How often do you consider your client’s journey? And how often do you consider ways to improve it? That’s what we’ll be discussing below by identifying the most common stages of a financial service client’s journey and ways of improving it.
For further information on any of the topics discussed in this post, don’t delay speaking with a WEBPRO Adviser team member. We’re here to help!
What is the client journey?
The client journey could be broken down into different stages, and of course, not every client journey is exactly the same. But we think one of the simplest ways to think about the experience of your client is as follows:
- Finding you by searching online or via marketing
- Landing on your website (either of the above usually results in a website visit)
- Verifying your business
- Enquiring about a service
- Lead management and sale conversion
- Client retention and possibly referral
In the sections below, we’ve elaborated on each of the above and discussed some ways to improve the client journey at each stage.
1. Make it easier to be found
Unless the prospective client has been referred to you by someone else, they won’t know you exist at the start of their journey. They will search for the type of services you offer online and/or possibly be exposed to one of your marketing campaigns.
Improving this aspect of the journey centres around making it easier to be found. You don’t want leads to turn up on your website frustrated and already losing patience. And the best way to ensure this is to not neglect your website’s SEO performance and to ensure marketing campaigns are highly targeted to the right demographics.
2. User website experience
The website experience is arguably one of the most important aspects of their journey. It’s a cornerstone where leads will continue down your sales funnel or jump ship to a competitor’s website.
The best website designers consider every design decision around the user’s experience to ensure they easily navigate the site and find the information they need as seamlessly as possible, which is our philosophy here at WEBPRO Adviser. On top of this, the user experience can be elevated with videos, images and concise copywriting. Many people forget the role of website content in optimising the user experience.
3. Verifying and social proof
Most clients – even those that want to use your services – will verify your business before taking the next step. Scores of studies have been conducted on the likelihood of a website visitor verifying the business elsewhere before continuing, with varying figures quoted from 63% to 90%+ of users seeking third-party reviews or information.
Thus, if you’re not creating opportunities to have your services reviewed elsewhere or encouraging reviews from existing clients, you could be losing prospective new clients. You can create more opportunities by verifying your business on review sites like Trustpilot, or by adding your business to Google Business, where reviews are published. On your own website, you should be listing accreditation on team profile pages or similar pages such as your About Us page.
4. First contact
Once the client has decided to get in touch, you need to make it easy for them to do so. Research suggests that most people don’t like to pick up the phone on the first contact, often opting for email or online submission forms instead. So, make sure you offer as many different ways to communicate with your business as possible, as solely encouraging phone calls might put some prospective clients off.
5. Lead management and conversion
Once a client gets in touch with you, they’ve become a warm lead and a real opportunity to acquire their business. This part of the client journey should focus on two things:
- Clear and concise information
- Efficiency
Ensure you provide answers to the questions they’re asking with no stone left unturned. Leads might be put off if you withhold information or aren’t transparent about your service. The other important aspect is to provide this information swiftly. The longer you wait to reply, the more chance the lead will contact a competitor. They might have already contacted a competitor, and in that case, you want to respond first.
If your business is being overrun by (the same type of) enquiries or low-quality leads, it could be worthwhile adding new content to service pages and a live chat feature to your site. A live chat feature could provide immediate answers to website users, which also reduces admin hours spent replying to enquiries.
6. Client retention
Last but not least, how are you maintaining a relationship with clients and encouraging repeat business and referrals? Email marketing is an effective way to do this, especially if your emails provide real value that the client will want to read. You might include tips and advice for free, making them feel part of an exclusive group because they’re your client.
