For years, our industry has been telling mutual fund clients that the only way they're going to get their proxies passed is if they call all their shareholders. This is simply not true.

When it comes to their own investments and participating in the corporate governance process, individual investors can and should be more engaged. Individual investors have an important voice in the future of the funds that they invest in, yet few realize the power they yield.

Revisiting Voting Goals

While your outreach efforts are important, much of your success will depend on how you can simplify the voting process.

When it comes to voting, mutual funds have three key goals: get more shareholders to vote, get shareholders who have never voted before to be more engaged, and secure these votes at the lowest possible cost. Providing the ability for shareholders to vote on their mobile devices is one more way to achieving all three of these goals.

Reasons to Go Digital

Digital voting generates participation from a wider swath of shareholders, and is more likely to bring first-time voters into the fold. Millennials and younger investors in particular respond more readily to digital communications.

Mutual funds are adopting mobile proxy voting for five reasons:

1. Shareholders prefer the experience.
2. The competition is already using it.
3. Vote frequency is roughly the same.
4. Voter turnaround time is shortened.
5. Printing and postage are minimized.

Mobile Voting Works

Broadridge developed mobile web voting functionality back in 2011 to empower investors of all kinds so that they could exercise their right to vote and participate in the corporate governance process. 

Our ProxyVote^TM app lets shareholders view and vote for proxies in only a few taps. All they have to do is download the app, create an account, and authenticate their identity; then they can do all of their voting in one convenient place.

The real benefit of mobile voting is that it allows investors to communicate with an additional device beyond a computer, telephone, or paper ballot. Shareholders can review or change their votes on the app, request materials, and create alerts based on topics of interest. This app is the next step in using technology to transform and increase individual investor engagement.

Year over year our mobile voting app has seen 21% growth in votes and 18% growth in shares voted.

The end goal is to get the most votes at the lowest cost, and the way to do that is to constantly innovate in how you engage shareholders. You want to make it easier for them by providing a better way to vote. Mobile voting, and our proxy voting app, does that for you.

The Freedom to Vote

It’s time for asset managers to give shareholders the freedom to vote anywhere, from any device. In app communications, texting, and enhanced emails can all work together to nurture brand loyalty, foster participation, and provide shareholders with the information they need to vote online.

Learn how ProxyVote can transform your shareholders' voting experience.