Countless industries have made dramatic increases to their web-based marketing efforts as of late. In 2011 alone, budgets usually allocated to print-based efforts were diverted to online ad spending. The Internet Marketing space has proven to be an efficient means to market to specific clientele via various forms of targeting. However, as with almost every instance of change throughout history, there are still those who lag behind in adapting to the circumstances.
In the financial services industry in particular, we have noticed a sizable population of organizations that either lack in marketing in the digital space or are not monitoring their marketing channels effectively (if at all). Large portions of marketing budgets are still being alotted to traditional efforts like print or billboards, which is fine: But how accurately is return-on-investment for these channels being monitored?
If implemented properly with solid policies and procedures, Web Analytics can shine quite a bit of light on the performance of your web efforts as well as how much return traditional channels are really generating. Here’s 3 ways Web Analytics can help:
- Optimization for Increasing Loan Applications & New Accounts: In many ways, your institution’s website is as important as your branch tellers and representatives. It is client-facing, has to serve up the information your customers are looking for, and get them to bite on additional products and services you offer. Web Analytics can help shine light on how well the site does at cross-selling and up-selling your clients and point out where improvements could be made.
- Identification of Seasonal Trends: Different seasons yield different trends with consumers. This is old news to anyone in marketing. Monitoring what non-branded search phrases people are using to find the website on search engines can uncover gems to base marketing strategies on in the next month.
- Monitoring Effectiveness of Traditional Channels: Web Analytical platforms’ visibility can extend beyond the website. Want to determine how much of a return that shiny new billboard your organization has on the interstate is really generating? Using a combination of vanity numbers, URLs, and unique landing pages, you can measure its effectiveness at creating new banking and investment customers right alongside your website’s data.
The list of benefits extends well beyond these alone. Not only can you optimize your institution’s website, but you can also measure return-on-investment on other channels of marketing as well. Gone are the days of remaining blind to performance and the inability to compare and contrast channels. Use Web Analytics to increase sales and new accounts.