Singletrack has always grown in partnership with our customers, responding to their evolving needs and workflows, while taking into account market pressures and regulatory change. Our customer relationships are an opportunity for both of us to learn and develop: we can glean insights from customer experiences both individually and as a group which make the Singletrack platform stronger, and we can offer our own insights and expertise to support them too. 

A key part of all this is our Customer Advisory Board (CAB) – a select group of Singletrack customers who meet regularly to discuss a range of topics, including

• Market and industry trends
• Regulatory changes and their impact on capital markets
• Emerging technology and new potential applications
• The Singletrack product roadmap
• Best practices and new approaches based on experience

In the last few weeks, we’ve held CAB meetings in London and New York. Here’s a look at some of the insights which came out of these two engaging sessions.

Our customers want to learn from each other

At Singletrack we know our customers can offer transformational insights and best practices from their experience across the capital markets advisory industry. So it was great to hear from attendees across the UK and the US that they are keen to learn from one another, swapping tips and techniques to get the most out of Singletrack and optimise their activities more generally. Particular areas of focus which came up during our recent sessions were best practices for sales dashboards, including how firms can configure them to get their teams off to a great start every morning. 

We’re really pleased to help foster these conversations – we’re learning from our customers, and it’s wonderful to see them learning from one another too. 

Private markets are becoming more important

A number of attendees told us that being able to engage effectively with private markets, including private companies and family offices is becoming increasingly important. Workflows for private investors differ from those on the public side, so adjustment is required. 

As with public markets, effective activity tracking is crucial to fostering close, profitable relationships. Technology must support firms in achieving this. 

Tracking email engagement is complex

Over the past year, tracking client engagement with email content and consumption tracking for research distributed by email has become increasingly complex. Major email providers have altered the way email opens and link clicks work, resulting in far higher numbers of false positives than previously. The impact on data accuracy is a key concern for Singletrack customers.

We have responded to this new requirement by creating sophisticated systems to detect and remove false email opens and link clicks from client engagement data, helping to minimise the noise and give our customers a clear view of who is engaging with their email content.

Singletrack is able to go beyond weeding out false opens and clicks – we’re now able to detect not just whether emails have been opened or links have been clicked, but whether the user has then gone on to read the content. Distinguishing between clicks or opens and reads has been very valuable for our customers. 

Research continues to evolve

While MiFID II is now behind us, its impact is lingering. The unwinding of MiFID II has for the moment introduced payment optionality, but many of our customer representatives believe that industry norms will continue to change and we haven’t necessarily seen the formats which will become the defaults of the future. 

In addition, new technology is also having an impact on research. Many attendees pointed to AI – which has the potential to revolutionise both the production and the consumption of research – and data as areas which are charging rapidly and whose future is uncertain for the moment.

Maintaining flexibility alongside robust systems for data capture and compliance is essential to perform well amid this ongoing change.

Communication is key

We also heard from our customers about the importance of effective communication from us to help them get the most out of Singletrack day-to-day. It’s a reminder that building market-leading tech tools for capital markets workflows is only half the battle: we also need to support them and their end users to get the most out of those tools. 

We’ll continue to build on our user documentation and support efforts, doubling down on the work we’ve already done to make Singletrack work optimally for all of our users. And our CAB sessions will be a key part of this, providing first-hand insight into what’s working, what’s missing and what could be optimised. 

We’re already looking forward to the next meeting of the Singletrack Customer Advisory Board – keep an eye out for fresh updates. And if you’d like to find out how becoming a Singletrack customer can help your business thrive, get in touch now.