Financial advisors could do better in reaching out to affluent women, according to new research from Spectrem Group.

Seminars, newsletters and Web site features offered by financial advisors have not been well-received by affluent women, according to a new study by Spectrem Group. Account statements and face-to-face meetings with advisors got relatively high marks from affluent women.

Seminars, for example, were rated as poor by 35% of the affluent women surveyed. ”Affluent women quite clearly do not care for some of the tools that financial advisors routinely use to communicate with clients. Seminars are perceived as sales events. Newsletters and Web site features also scored rather poorly in our survey. Rather than avoid these tools, however, financial advisors should seize upon these data as an opportunity to improve the quality of their outreach efforts. Affluent women represent an important potential client base, as they are more likely to rely on advisors than affluent men,” said Catherine McBreen, managing director of Spectrem Group.

The report is based upon mail and online surveys of more than 1,000 affluent households in the United States, defined as those with US$500,000 or more of investable assets, not including primary residence. It was conducted in September through November of 2005 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 8 percentage points. Focus group data were gathered from women representing households with a minimum net worth of US$1 million, not including primary residence.