Editor's Note: This post was originally published in September 2016 and has been completely revamped and updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
Put yourself in the shoes of an investor who is on the Internet seeking a financial advisor. Your first step is to enter “find a financial advisor near me” in Google and start visiting financial advisor websites. You decide to take your time visiting several websites before you narrow your search to the ones that appear to be the best fit based on who they are, what they do, and who they serve.
Let’s assume our fictitious investor is a busy professional who getting ready to retire. This person is seeking financial advisors who provide pre-retirement to busy professionals. The Internet is an efficient way to find financial advisors, learn more about them, and remain anonymous until they are ready to schedule introductory interviews.
Pro Tip: Investors spend an average of 3 minutes or less on financial advisor websites. It’s safe to assume they spend more time on websites that grab their attention and deliver the information they are seeking.
We have viewed the performance data of hundreds of financial advisor websites over the past year. There are three digital marketing statistics, based on averages, that really stand-out in our review process:
- Average time spent on the home page: 44 seconds
- Average time spent on site: 2 minutes, 46 seconds
- Average bounce rate: 53%
The Home Page Differential
The role of your home page, above the fold, is to create immediate interest in your firm. The interest has to be strong enough that the visitor will commit 2-3 minutes viewing the other content on your website.
The rest of the content on the home page is an informational sales pitch for your firm. If this is the only page they visit, you want to make sure the page describes several features and benefits of your firm’s services.
Pro Tip: Your home page messaging has to be compelling, succinct, and intuitive all at the same time.
The more your home page messaging relates to investors, versus the firm, the more impact the messages will have on the decisions of investors.
Messaging that requires interpretation is a major digital marketing mistake.
Time on Site
Your entire Inbound Marketing strategy should be designed to create online visibility and relevant traffic for your website. Your website’s job is to convert that traffic into qualified leads for your advice and services.
Pro Tip: One of the best ways to measure site effectiveness is how much time visitors spend on it.
Time on site starts with crystal clear navigation so information about your firm can be found quickly and easily. It is a proven fact that visitors will not waste their valuable time looking for information on your website. Most visitors will exit the site before they will commit time to look for the information they are seeking.
Consequently, this should be viewed as a one-time opportunity to deliver the right information to visitors on your website. Either you deliver the information investors are seeking or you don’t.
The right information may not be what you think it is. The need for particular information will vary by visitor. Plus, delivery is more in the form of soundbites versus lengthy amounts of text.
The way people search for financial advisors and planners online is changing the way RIA firms and financial professionals market their services. Download our free eBook Inbound Marketing Strategies that work in a Digital World.
Why Bounce Rates Matter
Bounce rates are based on a page-by-page analysis of your website. In this case, we are measuring the percentage of people who landed on a page and immediately exited the website.
Pro Tip: High bounce rates indicate certain pages on your website are not performing. In fact, poorly thought out page titles and/or content may be driving people away.
Lower bounce rates can be interpreted as neutral to positive. The content on your pages may not cause visitors to exit the site. However, you should not assume they are reading the content on the page.
Lower bounce rates are 35% or less. Bounce rates that exceed 50% indicate significant problems for particular pages and functions.
Pages with higher bounce rates should be updated as soon as possible.
Why Specialization Matters
Many financial advisor websites market to anyone. They don’t want to miss out on any opportunities to sell their services. On the other hand, a significant number of advisors have minimum asset requirements that determines who they work for. Unfortunately, very few financial advisors publish their minimums on their website. Consequently, a lot of the investors who visit their sites can’t afford their services.
Pro Tip: There is the solution that is adopted by one in four financial advisors - they specialize. They know doctor Smith may enter the following search terms: “Find a financial advisor near me who works with doctors”. Investors seek professionals who work with investors like themselves. They expect this specialization to benefit them.
Why Conversion Rates Matter
One of the primary metrics for measuring the performance of financial advisor websites is their conversion rates. That is, what percentage of website visitors gives up their anonymity and submits their contact information.
A 1.75% conversion rate is a typical average for a financial advisor website. This may not sound like much, but every 100 visitors should produce 2 contacts or leads each month. Get the traffic up to 500 visitors and this could produce 9-10 leads or contacts.
Pro Tip: Higher quality websites can produce higher conversion rates.
Transparency is the Key to Website Performance
Why is this process so difficult compared to other industries? Investors are naturally cautious because many of them have had bad experiences with previous financial advisors. They are very aware there are good and bad financial advisors. Unfortunately, most investors do not know how to determine advisor quality. This opens the door for advisors with superior sales skills.
Financial advisors websites can be a difference maker. They deliver the information that investors are seeking. And, the more transparent the advisor’s website content the more trustworthy the financial advisor.
The best performing websites have three common characteristics. First, they deliver the information that investors are seeking. Second, they practice transparency on their websites. And third, they can create credibility, trust, and interest in three minutes or less.
Pro Tip: This is a one-time opportunity and it is the culmination of effective Inbound Marketing campaigns.
