For wealth managers and other finance brands, the onboarding process can be a manual and time-consuming process. In fact, according to ZenDesk, 52% of customers stop using brands due to feeling lost and abandoned. The longer and more tedious the onboarding process, the more important the role content plays in successfully converting leads. Creating a strategic digital content strategy that drives clients down the acquisition funnel is critical. Here we explain how digital content is your secret to onboarding success.
The onboarding process
“ One in five users abandon the onboarding process because it dragged on too long.”
The important thing to remember about the onboarding process is that it’s an ongoing process. It’s not simply a one-and-done thing. For wealth managers and other finance brands, the onboarding process can often last weeks or months. With one in five users abandoning the onboarding process because it dragged on too long, your finance brand is potentially losing out on converting clients owing to a poorly planned digital content strategy.
At the end of the day, the onboarding process is an important component of your financial marketing strategy. In fact, a Signicat report shows that when faced with a bad onboarding experience, more than half of all customers are less inclined to use that bank in the future, and a third will warn friends to stay away. To engage consumers and convert leads, you must make the onboarding process easy and create authentic connections with clients throughout it.
Why content is your secret to onboarding success
Creating a strategic digital content strategy that supports a long, drawn-out ‘purchasing decision’ could be your finance brand’s secret to success. A financial marketing strategy can help foster a long-term relationship with your clients and move them from the awareness stage to the loyalty stage in the customer lifecycle model.
Here are five steps to ensure your digital content supports your onboarding process:
- Personalise your content – Ensure your communications and digital content is personalised and tailored to the specific client. Over 76% of consumers said receiving personalised communications was a key factor in their consideration of a brand.
- Utilise omnichannel marketing – Ensure you connect with consumers and build strong relationships with them across all the channels they use, from SMS marketing to social media and digital advertising.
- Differentiate your content – What content works for one consumer may not work for another. Ensure you create a fresh and engaging digital experience, by utilising a range of different content formats such as short-form videos to blog posts to emails; J.D Power reports that customer satisfaction increases as the number of customer communications increases.
- Utilise digital ad retargeting – Digital ad retargeting is when your finance brand serves ads based on prior engagement. This is important when creating an ongoing relationship with clients and helps your finance brand to nurture leads. In fact, retargeting beats all other ad placement strategies with a 1,046% efficiency rate.
- Don’t forget mobile – Ensure your digital content is mobile-friendly and targeted to where your consumers are viewing content. If most of your demographic has social media, it’s important this is where a majority of your digital content strategy is targeted towards.
Digital content doesn’t stop after conversions
Once your finance brand has successfully converted a client, this isn’t where your digital content strategy ends. The onboarding process is ongoing, even past the point of conversion. Digital content should continue to be used to nurture and support your clients. At the core of it, client retention is a long game that can be achieved through an effective financial marketing content strategy.
Here are four ways to continue to nurture your clients, long after the beginning stages of the onboarding process:
- Deliver informative and educational content
- Publish high-quality content consistently
- Create social media posts that foster a community
- Personalise client communications
To truly create a great onboarding process for wealth managers and other finance brands, digital content is a critical component you can’t just leave to last.
