Brand building and leveraging a market niche are critical for financial providers to the affluent, according to a recent survey of more than 3,000 affluent households.

The top ten providers, in order of popularity, and respondent satisfaction with the firm were:

Provider	Overall Satisfaction*
USAA	83%
TIAA-CREF	77%
Vanguard	75%
A.G. Edwards	75%
Wachovia	64%
Edward Jones	63%
Charles Schwab	59%
T.D. Waterhouse	59%
Washington Mutual	59%
JP Morgan Chase	57%
Respondents rated service providers a six or seven on a scale of one (lowest) to seven (highest).

31.8 percent of surveyed households use the top five firms, 46.8 percent use the top ten firms.

"The data suggests that these firms have succeeded, in part, by focusing their resources on a very specific market or value proposition," said David M. Thompson, vice president of the Affluent Practice at Phoenix Marketing, the firm that produced the report.

Despite the lackluster satisfaction levels, the top ten providers, on average, hold 72 percent of surveyed customers' assets. Thompson described the discrepancy between satisfaction and provider use as "a testament to the power of great marketing and brand building.”

The marketing firm conducted online interviews of 3,955 U.S. households with at least $250,000 in investable assets, or $150,000 in annual income in July, September and December of last year.

The report, titled the "Affluent Marketing Service Benchmark Report", was released last Thursday. 

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