What are marketing metrics, and how are they useful to a financial adviser’s marketing? If you’re asking such questions, this article will definitely help!
A “metric” is a system of measure. It allows you to put a concrete value on a particular part of your financial marketing, to determine its utility and value.
Some examples of metrics in digital marketing include:
- Google/Facebook advert impressions (i.e. how many people “saw” your ad online?)
- Click through rate (i.e. what percentage of people clicked on your link, or ad, who saw it?)
- Conversion rate (e.g. what percentage of website visitors filled out your contact form?)
- Bounce rate (e.g. How many people left your website after taking no action at all?)
It might be obvious, but it’s worth stating. A metric is only truly useful when it is measured repeatedly, in order to make insightful comparisons.
For instance, by comparing the bounce rate on your financial website last month, compared to this month, you get an idea of whether your website is becoming more or less relevant to your visitors.
Why Metrics Are Important In Financial Marketing
Galileo once said:
“Measure what is measurable and make measurable what is not so.”
It is hard to overstate the relevance of this statement to financial marketing.
We now live in an internet age, where virtually everything we do online leaves a digital footprint. This is a hugely different marketing environment from 30 years ago.
Back then, audiences were predominantly reached through TV, radio and printed materials. All of these channels were difficult to measure, especially regarding the number of qualified potential consumers reached, and the impact these had.
Nowadays, it is possible to be much more specific when measuring your audience’s interactions with your digital content, advertising and brand. This gives financial advisers and other firms a huge advantage, allowing you to deeply analyse what is working – and what is not – with your audience.
Watch Out!
Whilst metrics are hugely useful in financial marketing, it is important not to let them lure you into a false sense of contentment.
In particular, financial advisers can sometimes get distracted by “vanity metrics.” This is a metric which looks impressive, but actually provides no real value to the business.
For instance, an IFA might revel in the fact that they have built up a huge Twitter following, week on week, over the past 6 months. However, if these followers are not meaningfully engaging with your brand, are the wrong audience or are not converting at all, then what real value is this effort adding?
It is also important that you do not make assumptions regarding your metrics. Most notably, it is easy for financial advisers to make incorrect interpretations about the data they are looking at.
For example, perhaps your average session duration has massively gone up since the launch of your new financial website (i.e. the average time a visitor spends on your site). That suggests people love the new site more than the old one, right?
It could mean that. Or, it could be that you and your staff are spending more time on the site, admiring the new design. Because you forgot to exclude your IP address in your Google Analytics reports, the average session duration is probably more down to you and your colleagues rather than your audience!
How Metrics Concretely Help Financial Advisers
IFAs can greatly benefit from well-chosen metrics, in a range of ways:
#1 Enabling wise decision-making
Metrics provide valuable insight into what is resonating with your target audience. For instance, perhaps that new call to action on your landing page has proven to be much more effective than the previous version, for generating online enquiries.
With this kind of information, you are better equipped when deciding which landing page to focus on, for example, and what they should look like and say to engage your website visitors.
#2 Facilitates the creation of effective messages
What should you say to your audience, and how should you say it, exactly? With strategic use of split testing and pilot email campaigns, for instance, you can “test the waters” with different headlines, expressions and taglines to see what most connects with people.
#3 They help IFAs adapt to shifting marketing environments
Nothing really stands still in the world of digital marketing. A good example of this is the rise in the use of smartphones, when making internet searches to find financial advisers’ services.
Armed with accurate and up to date metrics, you can keep a clear eye on the shifting, online landscape – predicting future trends and adapt accordingly.