
So, you’ve developed your financial advisor marketing strategy and started posting content. Now what? How do you know if what you’re doing is working?
In this article, we explore the 12 critical marketing KPIs financial advisors should be tracking and discuss how you can use the results to make data-driven decisions about your marketing strategy.
(P.S. Keep reading to the end for a free downloadable scorecard to see how your marketing measures up to other advisors in the industry!)
What Are Financial Advisor Marketing KPIs?
Key performance indicators (KPIs) are important metrics that financial advisors can use to understand what’s working (and what’s not) with their marketing strategies. KPIs tell you how effective your marketing strategy is, whether you’ve achieved success, and which, if any, adjustments should be made.
Below, we outline the KPIs for the most common strategies we help financial advisors implement.
Social Media KPIs
For better or worse, your social media profiles are an extension of your professional reputation as a financial advisor, and they’re often viewed by prospective clients who are researching your services. That makes social media an excellent place to measure marketing KPIs.
Number of Posts
One of the easier metrics to track is how often you post on your social profiles. Consistent posting helps maintain a strong presence, enhances credibility and trust, and ensures your brand remains top-of-mind for your audience.
Frequent posts also increase the opportunities for interaction, such as likes, comments, and shares, which amplifies the reach of your content and helps you stay relevant in the minds (and feeds) of prospective clients.
The sweet spot for post frequency varies by social platform, as outlined below.
- LinkedIn: 1-2 times per day
- Instagram: 3-5 times per week
- Facebook: 1-2 times per day
Number of Followers
Number of followers provides a tangible measure of the reach of your brand or content. An increasing follower count indicates that your marketing efforts are successfully attracting and retaining interest—an essential part of growing your advisory business.
A larger follower base can also enhance the credibility and social proof of your firm, helping you stand out from other advisors and making you more appealing to prospects. On LinkedIn, most advisors have at least 500 connections, and between 1,000 and 5,000 is a good benchmark for active LinkedIn profiles.
Since follower count can vary widely on Instagram and Facebook depending on the size of your firm, we’ve found it’s better to track audience growth rate on these platforms (net new followers divided by total audience). The average audience growth rate in the financial services industry is 2.4% on Facebook and 3.78% on Instagram.
Engagement Rate
Posting content regularly means little if no one is engaging with it. Likes, shares, comments, and messages are ways your audience can provide feedback about your content.
The higher the engagement rate, the more your content resonates with your audience. (Pro tip: Interacting with your own post can increase your engagement rate and encourage others to react. Try regularly responding to commenters to improve your engagement.)
Check out the average engagement rate for profiles in the financial services industry, according to research by Hootsuite:
- LinkedIn: 1.28%
- Instagram: 1.68%
- Facebook: 0.86%
Email Marketing KPIs
Email marketing is a tried-and-true component of most advisors’ marketing strategies, and it’s often said that you can judge the strength of an advisor’s prospect pipeline by the size of their email list. While growing your list is important, we recommend that advisors focus more on how recipients interact with their emails by tracking the KPIs below.
Open Rate
This metric measures the number of recipients who actually open your emails.
A high open rate suggests that your subject lines are compelling and that your subscribers recognize and trust your brand, leading them to engage with your emails. On the other hand, a low open rate might mean your subject lines are missing the mark, your email timing is off, or there’s a misalignment between your content and your audience’s interests.
You can optimize your open rate by experimenting with different subject lines, personalization techniques, and sending times. In the financial services industry, the average email open rate is 41.4%.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Where open rate measures the effectiveness of your subject line and timing, CTR measures the effectiveness of your message and call to action. It is the number of recipients who click on one or more links in your email.
If you are trying to drive prospects back to your website to book an introductory call, for instance, CTR can tell you the number of prospects who took the next step by clicking the link.
A high CTR signifies that your message successfully motivated your audience to take the desired action. In the financial services industry, the average click-through rate is 4.9%.
Unsubscribe Rate (CTR)
An ever-unpopular KPI, the unsubscribe rate measures the number of people who have opted out of receiving future emails. It’s no fun to see this number inching upward, but it can provide valuable insight into the effectiveness and relevance of your marketing.
The average unsubscribe rate for the financial services industry is 0.29%. A higher unsubscribe rate may indicate that your emails are not meeting the expectations or needs of your email list, leading to disengagement and potential loss of trust.
Keeping track of your unsubscribe rate is the first step in identifying content that triggers higher unsubscribe rates, allowing you to refine your messaging, frequency, and targeting strategies.
Website KPIs
As a financial advisor, your website is a virtual storefront for your services. Prospective clients will judge your credibility and fit as an advisor within the first few seconds of being on your website (literally), making website KPIs one of the most essential metrics for financial advisors to track.
Website Traffic
Understanding how many people are visiting your website is a great way to judge the effectiveness of both the website itself as well as your marketing reach.
High numbers of new visitors suggest successful outreach and initial engagement tactics, such as effective SEO, compelling social media content, and targeted advertising campaigns.
Recurring visitors, on the other hand, reflect your website’s ability to retain interest and provide ongoing value. A substantial proportion of returning visitors signals that your content, products, or services are engaging and satisfying enough to prompt repeat visits, fostering deeper relationships and customer loyalty.
On average, financial advisor websites see about 217 visitors per month.
Bounce Rate
This KPI measures how many visitors leave your website after viewing only one page. Though it’s always the goal to have prospective clients explore multiple pages on your site, it’s relatively common for users to leave only viewing one. For financial advisors, the average bounce rate is 68.10%, according to research conducted by XYPlanning Network.
A high bounce rate usually means that the landing page did not meet the visitors’ expectations or failed to motivate them to explore further. (Pro tip: To improve bounce rate, make sure landing pages contain relevant content, fast loading times, and a strong call to action that encourages users to take the next step in a clearly defined sales funnel.)
Time on Site and Pages Per Visit
Similar to bounce rate, time on site and pages per visit will provide insight into how visitors engage with your website and whether your web pages effectively drive users to take the desired action.
If your time on site and pages per visit metrics are high, it indicates that users find your content compelling and relevant and your website easy to navigate. Check out the industry standards stats below:
- Average time on site = 1 minute 22 seconds
- Average pages per visit = 1.92
Lead Generation & Client Acquisition KPIs
Financial advisors can gauge the overall success of their marketing strategy by understanding how well they attract and convert prospective clients (and how much it costs to do so).
Number of Leads Generated
This measures how well marketing campaigns capture prospective clients’ interest and motivate them to take the next step—it’s the end goal for all your marketing efforts!
Lead-gen is measured by various actions taken by prospective clients, including inbound phone calls, emails, website forms, newsletter sign-ups, and event registrations.
In general, the higher the number of leads you generate, the more effective your marketing strategy. Remember that your specific lead-gen metrics will vary greatly depending on the unique elements of your marketing strategy. On average, advisors generate 2.5 leads from their websites alone each month.
Client Acquisition Cost (CAC)
Often the most important question at the heart of all marketing discussions is how much will it cost? After all, you don’t want to spend more on marketing than you expect to make.
Client acquisition cost represents the total costs of all sales and marketing efforts divided by the number of new clients acquired within a specific period. Costs include hard dollars spent on advertising, content creation, and marketing strategy, as well as the total time spent on marketing and sales efforts. According to advisor marketing research conducted by Kitces.com, the average CAC is $2,000 per client for newer, earlier-stage advisors and increases as the cost of an advisor’s time increases, reaching $4,000+ per client for well-established advisors.
Return on Investment (ROI)
As a financial advisor, you’re well aware of the importance of ROI, which tells you how successful each marketing initiative is (in dollars earned) relative to the cost of implementing the strategy in the first place. To calculate ROI, subtract the marketing cost from your total growth and divide it by the marketing cost:
ROI = (Sales Growth − Marketing Cost) / Marketing Cost
So, what’s considered a “good” ROI? A general rule of thumb is that your marketing strategy should generate $5 in sales for every $1 spent, or have a 5:1 ratio.
The Bottom Line for Financial Advisor KPIs
KPIs are invaluable metrics that provide insight into the effectiveness of financial advisor marketing initiatives, allowing you to identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement. By regularly monitoring metrics, financial advisors can make data-driven decisions to optimize campaigns, allocate resources more efficiently, and enhance overall performance.
Get started today by using our free downloadable scorecard to keep track of the 12 most important marketing metrics.
Marketing Made Simple For Financial Advisors Like You
Developing a custom marketing strategy and tracking KPIs doesn’t have to be complicated. At Indigo Marketing Agency, we help financial advisors take charge of their marketing with done-for-you custom content, and with our multi-tiered comprehensive package offerings, you can pick and choose exactly what you need for a price that fits your budget.
The best part? We understand the most important KPIs to track, and our dedicated team will help you adjust your strategy as needed.
Ready to learn more? Contact us today to schedule your FREE strategy call!
FAQs
Marketing KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators, are metrics that help financial advisors measure the effectiveness of their marketing strategies. They provide insights into what is working, what isn’t, and where adjustments are needed. Tracking these KPIs allows advisors to make data-driven decisions, optimize their marketing efforts, and ultimately achieve better results in terms of engagement, lead generation, and client acquisition.
Improving social media engagement requires creating content that resonates with your audience and encourages interaction. You can boost engagement by posting regularly, asking questions, and responding to comments. Using visuals like infographics and videos can also attract more attention. Additionally, monitoring and analyzing engagement metrics will help you understand what types of content your audience prefers, allowing you to refine your strategy accordingly.
Client Acquisition Cost (CAC) is the total cost of acquiring a new client, including marketing and sales expenses. To manage CAC effectively, track all related costs and compare them to the number of new clients gained within a specific period. You can lower CAC by optimizing your marketing strategies to be more cost-efficient, focusing on high-performing channels, and improving conversion rates. Regularly reviewing and adjusting your marketing approach based on performance data will help keep CAC in check and ensure a positive return on investment.