The 2025 Australian Financial Advice Landscape Report reveals a surprising paradox in product choices: advisers don't always recommend the products they rate most highly. For example, although HUB24 achieved the industry's highest Net Promoter Score of 56.7 in superannuation platforms, real-time fund flow data from ProductRex shows a more detailed story where implementation experience and client segment fit often outweigh overall satisfaction scores.
This shift from traditional satisfaction scores to practical operational issues is a reflection of the advanced decision-making processes in modern financial advice. Advisers are now more concerned with the practical operational problems that affect daily tasks and business profits, rather than just overall satisfaction scores.
The Tipping Point: Data That Tells the Real Story
What advisers want, and need, from platforms is now measurable through advanced correlation analysis. The 2025 data shows that implementation-focused metrics have become the main factors driving adviser satisfaction, fundamentally changing how platforms compete beyond simple feature comparisons. This data has practical implications for advisers, shaping their platform preferences and ultimately their client service.
For advisers focused on 'accumulators', client experience shows a 99% link with NPS, while ease of onboarding shows a 97% link. These client-driven metrics highlight the importance of digital onboarding, smooth form signing, and efficient data transfer between systems, the operational realities that decide whether a platform improves or hinders a more hands-off approach to managing clients still in their accumulation advice phase.
For retiree-focused advisers, adviser experience shows a 97% correlation with NPS, the highest correlation across all platform categories, while overall performance demonstrates a 94% correlation. This highlights the complex implementation requirements of retirement income strategies, where transaction processing speed and operational reliability directly affect adviser satisfaction and practice efficiency.
Over the past decade, the industry has seen a significant shift from price-driven advice recommendations to a more strategic approach. The 'race to the bottom' on pricing is over, with factors like CRM integration, API connectivity, and platform agility taking centre stage. These elements are not just 'nice to have '; they are the new currency of adviser satisfaction, driven by practice efficiency and scalability demands.
The Client Segment Decision Matrix
Analysis of platform performance shows that advisers focus on different features based on their client base and business model. However, the key drivers of these preferences are now measurable, with implementation experience and client experience serving as the foundation for all successful platform relationships.
The divide between retirement and accumulation influences platform choice in unexpected ways. For advisers focusing on retiree clients, CFS FirstChoice stands out as the preferred platform, with adviser experience showing a 97% correlation with NPS, the strongest correlation among all platform categories. This preference highlights the platform's strength in managing complex pension workflows and retirement income strategies, where operational excellence becomes vital for advisers handling sophisticated client needs, originating from XPLAN, without the need to manually move information.
Driver correlation with NPS
Advisers especially value what they call the platform's "deeply knowledgeable support team who understand the complexities of retirement planning." Still, increasingly, this human support is appreciated most when combined with smooth digital processes. As one adviser said: "CFS has really improved their digital onboarding - what used to take days now takes hours", a change that directly meets the operational efficiency needs of modern retirement advice.
Conversely, advisers focused on accumulation show a strong preference for HUB24, where client experience (99% correlation with NPS) and ease of onboarding (97% correlation) influence satisfaction. As one adviser explained: "HUB24's client portal is extremely intuitive and provides clients with exactly what they need to see without overwhelming them with unnecessary information." This platform's excellence in digital onboarding and client interface design directly matches the streamlined service expectations of accumulation-focused practices.
Top 10 platforms by NPS
Technology Driving Real-Time Decision Making
The rise of ProductRex as a revolutionary portfolio construction tool shows how CRM integration and API connectivity are transforming product selection. Now supporting $2.8 billion in monthly investments, ProductRex's success comes from its ability to seamlessly integrate with adviser workflows, embodying the platform flexibility that modern practices require.
The difference with traditional advice software is quite striking. While XPLAN dominates with 60.1% of the market, making it the most popular advice software in Australia, it has a significantly negative NPS score of -35.7. On the other hand, ProductRex, with 41.1% of the market, achieves an impressive NPS of 61.8. This 97-point satisfaction gap between the market leader and the satisfaction leader clearly highlights the disconnect between widespread use and adviser preferences.
Top 5 advice software by usage
The satisfaction gap spans all assessed categories. ProductRex significantly outperforms XPLAN in adviser support (4.2 vs 3.4), client experience (4.4 vs 2.7), value for money (4.9 vs 3.7), functionality (4.4 vs 3.6), comprehensiveness (4.3 vs 3.4), and accuracy of data feeds (4.1 vs 3.0). This consistent underperformance by the market leader shows how legacy systems and outdated infrastructure can become strategic drawbacks, regardless of market share.
Software NPS and response rates
*Note: Infocus developed software - primary responses are Infocus advisers prior to public launch
This data shows apparent differences between stated preferences and actual use. ProductRex users consistently give higher ratings for the platform's accuracy and integration features compared to traditional advice software, with advisers saying: "ProductRex does platform and portfolio comparisons well. Super well! So well, our advice team use it daily. We literally couldn't live without it." The platform's 61.8 NPS score highlights its purpose-built design for portfolio construction, free from legacy system constraints and crafted for smooth data transfer between systems. This approach directly addresses the scalability challenges that drive modern practice management decisions.
Superannuation: The Market Share Paradox
The superannuation landscape shows a clear case of recommendation patterns that differ from market share. This core disconnect demonstrates how adviser choices can influence whole market trends, no matter the usual distribution strengths. While industry funds hold 40% of the total superannuation market, advisers typically allocate only 14% of their clients to these products. In contrast, retail funds, which make up 22% of the market, account for 62% of adviser recommendations. This stark reversal in market dynamics highlights structural differences in product design and distribution.
Adviser super fund usage vs super fund market share by size
Retail and platform providers consistently outperform industry funds across nearly all service categories relevant to advisers, client experience, adviser support, functionality, and investment options. UniSuper, the highest-ranked industry fund, only reaches 9th place in overall NPS rankings, highlighting the significant gap industry funds face in adviser satisfaction.
The pricing paradox highlights the complexity of adviser decision-making. While Australian Retirement Trust and AustralianSuper rank in the top five funds for pricing satisfaction, pricing has the lowest correlation with overall adviser satisfaction. This indicates that competitive pricing alone cannot compensate for structural disadvantages in other areas that are more important to advice practices.
Life Insurance: Technology and Service Integration
Analysis of adviser business models reveals four distinct categories of practitioners regarding life insurance advice, each with different product selection triggers. Category A advisers, high-volume risk writers, focus on efficiency and automation, making them more likely to choose platforms based on application and underwriting speed and system integrations rather than comprehensive features and pricing. In contrast, Category D advisers, low-risk writers concentrating on holistic planning, prioritise comprehensive product features and life-insurer support to assist them through underwriting and implementation phases.
Annual NPS Ranks
Given this, the life insurance sector shows how integrating technology influences product recommendations beyond traditional rating metrics. NEOS, positioning itself as an insurance technology platform, has risen to second place with an NPS of 41.8, demonstrating how strong tech platforms and reliable underwriting support positive adviser sentiment. PPS Mutual remains in first place with an NPS of 54.8 through a targeted approach that closely aligns underwriting stages with adviser processes, reducing delays and friction. This focus on operational efficiency and competitive pricing for a niche policyholder group rather than broad market appeal highlights how niche positioning can lead to higher satisfaction scores.
Advisers are therefore stating that life insurers focusing on streamlining pre-assessment, offering quick turnarounds, and reducing duplication build loyalty despite having potentially fewer product options. Success relies more on effective communication and confidence in service rather than just technology.
Data Analytics: The Hidden Driver
Perhaps most notably, the growth of data analytics capabilities is transforming how advisers assess and choose products. Practices adopting advanced data management techniques achieve average profit margins of 24-40%, compared to only 14-20% for those without digital solutions. These practices, enabled by analytics, are 2.1 times more likely to achieve profit margins above 30%, a performance gap that makes technology adoption an economic necessity rather than just a convenience.
The integration of AI and predictive analytics into practice management establishes new product selection criteria that directly align with measurable implementation experience metrics. Advisers increasingly favour platforms and providers that offer seamless data integration, automated reporting, and predictive insights over those with merely high satisfaction scores. This shift reflects the broader market change where traditional differentiators like product options and fee structures have become commodities. The real competitive battleground now focuses on platforms' ability to boost practice efficiency through better data flows, automated processes, and integration capabilities. Success is measured not by the number of investment options provided, but by how effectively those options can be researched, compared, implemented, and monitored within existing adviser workflows.
Conclusion: The Sophistication of Modern Product Selection
The 2025 Landscape Report data show that adviser product recommendations are based on a sophisticated evaluation process that goes well beyond satisfaction surveys. Factors like client segment alignment, business model integration, technology capabilities, and specialised expertise often matter more than overall ratings in influencing actual usage patterns.
The most successful advisers understand that the highest-rated product isn't always the best fit for their specific practice needs. Instead, they focus on solutions that align with their client demographics, complement their service model, and offer the specialised capabilities their client base requires. This nuanced approach reflects the maturing of the Australian advice industry, where strategic alignment and client outcomes take precedence over simple satisfaction metrics.
As the industry continues to evolve, we can expect this gap between ratings and recommendations to persist, with client-specific needs and alignment with business models becoming increasingly key factors in adviser product choice. The products and technology providers that recognise and respond to these complex decision drivers, rather than simply chasing higher satisfaction scores, will likely secure a larger share of future fund flows and adviser loyalty.
Next Steps
The insights revealed in this analysis represent just a fraction of the comprehensive research contained within the 2025 Australian Financial Advice Landscape Report. The full report provides detailed breakdowns of adviser satisfaction drivers, comprehensive NPS analysis across all product categories, and extensive data on practice profitability and operational efficiency metrics that inform successful product selection strategies.
For advisers seeking to optimise their product selection and understand the nuanced factors driving peer recommendations, the complete Landscape Report offers the industry's most comprehensive dataset on adviser preferences, satisfaction drivers, and business performance indicators.
For product and technology providers, Adviser Rating’s Category Reports deliver essential insights into platform, superannuation, life insurance, and investment product options. They provide detailed driver correlation analyses, segment preferences, and operational metrics that go beyond basic satisfaction scores. The 2025 Category Report findings highlight the main factors influencing adviser decisions, supported by real product data (including from fund flows and Beddoes) and performance analytics. With this comprehensive information, product providers can make smarter, customised product decisions that suit practice demographics, business models, and operational requirements, helping them to outperform those that rely only on industry-wide satisfaction metrics.
*All figures and charts sourced from the 2025 Australian Financial Advice Landscape Report
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