The pitchbook is arguably the most important document that managers use when speaking with prospective LPs.
In this aeticke, we analyze the different behaviors of prospective LPs vs. current investors in terms of (1) “Dropoff” and (2) “Time per page”. We looked at data gathered from a manager which had sent their pitchbooks to both groups over an extended period – 100s of Prospective LPs, and dozens of Current Investors.
1. “Dropoff” Report – the last page viewed before readers closed the PDF.
y-axis = % who make it to a certain page
x-axis = actual page # in pitchbook
Looking at the graphs side-by-side, you’ll note a similar downward trend across both prospective LPs and current investors. It’s not a 100% apples-to-apples comparison, with the pitchbook to current investors being more condensed. But it’s still pretty close – same manager, similar deck, same sales reps.
Some takeaways:
i. It’s tough for anyone to get through to the end of a pitchbook. Even for your own investors. Plus, the longer it is, the tougher it is; for current LPs who are deemed to be the best segment to be communicating with, only 60% of them made it through the entire deck.
ii. There’ll be some who make it all the way through. The question is: can you identify these people? Are you able to cut through the noise and profile interest?
iii. And – some pages cause more dropoff than others. Can you identify this, and nip it in the bud?
2. “Time per page”
Let’s analyze the time your LPs spend on different pages in your pitchbook. Yes – there are ways that you can find out how. We’ll pit the same two segments against each other below:
Some takeaways:
i. There are some pages that are of greater interest than others. Are you presenting your material in the right way?
In this particular pitchbook, the Fund Overview, Sample Investment Opportunity, and Performance were the most viewed pages. While the Performance page is always going to be among the most viewed, won’t it be helpful to know what the others are or are not?
ii. Knowing which consultants & investors spend more time on your updates mean: Identifying sticky capital + evangelists.
The data gathered from your own analytics will be insightful in how to improve your ability in getting your point across.