Retail shareholder participation is a priority for many issuers and for good reason. When more shareholders are informed and engaged, company management has a fuller view of investor sentiment. This can reduce uncertainties on proxy voting matters, provide added efficiencies in attaining quorum and support an interested base of long-term shareholders.
The opportunity to engage retail shareholders is enabled by technology and by the functions that broker-dealers play in servicing communications to their client accounts. The landscape is developing as younger investors enter the market through increasingly digital and self-directed brokerage accounts. Voting choice models (e.g., ExxonMobil) are creating new pathways for ownership and engagement.
Broker-dealers (and their servicing agents, like Broadridge) are investing in technologies to facilitate governance with greater efficiency, reach and effectiveness than issuers could achieve on their own. For many companies, upwards of 90% - 95% of their shares are held beneficially in account at broker-dealers and custodian banks. New advances are breaking through to retail investors and providing solutions at scale.
The opportunity: Connect the shareholder journey
Participation increases when communications are relationship-based and managed as a connected journey through a multi-channel approach, including use of the broker network, existing required communications, social networks and other channels. The relationship is strengthened when communications and tech platforms work together across the full shareholder experience – from narrative to outreach to convenience and to voting.
Here are the key levers available to issuers and how their value builds when deployed in tandem.
Lever #1: Create a narrative shareholders can act on.
Retail shareholders need calls to action and a clear reason to engage because voting may only be an occasional or seasonal activity for them. It helps to provide a compelling ‘ask,’ and an easy platform to enroll in standing voting instructions programs and to make changes in voting preferences.
With regard to the proxy itself, it’s important to have clear messaging and a case for participation. When materials are easier to recognize and navigate, shareholders are more likely to pay attention and act.
Digital proxies extend the experience by bringing the narrative to life in ways static documents cannot. Video, visual aids and dynamic charts help connect the potential voter to the broader company strategy, making participation feel more relevant and consequential.
The narrative becomes the anchor for subsequent touchpoints. Outreach lands better when there’s a strong message behind it.
Lever #2: Reinforce the message across channels.
Many issuers are effectively using a data driven approach to dial communications up or down based on response rates.
Consumer digital marketing is built on decades of evidence that repeated, coordinated impressions drive action. The same principle applies to proxy engagement. A shareholder may miss the initial invitation or scroll past the first digital ad—or intend to vote later and then not get to it until after the meeting has occurred. Each additional touchpoint creates another opportunity to capture attention and move shareholders to action.
A comprehensive strategy uses mail, email, digital advertising, SMS and app-based reminders as connected parts of the same engagement journey. Each channel has a role. Each message reinforces the broader relationship between an issuer and their retail owners. Each touchpoint gives shareholders another opportunity to understand the why and the how.
Lever #3: Simplify the voting process.
A shareholder may see the message, understand the stakes and intend to vote. But if they must search for materials and do additional research on proxy matters, there can be a fall-off in participation. Standing voting instructions programs are designed to reduce friction.
That’s where purpose-built platforms like Broadridge’s ProxyVote come in. Targeted ads, SMS messages, email reminders and QR codes can route shareholders directly to ProxyVote.com or its mobile app. From there, shareholders can review materials and cast their votes in just a few clicks or taps. Features like prefilled ballots and standing voting preferences reduce friction even further.
The goal is to compress the distance between intent and voting, converting attention while it’s still fresh. The strongest relationship extends beyond the immediate voting moment, creating simple ways for participation to carry forward into the future.
Lever #4: Create continuity beyond one proxy season.
Standing voting instructions help extend the issuer/shareholder relationship beyond a single proxy season. Instead of asking retail shareholders to reengage from scratch, standing voting instructions help shareholders to set voting preferences in advance and apply those preferences to future eligible votes, including director elections, say-on-pay and other matters.
Shareholders are given greater control, not less control. They continue receiving proxy materials and can update, override, or cancel their preferences at any time. As a practical matter, shareholders get an easier way to make their voice heard across more votes while preserving autonomy and rights at every step.
Toward a coordinated, end-to-end shareholder engagement strategy
Retail activation works best when issuers treat the full shareholder journey as one connected relationship and communications experience. The narrative gives shareholders a reason to care. Outreach keeps the message visible. Easier voting converts attention into action. And standing voting instructions can help shareholders carry their participation forward.
