Not a lot of advisers know this but there’s one thing you can do during lockdown to get more business and it couldn’t be simpler.
In a recent Iress poll, 55% of financial advisers and planners said the main thing they were struggling with due to the current social distancing measures was client acquisition.
Yet with plenty of evidence to suggest demand for financial advice has increased as a result of the coronavirus crisis, there certainly isn’t a lack of potential business out there. But how do you find leads at a time like this?
The good news is you needn’t go far. Those leads you’re looking for could be right under your nose, 197 of them in fact.
Financial advice marketing expert, Phil Calvert, who teamed up with us for our Virtual Adviser webinar, has research to show that financial adviser websites get, on average, 197 visitors per month (a number that could be even higher right now).
He claims most financial advisers have no idea about this and are missing out on potential business. So financial adviser websites are getting the traffic, but not the conversions - why?
The problem with most financial advisers’ websites
According to Calvert, more than 50% of people who visit an adviser homepage leave again straight away. It’s called the bounce rate - the number of people who leave your site after only looking at one page. Got a bounce rate of 25% or lower? Congratulations - that’s actually very good.
The reason it’s so high, Calvert says, is because financial advisers have way too much content on their homepage.
Calvert’s research found an average of 34 clickable links on financial advisers’ websites on the homepage alone - something which harks back to the days when everyone was advised to make their websites ‘sticky’. Today, it just confuses people. You could be doing great work on social media and marketing but when people arrive on your site it’s like hitting a brick wall with too many choices and things to do. Visitors get confused and they leave - usually to go to another financial adviser’s website, or they find ways to self-serve online.
How to make your website more effective
If you don’t know what your bounce rate is or how many visitors your website gets each month, now is the time to find out.
To know how effective your website is, you need to know the following information which you can get from Google analytics. Having this insight is really valuable so it’s worth spending the time getting familiar with Google analytics or talking to someone who is.
- Number of visitors
- Number of pages viewed
- Which pages people are looking at
- The time they are spending on your site
- The search terms they are using to find you
- The location they are coming from
- The page they gave up on (bounce)
- The bounce rate - the percentage of visitors who arrive at your site and leave straight away.
The simple thing you can do to improve your website
Calvert’s one piece of advice, if you were thinking of doing anything during lockdown, is to revisit your website and strip it back. Use the information above to make informed decisions about your website and the content on it, particularly the homepage. Look at it objectively (or ask a friend or family member to) and try to visualise your clients’ experience and journey then find ways to make it better and easier.
Calvert also recommends getting video testimonials from your clients onto your website. Even simple videos of your clients talking about their experiences are incredibly powerful and can dramatically improve your bounce rate. Capture them over Zoom or Skype now, or plan them out for later.
With just these few simple changes, your website can work much harder for you and take some of the pressure off finding leads which is good news because you’re going to need more time to spend connecting with all those new clients.
To hear more from Philip Calvert, watch the Virtual Adviser webinar where he shares even more advice on how to run a successful financial advice practice.
We also recommend you read our article 'The top marketing strategies for financial advisers'.
For free resources and support to help guide you through the coronavirus crisis, including tips and advice from our team on how to work effectively and securely from home, visit our dedicated hub.
