Finance funnel
A Custom Digital Funnel Solution to Capture Leads, Improve Customer Experience and Grow Sales for a Financial Services Leader
A Specialty Craft to Improve Customer Experience and Grow Sales for Finance-Industry Firms Digitally
Across Beta Launch's software and product marketing engagements over the past two years, there's been a particular focus on the finance industry.
In this time, we've worked closely on numerous software and product requirements of finance entities ranging from SME banks and capital market firms to out-and-out financial solution providers offering term deposits and gold pawning. It has allowed us to amass much insight and skill on digitally navigating finance sales and its challenges.
Below, we consider a recent example of a two-part digital funnel we developed for a financial services and capital markets leader managing different parts of their customers' online journeys.
In this time, we've worked closely on numerous software and product requirements of finance entities ranging from SME banks and capital market firms to out-and-out financial solution providers offering term deposits and gold pawning. It has allowed us to amass much insight and skill on digitally navigating finance sales and its challenges.
Below, we consider a recent example of a two-part digital funnel we developed for a financial services and capital markets leader managing different parts of their customers' online journeys.
PROBLEM
Lack of Retail Investor Awareness Involving Investment Products and a Manual Registration Process Creating Poor Customer Experience
Their entryway product for retail investors, Unit Trust Funds, presents a great low-risk-high-return investment option. But awareness involving the option has generally been low in Sri Lanka compared to traditionally popular options like term deposits. As a result, while traffic to their unit trust page was high, their sales conversions on unit trusts were low.
Parallelly, due to their manual registration or sign-up process for investments, many potential customers seeking convenience had dropped off and possibly opted for alternative providers. Others had to go through the hassle of physically visiting a location in order to collect the form and then fill it out manually.
The problem of poor customer experience was also exacerbated by not being able to track who these users were and identify specific parts of the form experience that had led to them not proceeding or delaying registering.
It was amid such challenges in their sales funnel that we first engaged with them to ideate a multi-faceted solution.
Parallelly, due to their manual registration or sign-up process for investments, many potential customers seeking convenience had dropped off and possibly opted for alternative providers. Others had to go through the hassle of physically visiting a location in order to collect the form and then fill it out manually.
The problem of poor customer experience was also exacerbated by not being able to track who these users were and identify specific parts of the form experience that had led to them not proceeding or delaying registering.
It was amid such challenges in their sales funnel that we first engaged with them to ideate a multi-faceted solution.
Approach
Primary and Secondary Research to Pinpoint Ideal Target Audience plus Discovery to Explore Critical Issues in Current Registration Process
To start, we absorbed the patterns established in dozens of market reports, research papers and white papers involving retail investors and their investment behaviour. Parallelly, we spoke with professionals from the clients’ firm who had direct contact with this segment to gain first-hand input on how these customers thought, felt and invested.
Through these efforts, we were able to identify who the ideal customer would be for their unit trust product while generating actionable insight on the value proposition, content, and experience that would resonate with them.
Parallelly, we held discovery conversations with key internal stakeholders in their then-current fixed deposit registration process. This allowed us to understand how customers had historically registered for their investment options, the poor experience it had involved, and its impact on sales and metrics such as NPS (net promoter score).
Through these efforts, we were able to identify who the ideal customer would be for their unit trust product while generating actionable insight on the value proposition, content, and experience that would resonate with them.
Parallelly, we held discovery conversations with key internal stakeholders in their then-current fixed deposit registration process. This allowed us to understand how customers had historically registered for their investment options, the poor experience it had involved, and its impact on sales and metrics such as NPS (net promoter score).
SOLUTION
A Lead Generation Funnel and Registration Automation Solution to Boost Awareness, Customer Experience and Sales
The research and first-hand discovery conversations informed both the lead generation and registration parts of the funnel Beta Launch crafted for them.
In the first stage, we pinpointed tech-savvy professionals in marketing, business analysis, and IT industries in the 25-40 age-group and making upwards of LKR 150,000 each month as the target audience. We considered their needs, pain points and customer journeys and went on to build a landing page funnel to create awareness surrounding unit trusts and the value they create.
This part of the funnel helped drive awareness and initial interest while carrying numerous call-to-action areas to capture leads for their sales and marketing team to nurture via email and retargeting.
The Beta Launch team then moved to designing and developing a prototype to automate their current fixed deposit registration process. This funnel involved eight stages corresponding to the different information capture sections of their manual registration form. The client’s need to improve customer experience through automation while keeping essential components of the form to meet financial regulatory requirements was successfully met.
With the sign-up or registration funnel built and tracking tools in place, we were able to monitor which parts of the registration led to the most friction and make changes in the experience accordingly to reduce the rate of dropping off midway even further.
The lead generation and registration funnels drastically improved customer experience across the full customer journey from awareness to decision-making, and it led to a remarkable rise in sales of their different financial investment options.
In the first stage, we pinpointed tech-savvy professionals in marketing, business analysis, and IT industries in the 25-40 age-group and making upwards of LKR 150,000 each month as the target audience. We considered their needs, pain points and customer journeys and went on to build a landing page funnel to create awareness surrounding unit trusts and the value they create.
This part of the funnel helped drive awareness and initial interest while carrying numerous call-to-action areas to capture leads for their sales and marketing team to nurture via email and retargeting.
The Beta Launch team then moved to designing and developing a prototype to automate their current fixed deposit registration process. This funnel involved eight stages corresponding to the different information capture sections of their manual registration form. The client’s need to improve customer experience through automation while keeping essential components of the form to meet financial regulatory requirements was successfully met.
With the sign-up or registration funnel built and tracking tools in place, we were able to monitor which parts of the registration led to the most friction and make changes in the experience accordingly to reduce the rate of dropping off midway even further.
The lead generation and registration funnels drastically improved customer experience across the full customer journey from awareness to decision-making, and it led to a remarkable rise in sales of their different financial investment options.
A Close Look at Their Finance Funnels
The screens highlighted represent the now automated registration funnel and its sequential information-capture stages, allowing customers to quickly and conveniently fill in their details online. It includes sections to enter personal information, contact details, source of funds, and so on as depicted.
Below, we have included numerous screens displaying the custom design prototype Beta Launch developed
Below, we have included numerous screens displaying the custom design prototype Beta Launch developed
