The financial industry is considered to be one of the most boring industries in the business world. Well, in terms of marketing campaigns that they can squeeze their business model that it. There is a certain assumption that companies such as banks, brokerages and hedge funds are supposed to have a very conservative approach to their branding and marketing campaigns.
Even today, it’s very rare to see a financial company promote its platform through channels such as social media. In most cases, we’d find them spamming our emails or cold calling us about good investment opportunities.
And it used to work twenty or ten years ago, but now, approaching new customers needs to be done completely differently. Nearly nobody buys it because somebody called them. But the notion that it used to work, still remains with these companies, therefore we see them use the same colors, the same pitching tactics, the same names, and the same everything pretty much.
But what needs to be understood is the impact that their website could have on a person’s decision to be their customer. In most cases, we’d get cold called about an investment. Let’s say that we’re interested, we read some news piece about Tesla stock going up next month or something. We agree to go to the website, but once we enter, it’s a drab looking unattended website with trends from the 90s. Overall it’s just simple HTML with some CSS slapped on top.
I’d immediately get out of there. A company that can’t take care of a website, will most likely not take care of me.
People still judge books by their covers
It doesn’t matter if your financial business model is the best thing since sliced bread, if you don’t offer an easy to navigate and nice to look at website, you will be considered as a rookie in the business, or even worse, a scam.
Now, this doesn’t mean that you should pour all your funds into your website, that’s not going to do you any good in sales. It’s about the combination of a well-designed website and a well-rounded business model that should be the Unique Selling Point.
Besides the design, there should be some other issues you’ll need to take care of. For example, the SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). It’s the bar you see next to the URL of your webpage, that says the website is secure. It may not be much, but it provides legitimacy and trustworthiness for your company.
The most important part is that it’s not about the customers seeing the SSL, but about the online reviewers. According to this Libramarkets review, the websites that specialize in these types of reviews pay a lot of attention to those types of additions. If you have it, then it’s amazing, but if you don’t then it won’t be bothered too much. But having it pretty much does all of the jobs for convincing your customers that you’re legit.
Combine that SSL feature with a good color palette and a nice UX design, and you get a source of trustworthiness better than any license or document. In fact, all of these aspects have been included in the Forbes list of the best things to have on a website.
The competition is brutal
There were times when a city could function with only one local bank. But times have changed and it’s now common to see hundreds of various brands doing financial services. All of those companies are competitors, your competitors, and you need to somehow outclass them. And sometimes, the product isn’t the key to that victory, it’s the way you present it.
If you provide a good user experience while the potential customer is on your website, then a follow-up is going to be much more positive for your sales managers.
Less is more
The less time your customers have to spend on the website, looking for information the better it is for their experience. This can be achieved through various means. Such as a simplistic design, where all the most important segments of your business are displayed in the navigation bar. Hence the phrase, “less is more”.
For financial companies it’s best to have the Homepage, About, Services and FAQ page in the spotlight.
Many times we see financial websites use animations to make their website much more interactive. Don’t do this. This damages the website’s performance and takes way too much time to load, which can lead to customer frustration and numerous bugs down the line.
Time is money
The customer does not have time to spend on the website. His or her whole experience should not last more than 5 minutes, and the loading time should not be more than 1 second.
Remember, the website’s efficiency is the projection of your own efficiency. If it’s slow and unresponsive, it means that you are too. Plus it says that you don’t really have the funds required to build a good website.
Time is money for both you and your customers. The less time the customer has to spend on the website looking for information, the less time you’ll have to wait for them to commit to your offer. This increases overall efficiency and performance in the long run.
The bottom line
Operating any business, much less a financial one today, is impossible without a website. But it doesn’t mean that it’s better to have a terrible website than no website at all.
As long as you provide an easily navigable UX design, a responsive website for any device, fast loading pages with relevant information, clear and precise indications, you’ll not only convert more visitors into customers but also increase your website authority in the future as well.
Remember, some customers could be digital marketing experts. If they see that your website is lacking in authority it could lead to you being labeled as a fraud or a scam.
The key point is that financial services providers should be as creative, innovative and bold when it comes to their webpages as any other business in order to stay relevant and impress potential customers.
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