You can then click into the profile and do a manual identity resolution. First, use Quick Search to find what you believe is a match. Then use Find More to merge it into the uploaded record. Doing this, you can increase the match rate up to 100%. No other wealth intelligence solution can help you do this.

Increase Your Match Rate to 100% Starting Today

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Black Friday Marketing Campaigns for Luxury Retail

black friday marketing campaign

Black Friday Marketing Campaigns for Luxury Retail

September 5, 2019
Sharanya Venkatesh

The holiday season is fast approaching. Now is the optimal time for luxury retailers to gear up for the busiest season of the year. Your Black Friday marketing campaigns need to be data-driven in order to ensure success. Before we analyze the holiday season and provide recommendations, let’s address a question that might be on your mind:

Do luxury brands do Black Friday?

The holiday shopping season, especially Black Friday, can be the biggest time of the year for retail. With this being the case, luxury retail stands to benefit from the general willingness to spend.

Of course, there is the question of whether offering luxury goods on sale dilutes your brand. But, when it comes to your Black Friday marketing campaigns, there are ways for you to participate without affecting your overall brand image. Many high-fashion labels such as Prada and Fendi participate in Black Friday, as Bloomberg reports. 

Now, let’s explore the ways brands approach Black Friday internet marketing or digital marketing strategy.

Your Black Friday Marketing Campaigns

There are several ways for luxury retailers to get involved during the holiday shopping season. In general, all retail categories see an uptick during this time of year, including luxury.

Even luxury buyers enjoy scoring a great deal or an exclusive find. Thus, as a luxury retailer, you can create excitement around Black Friday without tarnishing your brand.

Your digital campaigns can be focused on value-adds that are specific to the season. These don’t necessarily mean offering unreasonable discounts on large volumes of products. A well-timed marketing campaign can promote your holiday idea in a way that is reflective of your brand. The promotion can generate both buzz around the season and the exclusivity of a certain deal.

How best can you do this? Let’s consider a few examples from past holiday seasons.

Black Friday Marketing Examples for Luxury Retail

Many luxury retailers have taken advantage of Black Friday in the past. For instance, although Louis Vuitton’s flagship store did not feature any discounts, according to Business of Fashion, they did open their store earlier to encourage Black Friday shoppers to come in.

Another example is Bergdorf Goodman’s holiday marketing strategy. They offered Saint Laurent handbags at 40% off. Even though this is a significant discount, they limited it by offering it on a specific item. Other labels and products were sold at regular prices.

Masstige brands such as Michael Kors or Ralph Lauren have offered deep discounts of up to 75% off during this season. They can bounce back to regular prices after Black Friday without altering the value of their products or their overall brand.

Black Friday Marketing Ideas: In-Store and Online

Let’s consider some Black Friday marketing campaign ideas that you can implement and promote:

1. Deep discounts on limited pieces:

Whether in-store or online, you can manage the number or types of discounts you have. For instance, you can offer 75% off on fur coats, but limit the number of coats. Let’s say you offer 10 pieces per retail store and 50 online. Similarly, you can offer a discount on very specific items and maintain regular prices for all other products.

2. Longer store hours:

Black Friday excitement can also be created by opening your store early or keeping it open for longer hours. By doing this, you can attract shoppers who are out early or late without needing to offer major discounts.

3. Limited edition Black Friday collectibles:

Your Black Friday offer could be on a new collection or limited edition line of luxury products at full price. You can offer an early and exclusive preview of next season’s goods to Black Friday shoppers. This offers you another alternative to make the most of the season.

4. Discounted shopping during a short window: 

When you do offer a traditional Black Friday sale, you can do so in a short window of time. For instance, if your sale prices are only available 6 am to 9 am, early birds will get in to enjoy the deals.  This also motivates and gives other shoppers incentive to shop earlier. The buzz from your campaign will last the rest of the day even when you roll back to full price.

5. Curate and exclusive experience:

Other alternatives revolve around creating a memorable customer experience for in-store shoppers. For instance, you can offer free personal shopper service on this day. Similarly, you could serve champagne in-store, offer double reward points, or free personalization on products.

This could also be held as an exclusive, invite-only experience for your most loyal customers.

6. Discounts in partner retail stores: 

As a luxury brand, you may not want to reduce prices in your flagship store or your own retail store. However, you can choose to offer discounts through your partner retailers or similar channels. For instance, luxury department stores or even off-retail stores can offer selective discounts on your products.

How to Use Data to Implement Your Marketing Campaigns

As we noted earlier, data-driven Black Friday campaigns tend to see more success. Learn more about wealth data implementation for Black Friday success by reading our article.

Essentially, when you conduct wealth screening on your contacts, you learn more about them. Analyzing your screening data can tell you what makes your audience unique. You can then use these insights to deliver personalized and effective campaigns.

Personalize Your Black Friday Marketing Campaigns

Use wealth screening and analytics to personalize your campaigns.

Learn More About Millionaire Buyers

Download a free copy of our 2019 U.S Millionaire Report today.

Financial Advisor: Prospecting Ideas Using Data Modeling

financial advisor prospecting ideas

Financial Advisor: Prospecting Ideas Using Data Modeling

August 30, 2019
Sharanya Venkatesh

If you are a financial advisor or a wealth manager, then you know that the financial services landscape is highly dynamic. Financial services trends and regulations change frequently.  Marketing in financial services generally has a long conversion process due to the sensitive nature of the information that clients have to share with their wealth managers. Financial advisor prospecting ideas and activities, therefore, have to constantly be refreshed.

Data-Driven Prospecting Ideas for Financial Advisors & Wealth Managers

Think about how you typically market a financial services company. Prospecting ideas for financial advisors generally means cold calling or relying on referrals. These approaches are not without their challenges or issues. Referrals, of course, can be an effective way to find new clients. However, even your referral strategy can become more precise when driven by data.

In fact, it can be even more beneficial to begin with data. You may already have plenty of it. But, it may be fragmented and uninsightful in its present state.

Wealth Profiles

Your data needs to be housed in a centralized database, collected and organized into wealth profiles. Even if you are an individual financial advisor or wealth manager, organizing your data can be the first step in gaining actionable insights.

prospecting ideas for financial advisors

Wealth Indicators

Take wealth indicators for example. They can be a great starting point in understanding where the greatest potential lies in your database. Furthermore, you can combine wealth indicators with demographic, lifestyle, interest, and affinity data. Doing this gives you a holistic picture of who your contacts are.

For instance, you may find two contacts who are both 55 and have a net worth of $8M. When you perform a wealth screening, you might see that prospect A is interested in golf, whereas prospect B is interested in opera. Imagine you now approach them with a richer image of who they are. You will be more likely to have an engaging conversation with them.

Other data-driven,  prospecting activities for financial services involve deeper analysis. Analysis and modeling can further elevate your prospecting ideas. Let’s explore how.

Data & Modeling: Using Deeper Analysis to Drive Prospecting Activities for Financial Advisors

Leverage Your Current Customers

 1. A Look-Alike Model

You can leverage your existing contacts through modeling. A look-alike model can analyze your best customers and look for patterns among them. These patterns can then drive your prospecting activities.

For example, the model may tell you that all your top clients have a net worth between $1-3M. That a large majority of them do not have children and that they prefer adventure travel. Geared with this persona of an ideal customer,  you can tailor your prospecting ideas to really speak to someone like this.

2. Inner Circle

Although this technically is not a model, WealthEngine’s inner circle feature can make a big difference to your referral marketing. Basing your financial services prospecting on data from this feature can give you a sharper focus. Your current customers can again be a great source for you to meet great new customers. A warm introduction from your client to his colleague or HNW friend can automatically generate trust.

Let Your Prospecting Ideas Get Predictive With Modeling

You can use wealth models to predict specific outcomes. Predictive models build a specific formula for your client base. The model then uses this formula to analyze your database. Everyone on it will be scored against the formula and divided into segments. These segments will, therefore, help you prioritize your prospecting activities. A formulaic analysis, like this, can help you with the following:

1.  Customer Acquisition

This model can help you identify a completely new customer group. The group will be a high-potential segment as it will have properties that are similar to your existing customers.

2. Conversion

In this case, you can identify customers who were successfully converted to higher spending. We will build a model that can understand these customers. The model can then pick out other customers who can be upgraded.

3. Upsell

The upsell model builds a formula to predict upgrades or complimentary services. Through this, you can identify customers who can be approached with other offers.

4. Retention

For any financial advisor or wealth manager, customer churn can be a major concern. Using the retention model helps you predict whether a customer will churn or not.

5. Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)

This model can predict the lifetime value of your customers. This way, you can focus your attention on those relationships that have long-term potential. How does this work?

The model uses your customers’ transaction history. Doing this enables it to predict churn. Further, you can also forecast the number of future transactions, the value of future transactions and even the next transaction amount. This type of analysis is possible using the latest machine learning techniques.

Therefore, data-driven, financial advisor prospecting ideas lead to more efficient prospecting activities.

Put Your Prospecting Ideas in Practice Today

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How to Market a Financial Services Company- Strategy for CEOs & CMOs

How to market a financial services company


August 28, 2019
Sharanya Venkatesh

Marketing a financial services business can often be complex due to the nature of the products and services. Customer decision cycles tend to be longer than other retail products. Moreover, a customer needs a high degree of trust to engage with a brand or organization. With this being the case, personalization becomes key. If you have wondered how to market a financial services company, the answer lies in building long-term relationships.

If you have your own firm or are a high-level executive at your financial services company, keep reading to learn more.

As a leader in financial services, you may not be concerned about marketing on a granular level. You may have a team that implements financial services marketing for you. However, knowing the overarching strategy of how to market a financial services company could prove beneficial in two ways: Firstly, you will weave marketing into your overall business strategy. Second, you will be able to collaborate more closely with your CMO and marketing team.

The next step seems simple- find wealthy clients. To do this, however, you need to start with the right kind of data. Furthermore, you will need the right strategy to build trust and establish long-term relationships with these individuals. You’ll also need to stand out from your competition. Let’s examine what challenges might stand in your way.

Challenges in the Marketing of Financial Services

In a dynamic industry such as yours, trends are constantly shifting. Keeping up with them can pose several issues:

1. Digitization disrupts the industry, threatening customer lifetime value (LTV).

2.  FinTech companies are set to outrun traditional companies in the sector.

3. The volume of data has grown exponentially, posing challenges for analysts.

4. Data is stored on unsecured platforms and there rise is a marked rise of cyberattacks.

5. The growth of AI/ML adds pressure to balance automation and the human touch.

If you’re interested in learning more about these financial services issues, read our article on the subject.

Marketing a Financial Services Business

Before you think about how to market financial products and services, it is important to understand how to market your financial services business as a whole.

This begins with having the right brand strategy.  Let’s examine how you can build an effective brand for your financial services company. Follow these 5 steps:

1. Understand Your Audience:

In the financial services sector, your customers and their needs can be quite varied. When you analyze your database, you can understand who your customers are. For instance, WE Analyze can study your database and identify patterns among your customers. You could find out, for example, that you primarily have two types of customers- baby boomer men and millennial women. With this insight, you can create a brand that speaks strongly to both customers. You might even decide to create different product lines with different identities to serve these two diverse groups.

2. Talk to Your Customers:

Conduct a survey among major groups that you have identified. This survey should tell you more about your customers’ needs and preferences. This primary research, combined with other industry reports, can tell you how to position yourself best.

3. Build Awareness:

You have created a brand identity that best suits your story and your audience. Now, it is time to ensure that the right people become aware of your story. You need to curate imagery, typeface, language, and media channels that all reflect your identity. Use owned and paid media channels to promote your story to your audience. Ensure that your brand’s personality stands out from your competitors. You may, for instance, need to adopt a luxurious and business-like image to appeal to major corporate clients/executives. On the contrary, your tone and imagery may need to be more personal and relatable if you are appealing primarily to millennial women.

4. Refine Your Message:

As your awareness campaigns see results, you will learn more about which aspects worked well and what didn’t. As you analyze, you can continue to refine your messaging until you ensure that it resonates with your audience.

5. Find More Customers Like Your Best Ones: 

When you know what kind of person engages with your brand and your story, it becomes easier for you to find more people like them. In fact, WE Analyze can generate a look-alike model. The model can help you go through your database and find your best customers.

Segmentation of the Financial Services Market

Building your brand is the first step. But it is not a one and done kind of activity.  The process is ongoing. So, the next step in the how to market a financial services company guide is refined segmentation. This is especially important as your audience’s life stages change or your market segments shift. Here are 3 steps for effective segmentation:

1. Identify Your Company’s Strengths:

Your story is always unique to you. This is a strength that your brand can leverage. Ensure that your brand is authentic to your company’s story and its culture. Study the market to see where you best fit in. For example, maybe most advisory services are directed at older customers. Your niche could be offering a tech-savvy, relatable wealth management solution for millennial millionaires. Furthermore, this may be a great fit for you as your company has a lot of younger executives and wealth managers.

2. Segment Customers Based on Interests:

You will segment your audience based on demographics. This is definitely a great foundational step in how to market your financial services company. You can go further by segmenting them based on their interests. You may find needs that are similar across different demographic groups. This type of segmentation can help you expand your business into various financial services sectors such as retail banking, home loans, advisory, risk management, etc.

Wealth screening can help you gain great insights into your customers’ lifestyle and interests. Screening your database regularly helps you stay up to date as customer life stages change.

3. Address Gaps in the Financial Services Market

You cannot be everything to everyone. This is usually true of most businesses. But in the financial services products and services, you may find that you have more leeway. Because trust is a major factor when choosing a financial services company, you may find that customers are willing to stick with you for all their needs.

This may trickle down further into their sphere of influence or as we like to call it, their inner circle. You need to begin with a strong brand identity and an authentic story. With this as a solid foundation, you can then grow your business to offer a variety of financial services products and services. These can cater to generations of customers.

Your expansion strategy can rely on identifying gaps in the market. Find niches of services that are unavailable for certain groups or segments. This may be microloans in large metro areas for example.

How to Market Financial Services Products & Services

Segmentation and identifying gaps can serve as your guide for expanding your business.

When it comes to the marketing of financial services products and services, trust is key. Before you try to expand your business, you need to ensure that your brand has a solid foundation. When you offer a minimal range of products and services, but your customer experience is par excellence, you are working on building long-term relationships with your customers.

These customers who trust you and expect to be served well by you will rely on you for more services with time. By screening and analyzing your audience regularly, you keep up with changes in their needs and preferences. Doing so can help you offer personalized products and services to them.

Furthermore, you can use wealth data ratings and scores to identify the right customers for the right set of products. For instance, WealthEngine’s Propensity to Spend (P2S) score can help you understand a person’s likelihood to spend or save.

how to market financial services products and services

Additionally, you can also run wealth models to answer specific marketing questions. For instance, you could build a model to find out who among your customers is most likely to invest in a holiday home. The model can automatically scan your entire database and identify the top 10% of people who are most likely to do this.

Thus, when you are looking to expand into a new product or service, a model can indicate whether this would be a prudent path to growth.

How to Grow Your Book of Business

Finally, we’ll leave you with 3 tools that can help you grow your financial services company:

1. Use wealth signals to personalize your offerings:

2. Leverage Inner Circle:

Identify connections of your current or most influential clients to build a referral business. The tool identifies prospective clients with a connection already to your firm. Thus, you can increase the conversion rate of new clients. Relying on your referral pipeline with prospective clients already connected to your firm.

3. Integrate Through API:

API integration can not only bring you wealth insights right to your CRM, but also provide you with real-time insights.

Take advantage of all these tools within one convenient platform to market your financial services business.

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Top 5 Financial Services Issues Affecting the Industry

financial services issues

Top 5 Financial Services Issues Affecting the Industry

August 23, 2019
Nandini Singh

As new tech-centered business models are adopted by more firms, the financial services industry must change to meet their clients’ needs. The question is: what issues are causing the industry to change? And, how can players in the industry seamlessly navigate those changes? Let’s explore the top 5 financial services issues, and how best you can approach them as the landscape evolve.

Top 5 Financial Services Issues

1. Digitization Disrupts The Industry Threatening Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)

The single biggest financial services issue that most institutions face is the inability to actively engage customers. Now,  retail banking customers, for example, are reliant on digital services to meet their needs. There’s less of a need for them to visit brick and mortar branches.

For example, PwC‘s 2017 Digital Banking Survey found that 46% of customers skipped banking branches altogether. They instead primarily used their smartphones, tablets, and other online applications. So, customers are flocking more towards direct-to-consumer channels. If financial institutions fail to adopt a digital structure, their customer retention could drop significantly.

This begs the question: what is the best way to understand your consumers’ evolving needs? By implementing an API, firms can learn more about their customers, in real-time. With WealthEngine’s API, you can receive real-time updates on consumer activity. Not only will you be able to understand your consumers’ individual needs, but you’ll also be able to personalize your outreach. For instance, when a new prospect fills out an inquiry form for a personal loan, you can immediately access their wealth, demographic, lifestyle and affinity data. So, your offer to them can be highly personalized and relevant.

2.  FinTech Companies Are Set to Outrun Traditional Companies in the Sector

In the same vein, another significant financial services issue is the emergence of FinTech. Unlike traditional financial services, FinTech addresses the growing customer need for direct-to-consumer services. So, when customers seek advice or information, robo-advisors or tech-savvy companies can provide answers instantly. This can take business away from financial services companies that have remained traditional.

A FICO Report on Millennials stated that nearly a quarter of millennials listed that the lack of mobile banking apps were their main deterrents in engaging with banks. Additionally, millennials are three times more likely than other generations to manage their bank account through their smartphone. So, since more customers want to manage their money online, it’s important to adopt an omnichannel marketing approach. Regardless of channel or device, it’s important that consumers feel that their experience is seamless. For example, although Bank of America experienced a 28% drop in their number of physical branches in 2018, their mobile banking users increased by 11% to 25.3 million that year.

So, by creating an easy-to-use platform for users, you can engage customers in ways that are most convenient for them. This isn’t to say that you should get rid of your physical branches. You should just adapt to the needs of your consumers, and identify what works best for which people. Using WealthEngine’s Analyze tool, you can understand your prospects and clients on a deeper level. You can evaluate past successes and use those insights to score your customers. You can then use these scores to inform your prospecting and help you see which of your clients have the greatest propensity and capacity to spend. See what makes your audience tick, and harness this knowledge to create relatable outreach.

3. Volume of Data Increases, Posing Challenges for Analysts

The scope of Big Data is also presenting itself as a potential financial services issue. Both retail and commercial financial institutions have more data on their customers than in any other industry. However, some still struggle to extract meaningful information from it. This makes it harder to make subsequent business decisions that would have been informed by this data.

For example, according to PwC, businesses only use 0.5% of available data. But, 37% of respondents believe that internal data will drive their next big decision. So, with the volume and speed of newly available data escalating, firms need new ways to store, classify, and use data. This client data needs to be accessible across departments. Your wealth management team must interact with the same database as your home loans department. With one centralized database, everyone has a complete picture of your customer before interacting with them.

By using WealthEngine’s screening tool, you can sift through client data seamlessly. You can upload lists of contacts and look through high volumes of data. Not only will you be able to go through demographic information, but you’ll also be able to find, segment, and prioritize prospects and existing clients. Screening helps you deal with large volumes of data efficiently. WE Insights can also help you find key patterns in your screening files. This means that your team will not have to spend hours trying to extract meaning from your data. Screening data helps you find relevant client information, which will help you personalize your outreach, and engage your clients effectively.

4. Data Stored on Unsecure Platforms and the Rise of Cyberattacks

Another financial services issue that many firms face is the rise of cyberattacks. Since financial services firms are in the midst of digitizing their services, using open banking platforms, they are at increased risk of attack. In 2018, fraud (both offline and online) increased by more than 130%. This resulted in significant monetary losses. Due to the monetary loss, firms were seen as less secure, which would deter individuals from using their services.

It’s necessary for firms to recognize what their potential vulnerabilities are. So, to manage these risks, it’s important to have a savvy security team. In addition, it’s also just as important to train other members of your firm, along with your leadership team. It’s also important to store your data in external platforms that are even more secure.

For example, WealthEngine goes through regular security updates and rigorous audits by third-party evaluators. Furthermore, we have a SOC Type II security certification, which goes over and above industry standard requirements. This helps us ensure data security and privacy for ourselves and our clients.

5. The Growth of AI/ML Adds Pressure to Balance Automation and The Human Touch

The last financial services issue that most firms are facing is the growing complexity of solving business problems.  This includes tax planning, product design, surveillance to manage financial crime, tailoring outreach for individual customers and prospects, and more. This can all be managed and regulated using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

Although 30% of financial consumers are on their way to adopting robotic process automation, they need to invest more in those areas. It’s also important to notice which parts of your business would benefit from AI/ML and which would benefit from human touch. For example, AI/ML may be able to help bypass data issues you may face. However, if you want to improve customer service, that is a human-centered service that should be handled by and for people. So, businesses primarily use AI/ML for data management, where insights are derived from analytics.  However, when it comes to customer service, a human touch makes all the difference.

WealthEngine uses AI to analyze our database and build predictive models. This can help you identify your next prospects. Additionally, with ML, you can receive refined and personalized insights. So, the more you use the platform, the more it adapts to your needs.

Check Out Profiles On the New WealthEngine9 Platform

WealthEngine9 or WE9, our newest release, is transforming the prospecting landscape. Explore how our Engagement Science™ speeds up the way you screen, analyze, find insights, and predict outcomes through modeling.

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iWave Alternatives – iWave vs. WealthEngine Comparison

iWave alternative

iWave Alternatives – iWave vs. WealthEngine Comparison

August 16, 2019
Sharanya Venkatesh


What is WealthEngine?




More than Just an iWave Alternative







More Data Sources Leading to Comprehensive Wealth Intelligence



Pre-Built Profiles Saving Your Team Valuable Time


wealthengine iWave


What does this mean for you?



More Predictive Wealth Scores




Superior Relationship Mapping via Inner Circle


inner circle


Benefit of API for Real-Time Screening



API integration


WealthEngine Offers More CRM & DMS Integrations than iWave





iWave vs. WealthEngine- The Difference in Data Security




iWave Alternative


Marketing Strategy For Luxury Real Estate: Find Your Next HNWI Buyer

marketing strategy for luxury real estate

Marketing Strategy For Luxury Real Estate: Find Your Next HNWI Buyer

August 7, 2019
Sharanya Venkatesh

Luxury real estate is a growing niche in an uncertain market according to Coldwell Banker and WealthEngine’s State of Luxury report. Marketing strategy for luxury real estate needs to be as diversified as your clientele.  Understand market trends and leverage data to refine your strategy. In doing so, you can increase your conversion rate while lowering costs.

Who is Your Next Millionaire Buyer?

Your next millionaire buyer could already be in your database. Understand UHNWIs and HNWIs who are interested in their next luxury real estate investment. Look for these signs in order to deliver results:

  1. Luxury today is defined by hyper-personalizaton. HNWIs are investing in properties that now feature everything from personal recording studios to in-house art galleries.
  2. Interest rates and price stabilization make luxury real estate less appealing to investors.
  3. Finally, UHNWIs decide based on value, not price. So even when the market indicates a downturn, offerings that are unique and personalized can be seen as highly valuable.

How Your Marketing Strategy For Luxury Real Estate Can Mold Itself to These UNHWIs

The trends described above mean that you need to offer a unique property to each prospect. Further, it also means that you need a clear understanding of what they value. Here is how you can shape your marketing accordingly.

Find Specific Buyers for Unique Homes

Now that you have understood the importance of personalization, you need to do a deep-dive into your database. This should show you what features and specifications each prospect values.

In other words, no two luxury home buyers are the same. You can reduce your time prospecting for your next sale by segmenting your audience. Customer segmentation needs to go beyond demographics. WealthEngine can segment your lead list based on lifestyle, interests, and affinities.

For instance, you can target yacht owners to lead them to their next waterfront beach home. Similarly, your marketing strategy could focus on investors who are looking to expand their portfolio. You can then reach them via a direct mail or email campaign based on their preferences.

Match Buyers With the Right Locations

Location is critical in luxury real estate selling. Therefore, you can use the geographic characteristics of your listing to identify new qualified prospects. These prospects should be the top segment to target in your marketing efforts.

To illustrate, WealthEngine can help you identify key million-dollar neighborhoods.

US richest zipcodes

You can go a step further to learn where your specific top segments live. Then, you can use this data to create brand recognition through marketing efforts in these areas.

Take Out the Guesswork- Use Data to Drive Your Marketing Strategy

Your lead list is long, and your time is short. Imagine, for instance, if you didn’t have to guess someone’s net worth based on their zipcode or car?

Understanding real estate buyers beyond their zip code is important. A holistic prospect list should show you exactly who to focus on through key wealth indicators. You would then be able to use this data to find the right potential buyers for your next luxury property.

WealthEngine data includes 250+ attributes that paint a descriptive picture of your prospects.  These indicators include estimated net worth, total assets, investments, and cash on hand. Moreover, wealth indicators are combined with lifestyle, interest, and affinity data to create a 360-degree view of prospects.

Wealth Insights for Luxury Real Estate Marketing

Use wealth and lifestyle insights to discover more about your potential buyers. You can then leverage these insights to personalize your marketing and sales efforts. Highly personalized campaigns drive engagement and increase customer lifetime value (LTV).

How WealthEngine Empowers Marketing Strategies for Luxury Real Estate.

1. Screen customers and prospects- Learn more about your existing customers and your leads. WE profiles can provide a rich canvas of information to help you fill the gaps. Get access to data on net worth, income, assets, real estate, stock holding. Further, data includes charitable contributions and actual business and personal contact information.

2. Analyze your database- WE Analyze can create a descriptive, look-alike model. This means that you have the means to understand what makes your customers unique. You may find that luxury homebuyers in Miami differ from those in LA. This will help you understand what makes them tick. You can then create campaigns that resonate in each market.

3. Model your data for actionable insights- Go beyond a descriptive image of your customers with data modeling. WealthEngine’s models can segment your leads through Big Data analytics. This means the model can segment your pipeline to show you the top 10% of leads. The model helps you answer a specific sales or marketing question. For example, you could identify the top 10% of leads for vacation home purchases. It could be the top 10% of leads for something specific such as water-front property in Long Island City, etc.

4. Find new prospects– Your customers are a treasure trove of insights. WealthEngine’s analysis can help you understand what makes them unique in each market. You can use these insights to find new leads who look just like them. The greater the similarity, the more likely they are to exhibit the same behavior.

Plan Your Personalized Luxury Campaign

WealthEngine houses 250M WE Profiles and 125M households. This helps you create ultra- segmented audiences. When you look for new prospects, you can add various filters to refine your segmentation. Niche segmentation then enables personalized communications. Personalization is what will lead to long-term engagement and increased LTV.

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Grateful Patient Philanthropy: Best Practices to Set Up Patient Screenings

grateful patient philanthropy

Grateful Patient Philanthropy: Best Practices to Set Up Patient Screenings

August 7, 2019
Nandini Singh

The core of successful grateful patient philanthropy is wealth screening. Before you set up your grateful patient program, it’s important to screen your patients, to see who is worth pursuing. By evaluating who has the greatest propensity and capacity to give, you can better focus your engagement. Let’s explore the best practices you can put in place to set up your grateful patient program screenings.

4 Essential Questions You Should Ask Yourself Before You Begin Screening Patients

Make sure that physicians and departments are receptive to your activities. Before screening patients, it’s important to ask yourself:

1. Have you received input or clarity from your leadership team?

While fundraising, it’s imperative to have a clear sense of your goals and priorities. This trickles down from members of your management team. Open communication on goals and messaging allows you to align the processes and procedures you implement later on.

2. Should you screen everyone for Grateful Patient Philanthropy?

Will you be screening all patients, departments, and hospitals? Or will you be screening specific hospital wings or individuals? Some health systems decide to exclude certain departments as they may not engage with them on a fundraising level. For example, you may not interact with Medicaid, hospice patients, or pediatric patients because they don’t have the highest propensity or capacity to give.

3. Have you been given approval by your General Counsel or legal team?

Along with your leadership team, your legal team should be clear on what all you’ll be capturing and using once you conduct your screenings. It’s important to clearly outline what data you can capture under HIPAA. Aside from HIPAA, your General Counsel may also institute their own measures to protect the privacy of patients. This will inform grateful patient philanthropy as you’ll understand how to engage your patients based on the information you have available to you.

4. Have you involved your IT staff in your patient screening process?

When initiating patient screenings, your IT staff should be involved from the very beginning. You can link your donor management system to your patient database so you can screen your patients easily and efficiently. It’s also important that they know what data you intend to capture and pull, as well as where you plan to store this information. By setting up automation through your database, you don’t have to submit screening files manually.

3 Data Elements to Acquire When You Set Up Your Patient Screening

There are three types of data that your team should acquire before you screen:

Demographic data: Demographic data is at the core of patient screenings, which will inform subsequent grateful patient philanthropy. To begin with, it’s important to compile basic information on your patients. This includes knowing their first name, last name, address, city, DOB, employer info, and employer category.

Activity data: Activity data will also inform grateful patient philanthropy. These data points include all actions taken by the individual patient. What was the date of their last visit? How many times, in total, have they visited this hospital? Where are their engagements happening, and with whom? By identifying people who have visited more, and are familiar with different aspects of your system, you’ll be able to assess who’s most likely to give.

Department data: Department data (as a subset of activity data) is a record of all actions taken within a department. Which department did the patient visit? Which physician did they see? What was the date of their last visit? How long have they been a patient of this physician? By understanding their relationship with the hospital, you’ll be able to engage with patients on a more relatable and applicable level.

On a very basic level, these data points help you identify which patients have the highest propensity and capacity to give. You have the means to identify patients with high P2G scores, across departments and physicians. All of this knowledge helps inform your fundraising strategy.

How Data Elements Inform Grateful Patient Philanthropy

So, if you see a large number of patients in a specific department, which has a limited number of gift officers assigned to it, it’s clear that there is an imbalance there. It’s important to concentrate your efforts in areas where there are patients who have high P2G scores.

For example, a WealthEngine client hadn’t realized that they needed to cultivate a stronger relationship with their urology department. After screening patients with department data, they realized that high capacity patients were in that space. The problem? No relationship had been cultivated there beforehand. Upon learning this, the fundraising team began managing and nurturing relationships with physicians in Urology.

Match Rates Between Hospital’s Database & WealthEngine’s

Generally, data accumulated for patient screenings has a slightly lower match rate than other types of screenings. If you’re screening alumni or donors, for example, there’s a lot more demographic and giving data available to you.  For patients, however, you have limited information you’re allowed to capture.

There’s a 70-80% match for patients in terms of basic demographic data. These match rates are considered high when it comes to Grateful Patient Program screening, which is only available through WealthEngine. Involving your IT system means that all the data syncs automatically. This way you don’t have to change any workflows.

Getting an API in place and coordinating with your team would allow them to operate more efficiently since they wouldn’t have to engage in any manual processes.

What to Do Post Patient Screening

It’s always important to sift back through unmatched records when are able to. There may be patients, hidden in your database, who at first glance, may not have the propensity or capacity to give. But, when you look again, these patients may have become more likely to give.

For example, a WealthEngine client searched back through their database only to find a pro-athlete who was a patient at the hospital. Since they had put down their business address, gift officers were not able to gauge the individual’s giving history.

Screen Patients for Your Grateful Patient Program

Upload a list of your patients to unearth and understand their capacity to give and spend. WealthEngine9 or WE9, our newest release, is transforming the prospecting landscape. Explore how our Engagement Science™ speeds up the way you screen, analyze, find insights, and predict outcomes through modeling.

Request Demo

WealthEngine Releases Next-Generation Prospect Engagement Platform, WE9

WealthEngine Releases Next-Generation Prospect Engagement Platform, WE9

August 5, 2019
Nandini Singh

The leader in prospect intelligence solutions goes live with the release of its latest secure-and-compliant cloud solution for over 3500 clients. 

BETHESDA, MD – August 5, 2019 – Today, WealthEngine released their highly anticipated predictive prospecting platform, WealthEngine9 (WE9). This marks WealthEngine’s transition from primarily delivering wealth insights, to providing wealth scores based on affinity, propensity, capacity and intent. The company intends to empower clients to modernize their methods of prospect engagement with their new offerings, powered by machine learning systems that curate highly accurate wealth profiles for 250M US-based individuals and 180M+ households with over 1800+ attributes for each profile curated with first-party and third-party data.

“The art of engaging with your next-best prospect can now be powered by data science”, said PV Boccasam, CEO of WealthEngine. “The art of personalizing your connections with individuals you already know, with the science of who you should know, is powered by what we call Engagement Science™. It’s our industry most advanced wealth signal that can be used in every fundraising or marketing campaign.”

WealthEngine studies have shown that “Wealth Indicators” encompass more than just net income, economic capacity or prior contributions. Wealth is uniquely defined by an individual’s motivations, awareness, and how engaged they are across their circle of influence including business, social and familial networks. Each of these drive their behavior to give, learn, save, spend or serve their communities or causes. Industry now requires an enterprise-class platform that not only serves up data but delivers a holistic view on every potential client while providing actionable insights for engagement.

The WealthEngine9 platform has five core integrated benefits, which include:

Modern User Interface with Mobile Responsive Design: WE9 possesses an updated user experience with a modern, responsive design. This new interface delivers critical, real-time indicators to wealth across multiple dimensions such as the incorporation of tags, filters, badges and the ability to save and favorite individual profiles. Leading fundraisers and marketers can quickly segment, prioritize and target their audience to drive higher conversion rates.

Seamless Platform for Prospecting, Analyzing, Modeling, and Scoring: WE9 can now analyze, score and benchmark millions of records that look like your best donor or prospect. Users can now easily integrate wealth screenings with philanthropic and political giving, along with lifestyle attributes into their donor and customer-centric databases in real-time.

Continuous Data Refresh Delivering Real-Time Wealth Insights: With revamped machine learning algorithms, new recalculated WE9’s scores and ratings are now even more accurate and up-to-date. With over 165 million donor records in the platform and 500,000 new ones added each week, users have access to the latest charitable, political and philanthropic giving information. In addition, details on insider stock trades and updates of millions of email addresses ensure industry’s best identity resolution match rates.

New Scores, Models, API-based Digital Activation: WealthEngine9 also introduces new capabilities to enhance client’s ability to segment their target audience with precision. WE9 introduces a pioneering new Propensity to Spend (P2S) score across 20 different expense categories from cars, homes, travel etc., to selectively allow them to prioritize and target top prospects. With our API, prospect researchers and luxury marketers can directly connect with digital activation platforms and personalize their messaging to their appropriate audience segments.

Secure Integration Into Customer Data Systems: The quest for a Customer360 view, across every dimension of a customer’s personal, professional and philanthropic lifestyle, is never ending. The WE9 platform automates the access, appends and activation of these profiles within any and all of the 30 different CRM/DRM integrations supported by the company. With WE9 all of these connectors are updated and is available across Salesforce (NASDAQ:CRM), Ellucian, NGPVan/EveryAction, SalsaLabs, Tessitura, ROI Systems, Patron Technologies and others. Through the new secure Salesforce Shield Integration, sensitive user/lifestyle data can be directly monitored, encrypted and protected when executing campaigns.

Customer Testimonials:

“We have been a WealthEngine client for close to 20 years. With constant pressure of doing more with less, we find that the new 9.0 release is a huge step forward. The new UI along with the new capabilities provides a more intuitive workflow and an easier way to access relevant information, which will allow my team to quickly nail down prospective high-impact donors. The increased efficiency will allow us to get to the donors faster than ever improving our ability to convert more donors at higher amounts.” – Stephanie Iverson, Director of Research and Prospect Management, University of South Florida

“WealthEngine 9.0 certainly enhances our ability to support our core mission of partnering with nonprofits on strategic fundraising initiatives. With a brand new look and feel, better data, and more accurate scores, the new release allows users to surface high-impact donors with greater precision, quickly and at scale. WealthEngine has been a great partner of ours over the years, and I can’t wait to see what they do next!” – Margaret Gallagher, Vice President, CCS Research.

Industry’s Most Innovative Pricing Models:

One of the most significant advantages that customers and prospects will now benefit from is a simplified subscription model that is donor or record-based pricing that is performance and transaction-based. Smaller and emerging nonprofits can now benefit from the same powerful technologies that larger organizations and institutions do to attract new donors while enabling the existing ones to give more.

Our WE9’s flexible, credit-based model will optimize clients’ ability to access all available platform functions including Analyze, Model, Prospect, APIs and CRM/DMS connectors which are now in one integrated package named Aware. Customers can upload their screening records and our platform will continuously refresh their data, which enables an up to date view of their prospects and customers. For more information on our new pricing contact


About WealthEngine:

WealthEngine, for more than two decades, has been supporting more than ~3500 industry-leading higher education, healthcare systems, advocacy, financial services, and high-end luxury brands and hospitality organizations in capturing tens of billions of dollars. Fueled by our wealth and lifestyle signals, our customers measurably improve their personalization and effectiveness across fundraising, capital campaigns, marketing, and overall engagement with their audience.

Rooted in machine learning, with a cloud-native architecture, WealthEngine 9 platform boasts an entirely new user experience to provide wealth, demographic and lifestyle signals that come together to formulate powerful scores, available in real-time. Underpinned by the company’s Engagement Science™, WE9 models, segments and activates, and targets prospects continually so customers will know what motivates their audience to save, buy or donate.

WealthEngine is hosting its second annual WE Prosper Summit, October 1, 2019, at the famed interactive Newseum in Washington, DC. Please visit our website  for more information. The company is an active participant in Pledge 1%, regularly giving back to the community it serves through time, product and donations. Based in Bethesda, Maryland, the company has offices throughout the US. Learn more at


Wealth Indicators: How to Use Wealth Signals to Spot Wealthy Prospects

wealth indicators

Wealth Indicators: How to Use Wealth Signals to Spot Wealthy Prospects

August 5, 2019
Nandini Singh

Wealth indicators can help you identify your top prospects fast. Use these wealth signals to determine if you’re talking to someone who has the capacity, and even the propensity, to give or spend.

As wealth continues to grow across generations and geographies, it’s becoming progressively harder to identify High Net Worth and Ultra High Net Worth Individuals. Some can be found easily based on their spending and giving behaviors. But, with the increased accessibility of consumer goods,  tangible items are becoming less useful to indicate wealth. So, to maintain their status, HNWIs and UHNWIs are investing their money in new areas. Which begs the question: are there universal wealth indicators? If so, what are these wealth signals?

Wealth indicators can be broken into two types: traditional and intangible. Let’s explore specific wealth signals to look out for so you can easily identify HNWIs and UNHWIs who may be hidden in your database.

Traditional Wealth Indicators

Traditional wealth indicators are tangible items or easily discoverable characteristics that would indicate that your customer, donor, or prospect is wealthy. For example, an individual may be wealthy depending on these four wealth signals:

1. Profession

Is this person’s profession similar to the average profession of a HNWI? If so, their job can give you a better impression of how much they earn, their net income, and what their potential spending and giving capacities are.

2. Foundation Affiliations

Do they sit on any boards? Have they started any foundations? If so, they are far more likely to give to causes or spend on high-end goods.  

3. Size of their Charitable Gifts

How much have they contributed to causes? Could their donation be considered a major gift? By looking into this further, you’re able to determine if the individual has a history of donating major gifts. Otherwise, based on their income and net worth, they at least have the capacity to make considerable contributions to your cause, or others. 

4. Real-Estate Holdings

Does this HNWI or UHNWI own additional properties? The number of properties or value of the existing property the individual possesses can indicate their net worth.

wealth signals

So, by using WealthEngine’s wealth and lifestyle insights, you can easily search for wealth attributes, do a wealth screening, build a wealth model, score your contacts, segment your audience, and drive outreach and learn more about current and prospective donors and customers on one seamless platform.

WealthEngine Customers: Login to see wealth signals for your contacts.

Intangible Wealth Indicators

Intangible wealth indicators are consumer choices or investments that aren’t blatantly obvious or material in nature. Since 2007, the United State’s top 1% (individuals who earn >$300k each year) are spending significantly less on material goods. Why? Since more goods are readily available, including luxury products, many HNWI/UHNWI and members of the middle class own many of the same things. So, there’s no differentiation between the rich and middle class. To secure their status and maintain their exclusivity, the wealthy are now investing more in cultural capital. This would include investments in services such as:

  • Education
  • Healthcare
  • Retirement

As a result, their wealth signals are becoming less overt. By pouring their liquid assets in services, not only are wealthy individuals able to cement their status in an exclusive way, but they have a greater amount of influence in their communities and beyond.

That being said, what is the best way to understand or appeal to individuals who approach their wealth this way? Well, when you combine wealth data with interest and affinity information, you can gain a 360-view of your donors and customers. This equips you with the essential tools to engage prospect in ways that are personal and relevant.

Check Out Profiles On the New WealthEngine9 Platform

WealthEngine9 or WE9, our newest release, is transforming the prospecting landscape. Explore how our Engagement Sciencespeeds up the way you screen, analyze, find insights, and predict outcomes through modeling. 


Request Demo