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7 Fintech Marketing Strategies to Maximise Profits in 2024

Erin — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 22:31:07 +0000

Fintech investment skyrocketed in 2021, but funding tanked in the following two years. A -63% decline in fintech investment in 2023 saw the worst year in funding since 2017. Luckily, the correction quickly floored, and the fintech industry will recover in 2024, but companies will have to work much harder to secure funds.

F-Prime’s The 2024 State of Fintech Report called 2023 the year of “regulation on, risk off” amid market pressures and regulatory scrutiny. Funding is rising again, but investors want regulatory compliance and stronger growth performance from fintech ventures.

Here are seven fintech marketing strategies to generate the growth investors seek in 2024.

Top fintech marketing challenges in 2024

Following the worst global investment run since 2017 in 2023, fintech marketers need to readjust their goals to adapt to the current market challenges. The fintech honeymoon is over for Wall Street with regulator scrutiny, closures, and a distinct lack of profitability giving investors cold feet.

Here are the biggest challenges fintech marketers face in 2024:

Market correction: With fewer rounds and longer times between them, securing funds is a major challenge for fintech businesses. F-Prime’s The 2024 State of Fintech Report warns of “a high probability of significant shutdowns in 2024 and 2025,” highlighting the importance of allocating resources and budgets effectively.
Contraction: Aside from VC funding decreasing by 64% in 2023, the payments category now attracts a large majority of fintech investment, meaning there’s a smaller share from a smaller pot to go around for everyone else.
Competition: The biggest names in finance have navigated heavy disruption from startups and, for the most part, emerged stronger than ever. Meanwhile, fintech is no longer Wall Street’s hottest commodity as investors turn their attention to AI.
Regulations: Regulatory scrutiny of fintech intensified in 2023 – particularly in the US – contributing to the “regulation on, risk off” summary of F-Prime’s report.
Investor scrutiny: With market and industry challenges intensifying, investors are putting their money behind “safer” ventures that demonstrate real, sustainable profitability, not short-term growth.
Customer loyalty: Even in traditional baking and finance, switching is surging as customers seek providers who better meet their needs. To achieve the sustainable growth investors are looking for, fintech startups need to know their ideal customer profile (ICP), tailor their products/services and fintech marketing campaigns to them, and retain them throughout the customer lifecycle.

The good news for fintech marketers is that the market correction is leveling out in 2024. In The 2024 State of Fintech Report, F-Prime says that “heading into 2024, we see the fintech market amid a rebound,” while McKinsey expects fintech revenue to grow “almost three times faster than those in the traditional banking sector between 2023 and 2028.”

Winning back investor confidence won’t be easy, though. F-Prime acknowledges that investors are prioritising high-performance fintech ventures, particularly those with high gross margins. Fintech marketers need to abandon the growth-at-all-costs mindset and switch to a data-driven optimisation, growth and revenue system.

7 fintech marketing strategies

Given the current state of the fintech industry and relatively low levels of investor confidence, fintech marketers’ priority is building a new culture of sustainable profit. This starts with rethinking priorities and switching up the marketing goals to reflect longer-term ambitions.

So, here are the fintech marketing strategies that matter most in 2024.

1. Optimise for profitability over growth at all costs

To progress from the growth-at-all-cost mindset, fintech marketers need to optimise for different KPIs. Instead of flexing metrics like customer growth rate, fintech companies need to take a more balanced approach to measuring sustainable profitability.

This means holding on to existing customers – and maximising their value – while they acquire new customers. It also means that, instead of trying to make everyone a target customer, you concentrate on targeting the most valuable prospects, even if it results in a smaller overall user base.

Optimising for profitability starts with putting vanity metrics in their place and pinpointing the KPIs that represent valuable business growth:

Gross profit margin
Revenue growth rate
Cash flow
Monthly active user growth (qualify “active” as completing a transaction)
Customer acquisition cost
Customer retention rate
Customer lifetime value
Avg. revenue per user
Avg. transactions per month
Avg. transaction value

With a more focused acquisition strategy, you can feed these insights into every company level. For example, you can prioritise customer engagement, revenue, retention, and customer service in product development and customer experience (CX).

To ensure all marketing efforts are pulling towards these KPIs, you need an attribution system that accurately measures the contribution of each channel.

Marketing attribution (aka multi-touch attribution) should be used to measure every touchpoint in the customer journey and accurately credit them for driving revenue. This helps you allocate the correct budget to the channels and campaigns, adding real value to the business (e.g., social media marketing vs content marketing).

Example: Mastercard helps a digital bank acquire 10 million high-value customers

For example, Mastercard helped a digital bank in Latin America achieve sustainable growth beyond customer acquisition. The fintech company wanted to increase revenue through targeted acquisition and profitable engagement metrics.

Strategies included:

A more targeted acquisition strategy for high-value customers
Increasing avg. spend per customer
Reducing acquisition cost
Customer retention

As a result, Mastercard’s advisors helped this fintech company acquire 10 million new customers in two years. More importantly, they increased customer spending by 28% while reducing acquisition costs by 13%, creating a more sustainable and profitable growth model.

2. Use web and app analytics to remotivate users before they disengage

Engagement is the key to customer retention and lifetime value. To prevent valuable customers from disengaging, you need to intervene when they show early signs of losing interest, but they’re still receptive to your incentivisation tactics (promotions, rewards, milestones, etc.).

By integrating web and app analytics, you can identify churn patterns and pinpoint the sequences of actions that lead to disengaging. For example, you might determine that customers who only log in once a month, engage with one dashboard, or drop below a certain transaction rate are at high risk for churn.

Using a tool like Matomo for web and app analytics, you can detect these early signs of disengagement. Once you identify your churn risks, you can create triggers to automatically fire re-engagement campaigns. You can also use CRM and session data to personalize campaigns to directly address the cause of disengagement, e.g., valuable content or incentives to increase transaction rates.

Example: Dynamic Yield fintech re-engagement case study

In this Dynamic Yield case study, one leading fintech company uses customer spending patterns to identify those most likely to disengage. The company set up automated campaigns with personalised in-app messaging, offering time-bound incentives to increase transaction rates.

With fully automated re-engagement campaigns, this fintech company increased customer retention through valuable engagement and revenue-driving actions.

3. Identify the path your most valuable customers take

Why optimise web experiences for everyone when you can tailor the online journey for your most valuable customers? Use customer segmentation to identify the shared interests and habits of your most valuable customers. You can learn a lot about customers based on where the pages they visit and the content they engage with before taking action.

Use these insights to optimise funnels that motivate prospects displaying the same customer behaviours as your most valuable customers.

Get 20-40% more data with Matomo

One of the biggest issues with Google Analytics and many similar tools is that they produce inaccurate data due to data sampling. Once you collect a certain amount of data, Google reports estimates instead of giving you complete, accurate insights.

This means you could be basing important business decisions on inaccurate data. Furthermore, when investors are nervous about the uncertainty surrounding fintech, the last thing they want is inaccurate data.

Matomo is the reliable, accurate alternative to Google Analytics that uses no data sampling whatsoever. You get 100% access to your web analytics data, so you can base every decision on reliable insights. With Matomo, you can access between 20% and 40% more data compared to Google Analytics.

With Matomo, you can confidently unlock the full picture of your marketing efforts and give potential investors insights they can trust.

Try Matomo for Free

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4. Reduce onboarding dropouts with marketing automation

Onboarding dropouts kill your chance of getting any return on your customer acquisition cost. You also miss out on developing a long-term relationship with users who fail to complete the onboarding process – a hit on immediate ROI and, potentially, long-term profits.

The onboarding process also defines the first impression for customers and sets a precedent for their ongoing experience.

An engaging onboarding experience converts more potential customers into active users and sets them up for repeat engagement and valuable actions.

Example: Maxio reduces onboarding time by 30% with GUIDEcx

Onboarding optimisation specialists, GUIDEcx helped Maxio cut six weeks off their onboarding times – a 30% reduction.

With a shorter onboarding schedule, more customers are committing to close the deal during kick-off calls. Meanwhile, by increasing automated tasks by 20%, the company has unlocked a 40% increase in capacity, allowing it to handle more customers at any given time and multiplying its capacity to generate revenue.

5. Increase the value in TTFV with personalisation

Time to first value (TTFV) is a key metric for onboarding optimisation, but some actions are more valuable than others. By personalising the experience for new users, you can increase the value of their first action, increasing motivation to continue using your fintech product/service.

The onboarding process is an opportunity to learn more about new customers and deliver the most rewarding user experience for their particular needs.

Example: Betterment helps users put their money to work right away

Betterment has implemented a quick, personalised onboarding system instead of the typical email signup process. The app wants to help new customers put their money to work right away, optimising for the first transaction during onboarding itself.

It personalises the experience by prompting new users to choose their goals, set up the right account for them, and select the best portfolio to achieve their goals. They can complete their first investment within a matter of minutes and professional financial advice is only ever a click away.

Optimise account signups with Matomo

If you want to create and optimise a signup process like Betterment, you need an analytics system with a complete conversion rate optimisation (CRO) toolkit.

Matomo includes all the CRO features you need to optimise user experience and increase signups. With heatmaps, session recordings, form analytics, and A/B testing, you can make data-driven decisions with confidence.

Try Matomo for Free

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6. Use gamification to drive product engagement

Gamification can create a more engaging experience and increase motivation for customers to continue using a product. The key is to reward valuable actions, engagement time, goal completions, and the small objectives that build up to bigger achievements.

Gamification is most effective when used to help individuals achieve goals they’ve set for themselves, rather than the goals of others (e.g., an employer). This helps explain why it’s so valuable to fintech experience and how to implement effective gamification into products and services.

Example: Credit Karma gamifies personal finance

Credit Karma helps users improve their credit and build their net worth, subtly gamifying the entire experience.

Users can set their financial goals and link all of their accounts to keep track of their assets in one place. The app helps users “see your wealth grow” with assets, debts, and investments all contributing to their next wealth as one easy-to-track figure.

7. Personalise loyalty programs for retention and CLV

Loyalty programs tap into similar psychology as gamification to motivate and reward engagement. Typically, the key difference is that – rather than earning rewards for themselves – you directly reward customers for their long-term loyalty.

That being said, you can implement elements of gamification and personalisation into loyalty programs, too.

Example: Bank of America’s Preferred Rewards

Bank of America’s Preferred Rewards program implements a tiered rewards system that rewards customers for their combined spending, saving, and borrowing activity.

The program incentivises all customer activity with the bank and amplifies the rewards for its most active customers. Customers can also set personal finance goals (e.g., saving for retirement) to see which rewards benefit them the most.

Conclusion

Fintech marketing needs to catch up with the new priorities of investors in 2024. The pre-pandemic buzz is over, and investors remain cautious as regulatory scrutiny intensifies, security breaches mount up, and the market limps back into recovery.

To win investor and consumer trust, fintech companies need to drop the growth-at-all-costs mindset and switch to a marketing philosophy of long-term profitability. This is what investors want in an unstable market, and it’s certainly what customers want from a company that handles their money.

Unlock the full picture of your marketing efforts with Matomo’s robust features and accurate reporting. Trusted by over 1 million websites, Matomo is chosen for its compliance, accuracy, and powerful features that drive actionable insights and improve decision-making.

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Fintech Content Marketing: 10 Best Practices & Growth Strategies

Erin — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 01:35:33 +0000

Content marketing is an effective strategy for growth and building trust. This is especially true in the fintech industry, where competition is intense and trust is crucial. Content marketing helps you strengthen customer relationships, engage your audience, and differentiate yourself from competitors.

To get the most out of your fintech content marketing, you need to develop the right strategy.

In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about content marketing for fintech companies so you can expand your reach and grow your business.

What is fintech content marketing?

Fintech content marketing is creating content around financial topics on the internet to attract, engage, and convert audiences.

Fintech companies can use a content strategy to drive leads by creating educational content.

While financial content is important, it’s easy for it to feel boring, unrelatable, or confusing. But, when done right, fintech companies can educate their audiences with great content marketing that helps their audience understand financial topics in-depth.

Fintech companies can create written, audio, or video content to inform their audiences about financial topics they’re interested in.

From there, each piece of content can then be distributed to different mediums:

Blogs
Website
Facebook
YouTube
Instagram
Other websites
Apps
And more

Once content is distributed, fintech companies can then analyse how effective the content is by tracking web analytics data like search engine traffic, social media engagement, and new customers.

7 reasons fintech companies need content marketing

Before we dive into fintech content marketing best practices, let’s recap why fintech companies need to lean into content to grow their business.

Here are seven reasons your financial company needs to deploy a robust content strategy:

1. Reach new audiences

If you want to grow your fintech company, you need to find new customers. Creating content is a proven path to marketing yourself online and attracting a larger audience.

By using search engine optimisation (SEO), social media marketing, and YouTube, you can expand your audience and grow your customer base.

With content marketing, you can find new audiences without needing a massive budget, making scaling easier.

2. Engage current audience

While content can be a powerful method to reach new customers, it isn’t the only thing it’s good for.

If you want to grow your business, another way to leverage your content is to keep your current audience engaged.

You can create financial content to educate, inform, and add value to your current audience who already knows you. Repurposing content between the different platforms your audience is on keeps them engaged with you and your brand.

It’s a simple way to capture and keep the attention of your audience, build trust, and convert more prospects into customers.

3. Build relationships with customers

You should leverage content marketing in various spaces, such as social media, your website, a blog, or even YouTube. Creating content on different channels allows you to build relationships with your customers on autopilot.

The general rule in marketing is that the more touch points you have with your customers, the more you’ll sell. Creating more content means you always have new opportunities to increase those touchpoints, build deeper relationships, and sell more.

4. Grow authority in a space

If you want people to trust you and your financial tech, you need to be seen as an authority. How can someone trust that your app or web platform will help them with their finances if they don’t trust you’re a financial expert?

You should use informative content to become a thought leader in your space. You can post content on social media or your own platforms.

You can also spread your authority by leveraging other brands’ or influencers’ audiences through guest blog posting and guest podcasting.

5. Drive new leads

Content marketing isn’t just a fun hobby for businesses. It’s one of the smartest ways to drive new leads.

You should be crafting content for your top-of-funnel marketing strategy to attract potential customers.

Creating content consistently is a great way to bring in new audience members into your funnel.

Once you grow your top-of-funnel audience, you can convert them into leads by getting them to join your email list or trial your financial software.

One tip to get more out of your content strategy is creating evergreen content to continually drive leads. For example, create “set-it-and-forget it” blog posts or YouTube videos that will continue working for you daily to attract new audience members searching for helpful financial information. Then, provide a call to action on that content to join your email list (by leveraging a lead magnet).

6. Convert prospects to customers

When you have a continual flow of new top-of-funnel prospects, you always have a fresh cycle of prospects you can convert into customers.

Content is primarily used to attract new audience members and engage your current audience at the top of your funnel. But it can also be used to convert your audience into customers.

Try mixing up your content types to drive conversions:

Educational
Entertaining
Promotional

Don’t just show off educational content.

You should also mix in “authority” content by displaying case studies of user success stories and calling to action to sign up for a free trial or request a demo.

7. Lower Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

On the business side, if you want a marketing strategy that will keep expenses low long term, you’ll want to invest more in content.

Content marketing has a great return on investment (ROI) for your time and effort.

Why?

Because the customer acquisition costs (CAC) are so low.

You can create content that can bring in leads for months if not years.

If you only use Google or Facebook ads to drive new leads, you always have to “pay-to-play.” When you turn the advertising tap off, your leads dry up.

But, with blogs and videos, you can create content that can bring in organic customers on repeat. It’s like a snowball effect that keeps going long after you’ve completed the initial work.

10 fintech content marketing best practices

Here are ten best practices to establish a strong content marketing strategy as a fintech company:

1. Set SMART goals

A good content strategy starts with goal-setting. You’ll never get there if you don’t know where you’re going.

To make sure your fintech content marketing strategy is a success, you need to set SMART goals:

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-bound

For example, you might set a goal to reach 20,000 blog visits in one year and convert blog visits at a rate of 3%.

Setting clear content goals will streamline operations, so you stay consistent and get the most out of your efforts.

3. Be transparent

Transparency is crucial for fintech companies, as they handle sensitive financial data and, in many cases, monetary transactions.

It’s essential for you to be open and clear about your products, services, and data practices. By being honest about privacy and security measures, fintechs can build and maintain trust with their customers.

This transparency not only helps in establishing credibility but also ensures customers feel confident about how their financial information is managed and protected.

4. Take an education-first approach

Content isn’t just about “hooking” or entertaining your audience. That’s just one aspect of a content strategy.

The best approach to building authority and converting leads from your content is to take an education-first approach.

Remember above, when we touched on understanding your ICP? You need to know your ICP’s interests and pain points inside and out and then map your product’s strengths to those that are relevant.

Always start with your ICP, then build the content strategy around them based on your product.

Find connections and identify how your product can address the ICP’s interests and pain points.

For example, let’s say your ICPs are Gen Z consumers. They’re interested in independence and saving for future goals. Their pain points might include lack of investment knowledge and managing student debts and other loans.

Let’s say your product is a personal finance app. Some of your benefits might be budget tracking and beginner-friendly investment options. You could create a content strategy around budgeting in your 20s and investing for beginners.

Content strategies will vary widely based on your ICP. For instance, content for a fintech company targeting those approaching retirement will need a different focus compared to that aimed at younger consumers.

Remember: practical, step-by-step, value-driven content performs best regarding conversions.

5. Leverage the right tools

If you’re going to succeed with content, you need to lean on the right tools.

Here are a few types of tools you should consider (and recommendations):

Project management (i.e., Asana)
Content management system (i.e., WordPress)
Content scheduling (i.e., Hootsuite)
Design (i.e., Canva)
SEO (i.e., Ahrefs)
Web analytics (i.e., Matomo)

Try Matomo for Free

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6. Promote your content on different platforms

You’ll want to promote your fintech content marketing strategy on different channels and platforms to get the most out of your fintech content marketing strategy.

Start with one core platform before you pick a few platforms to promote your content. You should leverage at least one social media platform.

Then, create a blog and an email newsletter to ensure you create multiple touchpoints.

Here are some tips on how to pick the right platform:

Consider age range (i.e. TikTok for a younger audience, Facebook for an older audience)
Consider your preferred content type (YouTube for long-form video, X for short-form written content
Consider your competition (i.e. go where competitive fintech companies already are)

7. Track results

How do you know if you’re on pace to reach the SMART goals you set earlier?

By tracking your results.

You should dive into your data regularly to ensure your content is working. Make sure to track social media, email marketing, and web results.

Keep a close eye on your website KPIs and track your conversions to ensure a return on investment (ROI). For more detailed guidance on monitoring your website’s performance, check out our blog on how to check website traffic as accurately as possible.

Remember, a data-driven approach is the best way to stay on track with your content goals.

8. Establish a content leader

Your content marketing needs a leader. You should establish someone on your marketing team to oversee your content plan.

They should ensure they collaborate well with different teams, understand social media and SEO, and know how to manage projects.

Most of all, don’t forget that they’re in charge of tracking your data and reporting to higher-ups, so they should be comfortable with web analytics and know how to track performance well.

9. Optimise for SEO

It’s not enough to create a weekly blog post. You could craft the most valuable content on your website, but nobody will find it online if it isn’t optimised for SEO.

Your content leader should analyse SEO data using a tool like Ahrefs or SEMrush to analyse different keywords to target in your content.

A web analytics tool like Matomo can then be used to track results. Matomo offers traditional web analytics, including pageviews, bounce rate, and sources of traffic, alongside features like heatmaps, session recordings, and A/B testing.

These advanced features provide deeper insights into how users interact with your site and content, helping you pinpoint areas for improvement. Improving the user experience based on these insights can then positively impact your Google rankings.

Try Matomo for Free

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10. Stay compliant

Fintech is a highly regulated industry. Keeping this in mind, you need to ensure you take the necessary steps to ensure you remain compliant with all applicable laws and regulations.

Non-compliance can result in severe penalties.

Given these high standards, it’s crucial to ensure that user data remains private and secure. Matomo helps with this by providing a compliant web analytics solution that respects user privacy. With Matomo, you can confidently manage compliance and build trust with your customers while also reliably tracking the performance of your content marketing.

Drive your content marketing strategy with Matomo

Leaning into content marketing can be one of the best ways your fintech company can attract, engage, convert, and retain your audience.

By creating high-quality content for your audience on social media, YouTube, and your website, you can establish your brand as an authority to grow your business for years to come.

But remember, you need to make sure you’re only using privacy-friendly, compliant tools to protect your audience’s data.

Thankfully, Matomo has you covered.

As a privacy-friendly web analytics tool, Matomo ensures that your website data is tracked and stored in compliance with privacy laws.

Trusted by over 1 million websites, it offers reliable data without sampling, guaranteeing accuracy. Matomo is designed to be fully compliant with privacy regulations such as GDPR and CCPA, while also providing advanced features like heatmaps, session recordings, and A/B testing to help you track and enhance your website’s performance.

Request a demo to see how Matomo can benefit your fintech business now.

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Multi-Site Management (Quick-Start Guide)

Erin — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 04:08:46 +0000

Do you run multiple websites?

Or, you’re expanding from one to two sites?

Multi-site management isn’t an easy task.

While there are dozens of reasons why you may need to operate several sites, like brick and mortar stores opening new locations in different regions, you need to ensure you’re following the right strategies so you remain successful.

So, how do you actually manage multiple websites at the same time without spreading yourself thin?

Using a single dashboard.

In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about managing multiple sites in a single location at once so you can lead a successful digital strategy.

What is multi-site management?

Multi-site management is the process of organising and operating multiple websites from a single location. It helps with congruent branding and improved productivity.

Enterprise businesses that use multiple, language-specific versions of their site to target their audience in specific countries or regions can also benefit from managing their multiple sites from a single location.

By analysing a few websites at once, marketers and analysts can oversee a few different business websites without having to switch between multiple platforms and technologies.

Whatever the reason is for managing multiple sites, multi-site management helps marketers and analysts establish a consistent brand presence, improve workflow efficiencies and scale operations.

7 Benefits of multi-site management

Multi-site management allows you to navigate and control a few websites all in one centralised location.

Here are a few of the main benefits of multi-site management:

1. Save time by reusing code between websites

Saving time is the main benefit of multi-site management. Rather than managing websites from multiple platforms, logins and infrastructures, you can manage everything from one place.

Multi-site management allows you to easily reuse core code, infrastructure and other digital assets from other sites all within one dashboard.

So, when you need to update all of your websites, you can do it all at once in a fraction of the time.

2. Improve productivity by having everything in one place

How many tools do you currently use for your job on a daily basis?

Five? Ten?

Now, imagine adding on another handful of tools, logins and technology for every site you manage.

It’s a lot, especially if you’re managing dozens of logins, usernames and passwords.

With multi-site management, you don’t need to have multiple login credentials. Everything’s all in one place and within one system.

You don’t need to switch between multiple tools and platforms to get things done.

The same strategy applies to your web analytics. If you want to streamline your productivity, make sure you’re tracking all of the data from your different websites in one place. Matomo lets you track multiple sites, domains and subdomains in one centralised location with the ‘All Websites’ dashboard which is a roll-up report. This is ideal for enterprises managing and analysing numerous sites.

Try Matomo for Free

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3. Maintain brand image with consistent design across sites

If you have multiple websites, subsidiaries or sister companies, it can take a great deal of effort to maintain branding consistency.

But, if you’re leveraging a multi-site content management system, you can update your branding and design between all sites at the same time.

If you need to make a change with your design, you don’t need to update each individual site with your new initiative. Instead, you can update multiple sites at once, allowing your visual branding to stay congruent, giving you uniformity in messaging.

The result is an optimised user experience, which helps you increase trust with your audience, improve engagement and keep them coming back for years to come.

4. Increase security through centralised management

The greater your digital presence is, the more you can reach a wider range of people.

But, there’s one downside: you expose yourself to more risk.

Keeping multiple websites secure isn’t as easy to do if you’re leveraging dozens of different platforms and logins.

Instead, when you have all of your websites in one location, it can help you easily track every document. You can also control site versions for easy updates to prevent malicious attacks.

5. Optimise scalability and flexibility

If you plan on scaling your companies and digital presence, you need to ensure you’re able to do so without having to tear down your entire infrastructure or spend a ton of money upfront.

For enterprise companies, multi-site management allows you to easily launch new regional sites as your company expands.

Plus, if you have new product or marketing campaigns, you can simply add on microsites as needed by simply adding it to your current website lineup.

This allows you to stay flexible in your marketing and growth strategies without adding extra risk or financial burden.

6. Improve targeting and personalisation in marketing

If you want to reach your audience better, but you’re managing multiple websites, it can be hard to not spread yourself too thin.

But, if you’re managing a few websites in one place, it’s easier to track your audience’s interests, behaviour, wants and needs.

By using a web analytics tool like Matomo to track the performance of multiple websites, you can see what’s resonating with your audience so you’re able to improve your targeting and offer personalised campaigns.

Try Matomo for Free

Get the web insights you need, without compromising data accuracy.

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7. Streamline collaboration between team members

Making your team juggle multiple platforms, websites and tools is a surefire way to give them a headache.

Multi-site management is one of the best ways to bring your entire team into one centralised location so you can foster seamless collaboration without leaving your team confused or frustrated.

By placing your entire website management in one place, markters, designers, developers, writers and other team members can collaborate effectively so you can get more done in less time.

With multi-site management, you bring your entire team into a single location to work on your websites so you can speed up your content creation process, speed up problem solving and streamline communication.

6 Best practices of multi-site management

When you have multiple websites, you can expand your brand presence. But, one main problem arises: it becomes overwhelming for anyone managing them.

Since each website comes with its own platform, login credentials and assets, it becomes incredibly difficult for developers, marketers and others to maintain the sites. And, if your sites aren’t looked after properly, you could end up with technical issues and branding inconsistencies, causing you to lose conversions and negatively impact the user experience.

Thankfully, multi-site management can help you streamline your efforts, improve productivity and scale your business.

But, before you dive into your multi-site management process, you need to ensure you implement the right strategy.

Here are a few best practices to follow to succeed with multi-site management:

1. Use a multi-site CMS

If you want to manage multiple websites, you need to make sure you’re leveraging a CMS that offers multi-site management capabilities.

A multi-site CMS allows you to make simple content, design or management changes simultaneously without having to switch between different systems.

Here are a few examples of CMS’ that offer multi-site management:

2. Integrate a headless CMS

One of the most versatile types of content management systems is what’s known as a “headless CMS.”

This is a CMS that lets you disconnect the front end from the back end of your website management.

Here are a few examples of headless (and open source) CMS’:

A headless CMS can help you add versatility in the way you present content across multiple sites. It uses an API to give you more flexibility so you can push content to websites as well as apps, etc.

Using a headless CMS can help you improve page load times, website performance and user experience by simplifying your tech stack.

3. Implement cross-domain and mult-isite Matomo analytics tracking

If you want to track the website analytics data of multiple sites, you need to implement cross-domain tracking.

The best way to do this is by leveraging a web analytics solution like Matomo. It lets you track the performance of multiple subdomains or websites.

With Matomo, you get easy data grouping and data roll-up reporting for streamlined tracking.

This means you can track the individual performance of each site or group them together to see the shared performance.

4. Enable multiuser management

If you’re working with different team members who need access to your CMS, then you should consider enabling multiuser management.

This allows several people to work within your multi-site CMS and also gives you the ability to grant or restrict access to certain abilities within the platform.

This is handy if you have a few different stakeholders working in your CMS.

By enabling different user permissions and access, you can improve the security of your website and protect sensitive company information.

5. Leverage composable content

Creating a few different websites is a great way to increase your brand reach. But, it can be time-consuming having to continuously create and update content within multiple sites.

That’s where composable content comes in.

It allows you to create similar content between sites using pre-made “blocks.” Content blocks act as templates so you can quickly add similar content pieces to each site without having to start over from scratch each time.

This speeds up productivity for your designers, writers and editors and keeps brand image consistent across different sites.

6. Use version control

What happens if you update all of your websites with a redesign, but it flops?

Well, rather than having to tear it all down and redesign your site infrastructure, you can leverage version control to restore your website to a previous version.

Version control is especially handy when you’re managing multiple sites at once and you have multiple team members working in your CMS.

Version control is also helpful if you’re A/B testing different content. By saving previous versions of your websites, you can run tests to help you optimise your web performance.

For example, if you use Matomo’s A/B testing feature to experiment with different landing page designs for a lead magnet, but find that your previous version performed better, you can simply restore your websites to a previous version in seconds.

Track web analytics for multiple websites with Matomo

If you’re looking to expand your digital presence, then creating new websites is one of the best ways to grow your brand.

Multi-site management can help you save time, improve productivity and maintain a consistent brand image across your empire.

One challenge of multi-site management is tracking the performance of your websites.

That’s where Matomo has you covered.

Matomo is a privacy-friendly web analytics tool that collects, stores, and tracks data across multiple websites and subdomains, allowing you to improve your performance.

With over 1 million websites using Matomo, you can rely on it for accurate data without sampling, ensuring compliance with privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA.

Matomo is especially beneficial for enterprises. It offers advanced roll-up reporting, enabling you to see the performance of multiple websites in one centralised dashboard. This feature, along with heatmaps, session recordings, and A/B testing, provides deeper insights into your website performance.

Discover how Matomo can transform your web analytics with a demo. Request your demo now.

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A Guide to Bank Customer Segmentation

Erin — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 02:35:49 +0000

Banking customers are more diverse, complex, and demanding than ever. As a result, banks have to work harder to win their loyalty, with 75% saying they would switch to a bank that better fits their needs.

The problem is banking customers’ demands are increasingly varied amid economic uncertainties, increased competition, and generational shifts.

If banks want to retain their customers, they can’t treat them all the same. They need a bank customer segmentation strategy that allows them to reach specific customer groups and cater to their unique demands.

What is customer segmentation?

Customer segmentation divides a customer base into distinct groups based on shared characteristics or behaviours.

This allows companies to analyse the behaviours and needs of different customer groups. Banks can use these insights to target segments with relevant marketing throughout the customer cycle, e.g., new customers, inactive customers, loyal customers, etc.

You combine data points from multiple segmentation categories to create a customer segment. The most common customer segmentation categories include:

Demographic segmentation
Website activity segmentation
Geographic segmentation
Purchase history segmentation
Product-based segmentation
Customer lifecycle segmentation
Technographic segmentation
Channel preference segmentation
Value-based segmentation

By combining segmentation categories, you can create detailed customer segments. For example, high-value customers based in a particular market, using a specific product, and approaching the end of the lifecycle. This segment is ideal for customer retention campaigns, localised for their market and personalised to satisfy their needs.

Matomo’s privacy-centric web analytics solution helps you capture data from the first visit. Unlike Google Analytics, Matomo doesn’t use data sampling (more on this later) or AI to fill in data gaps. You get 100% accurate data for reliable insights and customer segmentation.

Try Matomo for Free

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Why is customer segmentation important for banks?

Customer segmentation allows you to address the needs of specific groups instead of treating all of your customers the same. This has never been more important amid a surge in bank switching, with three in four customers ready to switch to a provider that better suits their needs.

Younger customers are the most likely to switch, with 19% of 18-24 year olds changing their primary bank in the past year (PDF).

Customer expectations are changing, driven by economic uncertainties, declining trust in traditional banking, and the rise of fintech. Even as economic pressures lift, banks need to catch up with the demands of maturing millennials, Gen Z, and future generations of banking customers.

Switching is the new normal, especially for tech-savvy customers encouraged by an expanding world of digital banking options.

To retain customers, banks need to know them better and understand how their needs change over time. Customer retention provides the insights banks need to understand these needs at a granular level and the means to target specific customer groups with relevant messages.

At its core, customer segmentation is essential to banks for two key reasons:

Customer retention: Holding on to customers for longer by satisfying their personal needs.
Customer lifetime value: Maximising ongoing customer revenue through retention, purchase frequency, cross-selling, and upselling.

Here are some actionable bank customer segmentation strategies that can achieve these two objectives:

Prevent switching with segment analysis

Use customer segmentation to prevent them from switching to rivals by knowing what they want from you. Analyse customer needs and how they change throughout the lifecycle. Third-party data reveals general trends, but what do your customers want?

Use first-party customer data and segmentation to go beyond industry trends. Know exactly what your customers want from you and how to deliver targeted messages to each segment — e.g., first-time homebuyers vs. retirement planners.

Keep customers active with segment targeting

Target customer segments to keep customers engaged and motivated. Create ultra-relevant marketing messages and deliver them with precision to distinct customer segments. Nurture customer motivation by continuing to address their problems and aspirations.

Improve the quality of services and products

Knowing your customers’ needs in greater detail allows you to adapt your products and messages to cater to the most important segments. Customers switch banks because they feel their needs are better met elsewhere. Prevent this by implementing customer segmentation insights into product development and marketing.

Personalise customer experiences by layering segments

Layer segments to create ultra-specific target customer groups for personalised services and marketing campaigns. For example, top-spending customers are one of your most important segments, but there’s only so much you can do with this. However, you can divide this group into even narrower target audiences by layering multiple segments.

For example, segmenting top-spending customers by product type can create more relevant messaging. You can also segment recent activity and pinpoint specific usage segments, such as those with a recent drop in transactions.

Now, you have a three-layered segment of high-spending customers who use specific products less often and whom you can target with re-engagement campaigns.

Maximise customer lifetime value

Bringing all of this together, customer segmentation helps you maximise customer lifetime value in several ways:

Prevent switching
Enhance engagement and motivation
Re-engage customers
Cross-selling, upselling
Personalised customer loyalty incentives

The longer you retain customers, the more you can learn about them, and the more effective your lifetime value campaigns will be.

Balancing bank customer segmentation with privacy and marketing regulations

Of course, customer segmentation uses a lot of data, which raises important legal and ethical questions. First, you need to comply with data and privacy regulations, such as GDPR and CCPA. Second, you also have to consider the privacy expectations of your customers, who are increasingly aware of privacy issues and rising security threats targeting financial service providers.

If you aim to retain and maximise customer value, respecting their privacy and protecting their data are non-negotiables.

Regulators are clamping down on finance

Regulatory scrutiny towards the finance industry is intensifying, largely driven by the rise of fintech and the growing threat of cyber attacks. Not only was 2023 a record-breaking year for finance security breaches but several compromises of major US providers “exposed shortcomings in the current supervisory framework and have put considerable public pressure on banking authorities to reevaluate their supervisory and examination programs” (Deloitte).

Banks face some of the strictest consumer protections and marketing regulations, but the digital age creates new threats.

In 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) warned that digital marketers must comply with finance consumer protections when targeting audiences. CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said: “When Big Tech firms use sophisticated behavioural targeting techniques to market financial products, they must adhere to federal consumer financial protection laws.”

This couldn’t be more relevant to customer segmentation and the tools banks use to conduct it.

Customer data in the hands of agencies and big tech

Banks should pay attention to the words of CFPB Director Rohit Chopra when partnering with marketing agencies and choosing analytics tools. Digital marketing agencies are rarely experts in financial regulations, and tech giants like Google don’t have the best track record for adhering to them.

Google is constantly in the EU courts over its data use. In 2022, the EU ruled that the previous version of Google Analytics violated EU privacy regulations. Google Analytics 4 was promptly released but didn’t resolve all the issues.

Meanwhile, any company that inadvertently misuses Google Analytics is legally responsible for its compliance with data regulations.

Banks need a privacy-centric alternative to Google Analytics

Google’s track record with data regulation compliance is a big issue, but it’s not the only one. Google Analytics uses data sampling, which Google defines as the “practice of analysing a subset of data to uncover meaningful information from a larger data set.”

This means Google Analytics places thresholds on how much of your data it analyses — anything after that is calculated assumptions. We’ve explained why this is such a problem before, and GA4 relies on data sampling even more than the previous version.

In short, banks should question whether they can trust Google with their customer data and whether they can trust Google Analytics to provide accurate data in the first place. And they do. 80% of financial marketers say they’re concerned about ad tech bias from major providers like Google and Meta.

Matomo is the privacy-centric alternative to Google Analytics, giving you 100% data ownership and compliant web analytics. With no data sampling, Matomo provides 20-40% more data to help you make accurate, informed decisions. Get the data you need for customer segmentation without putting their data at risk.

Try Matomo for Free

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No credit card required

Bank customer segmentation examples

Now, let’s look at some customer segments you create and layer to target specific customer groups.

Visit-based segmentation

Visit segmentation filters audiences based on the pages they visit on your website and the behaviors they exhibit—for example, first-time visitors vs. returning visitors or landing page visitors vs. blog page visitors.

If you look at HSBC’s website, you’ll see it is structured into several categories for key customer personas. One of its segments is international customers living in the US, so it has pages and resources expats, people working in the US, people studying in the US, etc.

By combining visit-based segmentation with ultra-relevant pages for specific target audiences, HSBC can track each group’s demand and interest and analyse their behaviours. It can determine which audiences are returning, which products they want, and which messages convert them.

Demographic segmentation

Demographic segmentation divides customers by attributes such as age, gender, and location. However, you can also combine these insights with other non-personal data to better understand specific audiences.

For example, in Matomo, you can segment audiences based on the language of their browser, the country they’re visiting from, and other characteristics. So, in this case, HSBC could differentiate between visitors already residing in the US and those outside of the country looking for information on moving there.

It could determine which countries they’re visiting, which languages to localise for, and which networks to run ultra-relevant social campaigns on.

Interaction-based segmentation

Interaction-based segmentation uses events and goals to segment users based on their actions on your website. For example, you can segment audiences who visit specific URLs, such as a loan application page, or those who don’t complete an action, such as failing to complete a form.

With events and goals set up, you can track the actions visitors complete before making purchases. You can monitor topical interests, page visits, content interactions, and pathways toward conversions, which feed into their customer journey.

From here, you can segment customers based on their path leading up to their first purchase, follow-up purchases, and other actions.

Purchase-based segmentation

Purchase-based segmentation allows you to analyse the customer behaviours related to their purchase history and spending habits. For example, you can track the journey of repeat customers or identify first-time buyers showing interest in other products/services.

You can implement these insights into your cross-selling and upselling campaigns with relevant messages designed to increase retention and customer lifetime value.

Get reliable website analytics for your bank customer segmentation needs

With customers switching in greater numbers, banks need to prioritise customer retention and lifetime value. Customer segmentation allows you to target specific customer groups and address their unique needs — the perfect strategy to stop them from moving to another provider.

Quality, accurate data is the key ingredient of an effective bank customer segmentation strategy. Don’t accept data sampling from Google Analytics or any other tool that limits the amount of your own data you can access. Choose a web analytics tool like Matamo that unlocks the full potential of your website analytics to get the most out of bank customer segmentation.

Matomo is trusted by over 1 million websites globally, including many banks, for its accuracy, compliance, and reliability. Discover why financial institutions rely on Matomo to meet their web analytics needs.

Start collecting the insights you need for granular, layered segmentation — without putting your bank customer data at risk. Request a demo of Matomo now.

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Export your data from Universal Analytics or Universal Analytics 360

Erin — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 23:42:16 +0000

How to export your data

We would love for you to try Matomo, but first let’s get your data from Google:

Import your data to Matomo

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Your Analytics subdomain will be .matomo.cloud

Choose your analytics subdomain

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What is Web Log Analytics and Why You Should Use It

Erin — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 22:34:40 +0000

Can’t use JavaScript tracking on your website? Need a more secure and privacy-friendly way to understand your website visitors? Web log analytics is your answer. This method pulls data directly from your server logs, offering a secure and privacy-respecting alternative.

In this blog, we cover what web log analytics is, how it compares to JavaScript tracking, who it is best suited for, and why it might be the right choice for you.

What are server logs?

Before diving in, let’s start with the basics: What are server logs? Think of your web server as a diary that notes every visit to your website. Each time someone visits, the server records details like:

User agent: Information about the visitor’s browser and operating system.

Timestamp: The exact time the request was made.

Requested URL: The specific page or resource the visitor requested.

These “diary entries” are called server logs, and they provide a detailed record of all interactions with your website.

Server log example

Here’s what a server log looks like:

192.XXX.X.X – – [24/Jun/2024:14:32:01 +0000] “GET /index.html HTTP/1.1” 200 1024 “https://www.example.com/referrer.html” “Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/91.0.4472.124 Safari/537.36”

192.XXX.X.X – – [24/Jun/2024:14:32:02 +0000] “GET /style.css HTTP/1.1” 200 3456 “https://www.example.com/index.html” “Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/91.0.4472.124 Safari/537.36”

192.XXX.X.X – – [24/Jun/2024:14:32:03 +0000] “GET /script.js HTTP/1.1” 200 7890 “https://www.example.com/index.html” “Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/91.0.4472.124 Safari/537.36”

192.XXX.X.X – – [24/Jun/2024:14:32:04 +0000] “GET /images/logo.png HTTP/1.1” 200 1234 “https://www.example.com/index.html” “Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/91.0.4472.124 Safari/537.36”

Breakdown of the log entry

Each line in the server log represents a single request made by a visitor to your website. Here’s a detailed breakdown of what each part means:

IP Address: 192.XXX.X.X
- This is the IP address of the visitor’s device.
User Identifier: – –
- These fields are typically used for user identification and authentication, which are not applicable here, hence the hyphens.
Timestamp: [24/Jun/2024:14:32:01 +0000]
- - The date and time of the request, including the timezone.
Request Line: “GET /index.html HTTP/1.1”
- The request method (GET), the requested resource (/index.html), and the HTTP version (HTTP/1.1).
Response Code: 200
- The HTTP status code indicates the result of the request (200 means OK).
Response Size: 1024
- The size of the response in bytes.
Referrer: “https://www.example.com/referrer.html“
- The URL of the referring page that led the visitor to the current page.
User Agent: “Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/91.0.4472.124 Safari/537.36”
- Information about the visitor’s browser and operating system.

In the example above, there are multiple log entries for different resources (HTML page, CSS file, JavaScript file, and an image). This shows that when a visitor loads a webpage, multiple requests are made to load all the necessary resources.

What is web log analytics?

Web log analytics is one of many methods for tracking visitors to your site.

Web log analytics is the process of analysing server log files to track and understand website visitors. Unlike traditional methods that use JavaScript tracking codes embedded in web pages, web log analytics pulls data directly from these server logs.

How it works:

Visitor request: A visitor’s browser requests your website.
Server logging: The server logs the request details.
Analysis: These logs are analysed to extract useful information about your visitors and their activities.

Web log analytics vs. JavaScript tracking

JavaScript tracking

JavaScript tracking is the most common method used to track website visitors. It involves embedding a JavaScript code snippet into your web pages. This code collects data on visitor interactions and sends it to a web analytics platform.

Differences and benefits:

Privacy:

Web log analytics: Since it doesn’t require embedding tracking codes, it is considered less intrusive and helps maintain higher privacy standards.

JavaScript tracking: Embeds tracking codes directly on your website, which can be more invasive and raise privacy concerns.

Ease of setup:

Web log analytics: No need to modify your website’s code. All you need is access to your server logs.

JavaScript tracking: Requires adding tracking code on your web pages. This is generally an easier setup process.

Data collection:

Web log analytics: Contain requests of users with adblockers (ghostery, adblock, adblock plus, privacy badger, etc.) sometimes making it more accurate. However, it may miss certain interactive elements like screen resolution or user events. It may also over-report data.

JavaScript tracking: Can collect a wide range of data, including Custom dimensions, Ecommerce tracking, Heatmaps, Session recordings, Media and Form analytics, etc.

Why choose web log analytics?

Enhanced privacy

Avoiding embedded tracking codes means there’s no JavaScript running on your visitors’ browsers. This significantly reduces the risk of data leakage and enhances overall privacy.

Comprehensive data collection

It isn’t affected by ad blockers or browser tracking protections, ensuring you capture more complete and accurate data about your visitors.

Historical data analysis

You can import and analyse historical log files, giving you insights into long-term visitor behaviour and trends.

Simple setup

Since it relies on server logs, there’s no need to alter your website’s code. This makes setup straightforward and minimises potential technical issues.

Who should use web log analytics?

Web log analytics is particularly suited for businesses that prioritise data privacy and security.

Organisations that handle sensitive data, such as banks, healthcare providers, and government agencies, can benefit from the enhanced privacy.

By avoiding JavaScript tracking, these entities minimise data exposure and comply with strict privacy regulations like Sarbanes Oxley and PCI.

Why use Matomo for web log analytics?

Matomo stands out as a top choice for web log analytics because it prioritises privacy and data ownership

Here’s why:

Complete data control: You own all your data, so you don’t have to worry about third-party access.
IP anonymisation: Matomo anonymises IP addresses to further protect user privacy.
Bot filtering: Automatically excludes bots from your reports, ensuring you get accurate data.
Simple migration: You can easily switch from other tools like AWStats by importing your historical logs into Matomo.
Server log recognition: Recognises most server log formats (Apache, Nginx, IIS, etc.).

Start using web log analytics

Web log analytics offers a secure, privacy-focused alternative to traditional JavaScript tracking methods. By analysing server logs, you get valuable insights into your website traffic while maintaining high privacy standards.

If you’re serious about privacy and want reliable data, give Matomo’s web log analytics a try.

Start your 21-day free trial now. No credit card required.

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SEO for Financial Services: The Ultimate Guide

Erin — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 00:54:17 +0000

You know that having a digital marketing strategy is crucial for helping your financial services business capture the attention and trust of potential customers and thrive in an increasingly competitive digital landscape.

The question is — what’s the best way to go about improving your ranking in SERPs and driving organic traffic to your website?

That’s where SEO strategies for financial services come into play.

This article will cover everything your company needs to know about SEO for financial services — from the unique challenges you’ll face to the proven tips and strategies you can implement to boost your ranking in SERPs.

What is SEO for financial services?

SEO — short for search engine optimisation — refers to optimising your content and website for search engines, particularly Google.

The main goal of an SEO strategy is to make your site search-engine-friendly, show that you’re a trusted source and increase the likelihood of appearing in SERPs when potential customers look up relevant keywords — ultimately driving organic visibility and traffic.

Now, when it comes to evaluating the success of your financial services SEO strategy, there are certain key performance indicators (KPIs) you should keep track of — including:

SEO ranking, or the position your web pages show up in SERPs for specific search terms (the terms and phrases identified during keyword research)
SEO Score, which shows a website’s overall SEO health and indicates how well it will rank in SERPs
Impressions, or the number of times users saw your pages when they looked up relevant search terms
Organic traffic, or the number of people that visit your website via search engines
Engagement metrics, such as time on page, pages per session, and bounce rate
Conversion rates from website traffic, including both “hard” conversions (lead generation and purchases) and “soft” conversions (such as newsletter subscriptions)

It’s important to note that the financial services industry is incredibly competitive — especially given the large-scale digital transformations in the financial sector and the rise of fintech companies.

According to a 2022 report, the global market for financial services was valued at $25.51 trillion. Moreover, it’s expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 9.7%, reaching $58.69 trillion by 2031.

Importance and challenges of financial services SEO

The financial services industry is changing rapidly, mainly driven by globalisation, innovation, shifting economies, and compliance risks. It’s crucial for financial service companies to develop effective SEO strategies that align with the opportunities and challenges unique to this sector.

Certain benefits of a well-executed SEO strategy, namely, better search engine rankings, driving more search traffic, delivering a better user experience, and maximising ROI and promoting business growth, are “universal.”

Financial services SEO efforts can provide a number of benefits. It can help you:

Improve lead generation and customer acquisition; the more search traffic you get, the higher the chances of converting visitors into potential clients
Build a strong online presence and brand awareness, which comes as a result of increased visibility in organic search results and reaching a wider audience
Increase your credibility and authority within the industry, primarily through high-quality content that shows your expertise and backlinks from authoritative websites
Gain a competitive edge by analysing and outranking your main competitors

That said, financial services companies face some unique challenges:

High competition: The digital arena for financial services is highly competitive, with numerous companies vying for the same business.

YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) content: Google’s YMYL framework places higher scrutiny on financial content, demanding higher standards for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. We’ll cover this topic in greater detail shortly.

Regulatory changes and compliance: The financial services sector is characterised by constant regulatory changes and new compliance requirements that businesses must navigate. Sometimes this makes it difficult to gather insights and market to your audience.

As a privacy-fist, compliant web analytics solution Matomo can provide valuable insights to support your SEO efforts. Matomo ensures compliance with privacy laws — including GDPR, CCPA and more — and provides 20-40% more comprehensive data than Google Analytics.

Try Matomo for Free

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8 proven strategies for implementing SEO for financial services

SEO for financial services involves a wide range of strategies — including keyword optimisation, technical SEO, content marketing, link building and other off-page SEO activities — that can help your website rank higher in SERPs.

Of course, it’s not just about better search rankings. It’s about attracting the right search traffic to your website — potential clients interested in your financial services.

Here are some proven financial services SEO strategies you should implement:

1. Build trust and topical authority

Financial services content typically covers more complex topics that could impact the reader’s financial stability and well-being — or, as Google calls them, “Your Money or Your Life” topics (YMYL). As such, it’s subject to much stricter quality standards.

To improve your YMYL content, you’ll need to apply the E-E-A-T framework — short for “Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust”.

This is a key part of Google’s search rater guidelines for evaluating a website’s quality and credibility.

The E-E-A-T standards become even more relevant to financial topics such as investment strategies, financial advice, taxes, and retirement planning.

In that sense, the overarching goal of your content strategy should be to build customer trust by demonstrating real expertise and topical authority through in-depth educational content.

2. Earn reputable external links through link-building

You also need to monitor your off-page SEO—factors outside your website that can’t be directly controlled but can still build trust and contribute to better ranking in SERPs.

These include everything from social media engagement and unlinked brand mentions in blog posts, news articles, user reviews and social media discussions — to inbound links from other reputable websites in the finance industry.

That brings us to high-quality backlinks as a significant factor for YMYL content that can improve your financial services website’s SEO performance:

Earning external links can improve your domain authority and reinforce your brand’s position as a reliable source in the financial services niche — which, in turn, can contribute to better search engine rankings and drive more website traffic.

Here are a few link-building strategies you can try:

Use tools like Ahrefs and Semrush to look for reputable websites and then request for them to link to your site
Demonstrate your expertise and get backlinks from reputable media outlets through Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
Reach out to authoritative websites that mention your company without linking to you directly and ask them to include a link to your websit

3. Conduct an SEO audit

An SEO audit is a key step in developing and implementing a successful financial SEO strategy. It sets the foundation for all your future efforts — and allows you to measure progress further down the line.

You’ll need to perform a comprehensive SEO audit, covering both the existing content and technical aspects of your website — including:

Indexing issues
Internal linking and site architecture
Duplicate content
Backlink profile
Broken links
Page titles and metadata

It’s possible to do this manually, third-party tools will allow you to dig deeper and speed up the process. Ahrefs and Screaming Frog — to name a few — can help you evaluate your website’s overall health and structure. And, with a web analytics platform like Matomo you can easily measure the success of your SEO efforts.

But this shouldn’t be a one-time thing; be sure to perform audits regularly — ideally every six months.

4. Understand your target audience

You can’t create helpful content without learning about your customers’ needs, pain points and preferences.

For example, a financial service provider focusing on individuals nearing retirement would prioritise content that educates on retirement planning strategies, investment options for seniors, and tax-efficient withdrawal strategies, aiming to guide clients through the transition from saving to managing retirement funds effectively.

In contrast, a provider targeting small business owners would emphasise content related to small business loans, funding options, and financial management advice tailored to entrepreneurs seeking to expand their businesses and navigate financial challenges effectively.

So, before you dive into keyword research and content creation, ensure you have a deep understanding of your target audience.

Identifying different audience categories and developing detailed customer personas for each segment is crucial for creating content that resonates with them and aligns with their search intent.

Matomo’s Segmentation tool can be of huge help here. It allows you to divide your audience into smaller groups based on factors like demographics and website interactions:

In addition to that, you can:

Engage with your frontline teams that interact directly with clients to gain deeper insights into prospects’ needs and concerns
Track social media channels and other online discussions related to the financial world and your audience
Gather qualitative insights from your site visitors through the Matomo Surveys plugin (questions like “What financial services are you most interested in?” or “Are there any specific financial topics you would like us to cover in more detail?” will help you understand your visitors better)
Watch out for financial trends and developments that could directly impact your audience’s needs and preferences

5. Identify new opportunities through keyword research

Comprehensive keyword research can help you identify key search terms — specific phrases that potential customers may use when looking up things related to their finances.

It’s best to start with a brainstorming session and assemble a list of relevant topics and core keywords. Once you have an initial list, use tools like Ahrefs and Semrush to get more keyword ideas based on your seed keywords, including:

More specific long-tail keywords — and often less competitive — indicate a clearer intent to convert. For example:

- “low-risk investment options for retirees”
- “financial planning for freelancers”
- “small business loan requirements”

Keywords that your competitors already rank for. For instance:

- If a competing investment firm ranks for “best investment strategies for beginners,” targeting similar keywords can attract novice investors.
- A competitor’s high ranking for “life insurance quotes online” suggests potential to optimise your own content around similar terms.
Location-specific keywords (if you have physical store locations)

Google Search Console can provide information about the search terms you’re already ranking for — including underperforming content that may benefit from further optimisation. If you want deeper SEO insights, you can import your search keywords into Matomo.

While you’re at it, try Matomo’s Site Search feature, too. It will show you the exact terms and phrases visitors enter when using your website’s search bar — and you can use that information to find more content opportunities.

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Of course, not all keywords are equal — and it would be impossible to target them all. Instead, prioritise keywords based on two factors:

Search volume, which indicates the “popularity” of a particular query
Keyword difficulty, which indicates how hard it’ll be to rank for a specific term, depending on domain authority, search volume and competition

6. Find your main organic competitors

Besides performing an SEO audit, finding your core keywords, and researching your target market, competitor analysis is another crucial aspect of SEO for finance companies.

Before you start, it’s important to differentiate between your main organic search competitors and your direct industry competitors:

You’ll always have direct competitors — other financial services brands offering similar products and services and targeting the same audience as you.

However, regarding search results, your financial services business won’t be in a “bubble” specifically reserved for the financial industry. Depending on the specific search queries — and the search intent behind them — SERPs could feature a wider range of online content, from niche finance blogs to news websites, and huge financial publications.

Even if another company doesn’t offer the same services, they’re an organic competitor if you’re both ranking for the same keywords.

Once you determine who your main organic competitors are, you can analyse their websites to:

Check how they’re getting search traffic
See which types of content they’re publishing
Find and fill in any potential content gaps
Assess the quality of their backlink profile
See if they currently have any featured snippets

7. Consider local SEO

According to a 2023 survey, 21% of US-based consumers report using the internet to look up local businesses daily, while another 32% do so multiple times a week.

Local SEO is worth investing in as a financial service provider, especially with physical locations. Prospective clients will typically look up nearby financial services when they need additional information or are ready to engage in financial planning, investment, or other financial activities.

Here are a few suggestions on how to optimise your site for local searches:

Create listings on online business directories, like Google Business Profile (previously known as Google My Business)
If your financial service company operates in more than one physical location, be sure to create a separate Google Business Profile for each one
Identify location-specific keywords that will help you rank in local SERPs
Make sure that your name, address, and phone number (NAP) citations are correct and consistent
Leverage positive customer reviews and testimonials as social proof

8. Optimise technical aspects of your website

Technical SEO — which primarily deals with the website’s underlying structure — is another crucial factor that financial services brands must monitor.

It’s an umbrella term that covers a wide range of elements, including:

Site speed
Indexing issues
Broken links, orphaned pages, improper redirects
On-page optimisation
Mobile responsiveness

In 2020, Google introduced Core Web Vitals, a set of metrics that measure web page performance in three key areas — loading speed, responsiveness and visual stability.

Given that they’re now a part of Google’s core ranking systems, you should consider using Matomo’s SEO Web Vitals feature to monitor these crucial metrics. Here’s why:

When technical aspects of your website — namely, site speed and mobile responsiveness — are properly optimised, you can deliver a better user experience. That’s what Google seeks to reward.

Plus, it can be a critical brand differentiator for your business.

Conclusion

Investing in SEO for financial services is crucial for boosting online visibility and driving organic traffic and business growth. However, one thing to keep in mind is that SEO efforts shouldn’t be a one-time thing:

SEO is an ongoing process, and it will take time to establish your company as a trustworthy source and see real results.

You can start building that trust by using a web analytics platform that offers crucial insights for improving your website’s ranking in SERPs and maintains full compliance with GDPR and other privacy regulations.

That’s why Matomo is trusted by more than 1 million websites around the globe. As an ethical alternative to Google Analytics that doesn’t rely on data sampling, Matomo is not only easy to use but more accurate, too — providing 20-40% more data compared to GA4.

Sign up for a 21-day free trial and see how Matomo can support your financial services SEO strategy. No credit card required.

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A Guide to Ethical Web Analytics in 2024

Erin — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 23:45:47 +0000

User data is more valuable and sought after than ever.

Ninety-four percent of respondents in Cisco’s Data Privacy Benchmark Study said their customers wouldn’t buy from them if their data weren’t protected, with 95% saying privacy was a business imperative.

Unfortunately, the data collection practices of most businesses are far from acceptable and often put their customers’ privacy at risk.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. You can ethically collect valuable and insightful customer data—you just need the right tools.

In this article, we show you what an ethical web analytics solution can look like, why Google Analytics is a problem and how you can collect data without risking your customers’ privacy.

What is ethical web analytics?

Ethical web analytics put user privacy first. These platforms prioritise privacy and transparency by only collecting necessary data, avoiding implicit user identification and openly communicating data practices and tracking methods.

Ethical tools adhere to data protection laws like GDPR as standard (meaning businesses using these tools never have to worry about fines or disruptions). In other words, ethical web analytics refrain from exploiting and profiting from user behaviour and data.

Unfortunately, most traditional data solutions collect as much data as possible without users’ knowledge or consent.

Why does digital privacy matter?

Digital privacy matters because companies have repeatedly proven they will collect and use data for financial gain. It also presents security risks. Unsecured user data can lead to identity theft, cyberattacks and harassment.

Big tech companies like Google and Meta are often to blame for all this. These companies collect millions of user data points — like age, gender, income, political beliefs and location. Worse still, they share this information with interested third parties.

After public outrage over data breaches and other privacy scandals, consumers are taking active steps to disallow tracking where possible. IAPP’s Privacy and Consumer Trust Report finds that 68% of consumers across 19 countries are somewhat or very concerned about their digital privacy.

There’s no way around it: companies of all sizes and shapes need to consider how they handle and protect customers’ private information.

Why should you use an ethical web analytics tool?

When companies use ethical web analytics tools they can build customer trust, boost their brand reputation, improve data security practices and future proof their website tracking solution.

Boost brand reputation

The fallout from a data privacy scandal can be severe.

Just look at what happened to Facebook during the Cambridge Analytica data scandal. The eponymous consulting firm harvested 50 million Facebook profiles and used that information to target people with political messages. Due to the instant public backlash, Facebook’s stock tanked, and use of the “delete Facebook” hashtag increased by 423% in the following days.

That’s because consumers care about data privacy, according to Deloitte’s Connected Consumer Study:

Almost 90 percent agree they should be able to view and delete data companies collect
77 percent want the government to introduce stricter regulations
Half feel the benefits they get from online services outweigh data privacy concerns.

If you can prove you buck the trend by collecting data using ethical methods, it can boost your brand’s reputation.

Build trust with customers

At the same time, collecting data in an ethical way can help you build customer trust. You’ll go a long way to changing consumer perceptions, too. Almost half of consumers don’t like sharing data, and 57% believe companies sell their data.

This additional trust should generate a positive ROI for your business. According to Cisco’s Data Privacy Benchmark Study, the average company gains $180 for every $100 they invest in privacy.

Improve data security

According to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach report, the average cost of a data breach is nearly $4.5 million. This kind of scenario becomes much less likely when you use an ethical tool that collects less data overall and anonymises the data you do collect.

Futureproof your web analytics solution

The obvious risk of not complying with privacy regulations is a fine — which can be up to €20 million, or 4% of worldwide annual revenue in the case of GDPR.

It’s not just fines and penalties you risk if you fail to comply with privacy regulations like GDPR. For some companies, especially larger ones, the biggest risk of non-compliance with privacy regulations is the potential sudden need to abandon Google Analytics and switch to an ethical alternative.

If Data Protection Authorities ban Google Analytics again, as has happened in Austria, France, and other countries, businesses will be forced to drop everything and make an immediate transition to a compliant web analytics solution.

When an organisation’s entire marketing operation relies on data, migrating to a new solution can be incredibly painful and time-consuming. So, the sooner you switch to an ethical tool, the less of a headache the process will be.

The problem with Google Analytics

Google Analytics (GA) is the most popular analytics platform in the world, but it’s a world away from being an ethical tool. Here’s why:

You don’t have data ownership

Google Analytics is attractive to businesses of all sizes because of its price. Everyone loves getting something for free, but there’s still a cost — your and your customers’ data.

That’s because Google combines the data you collect with information from the millions of other websites it tracks to inform its advertising efforts. It may also use your data to train large language models like Gemini.

It has a rocky history with GDPR laws

Google and EU regulators haven’t always got along. For example, the German Data Protection Authority is investigating 200,000 pending cases against websites using GA. The platform has also been banned and added back to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework several times over the past few years.

You can use GA to collect data about EU customers right now, but there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to do so in the future.

It requires a specific setup to remain compliant

While you can currently use GA in a GDPR-compliant way — owing to its inclusion in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework — you have to set it up in a very specific way. That’s because the platform’s compliance depends on what data you collect, how you inform users and the level of consent you acquire. You’ll still need to include an extensive privacy policy on your website.

What does ethical web analytics look like?

An ethical web analytics solution should put user privacy first, ensure compliance with regulations like GDPR, give businesses 100% control of the data they collect and be completely transparent about data collection and storage practices.

100% data ownership

You don’t fully control customer data when you use Google Analytics. The search giant uses your data for its own advertising purposes and may also use it to train large language models like Gemini.

When you choose an ethical web analytics alternative like Matomo, you can ensure you completely own your data.

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Respects user privacy

It’s possible to track and measure user behaviour without collecting personally identifiable information (PII). Just look at the ethical web analytics tools we’ve reviewed below.

These platforms respect user privacy and conform to strict privacy regulations like GDPR, CCPA and HIPAA by incorporating some or all of the following features:

Opt-out mechanisms to let users refuse tracking
IP addresses anonymisation and other data anonymisation techniques
DoNotTrack options
Shorter expiration dates for tracking cookies

In Matomo’s case, it’s all of the above. Better still, you can check our privacy credentials yourself. Our software’s source code is open source on GitHub and accessible to anyone at any time.

Compliant with government regulations

While Google’s history with data regulations is tumultuous, an ethical web analytics platform should follow even the strictest privacy laws, including GDPR, HIPAA, CCPA, LGPD and PECR.

But why stop there? Matomo has been approved by the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL) as one of the few web analytics tools that French sites can use to collect data without tracking consent. So you don’t need an annoying consent banner popping up on your website anymore.

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Complete transparency

Ethical web analytics tools will be upfront about their data collection practices, whether that’s in the U.S., EU, or on your own private servers. Look for a solution that refrains from collecting personally identifiable information, shows where data is stored, and lets you alter tracking methods to increase privacy even further.

Some solutions, like Matomo, will increase transparency further by providing open source software. Anyone can find our source code on GitHub to see exactly how our platform tracks and stores user data. This means our code is regularly examined and reviewed by a community of developers, making it more secure, too.

Ethical web analytics solutions

There are several options for an ethical web analytics tool. We list three of the best providers below.

Matomo

Matomo is an open source web analytics tool and privacy-focused Google Analytics alternative used by over one million sites globally.

Matomo is fully compliant with prominent global privacy regulations like GDPR, CCPA and HIPAA, meaning you never have to worry about collecting consent when tracking user behaviour.

The data you collect is completely accurate since Matomo doesn’t use data sampling and is 100% yours. We don’t share data with third parties but can prove it. Our product source code is publicly available on GitHub. As a community-led project, you can download and install it yourself for free.

With Matomo, you get a full range of web analytics capabilities and behavioural analytics. That includes your standard metrics (think visitors, traffic sources, bounce rates, etc.), advanced features to analyse user behaviour like A/B Testing, Form Analytics, Heatmaps and Session Recordings.

Migrating to Matomo is easy. You can even import historical Google Analytics data to generate meaningful insights immediately.

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Fathom

Fathom Analytics is a lightweight privacy-focused analytics solution that launched in 2018. It aims to be an easy-to-use Google Analytics alternative that doesn’t compromise privacy.

Like Matomo, Fathom complies with all major privacy regulations, including GDPR and CCPA. It also provides 100% accurate, unsampled reports and doesn’t share your data with third parties.

While Fathom provides fairly comprehensive analytics reports, it doesn’t have some of Matomo’s more advanced features. That includes e-commerce tracking, heatmaps, session recordings, and more.

Plausible

Plausible Analytics is another open source Google Analytics alternative that was built and hosted in the EU.

Launched in 2019, Plausible is a newer player in the privacy-focused analytics market. Still, its ultra-lightweight script makes it an attractive option for organisations that prioritise speed over everything else.

Like Matomo and Fathom, Plausible is GDPR and CCPA-compliant by design. Nor is there any cap on the amount of data you collect or any debate over whether the data is accurate (Plausible doesn’t use data sampling) or who owns the data (you do).

Matomo makes it easy to migrate to an ethical web analytics alternative

There’s no reason to put your users’ privacy at risk, especially when there are so many benefits to choosing an ethical tool. Whether you want to avoid fines, build trust with your customers, or simply know you’re doing the right thing, choosing a privacy-focused, ethical solution like Matomo is taking a massive step in the right direction.

Making the switch is easy, too. Matomo is one of the few options that lets you import historical Google Analytics data, so starting from scratch is unnecessary.

Get started today by trying Matomo for free for 21-days. No credit card required.

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B2B Marketing Attribution Guide: How to Master It in 2024

Erin — Tue, 21 May 2024 23:27:23 +0000

The last thing you want is to invest your advertising dollars in channels, campaigns and ads that don’t work. But B2B marketing attribution — figuring out which marketing efforts drive revenue — is far from easy.

With longer sales funnels and multiple people from the same company involved in the same sales process, B2B (business-to-business) is a different ballgame from B2C (business-to-consumer) marketing.

In this guide, we break down what B2B marketing attribution is, how it’s different, which tools you can use to set it up and the best practices.

What is B2B marketing attribution?

Marketing attribution in B2B companies is about figuring out where your high-value leads come from — nailing down long customer journeys across many different touchpoints.

The goal is to determine which campaigns and content contributed to various parts of the customer journey. It’s a complex process that needs a reliable, privacy-focused web analytics tool and a CRM that integrates with it.

This process significantly differs from traditional marketing attribution, where you focus more on short sales cycles from individual customers. With multiple contributing decision makers, B2B attribution requires more robust systems.

What makes marketing attribution different for B2B?

The key differences between B2B and B2C marketing attribution are a longer sales funnel and more people involved in the sales process.

The B2B sales funnel is significantly longer and more complex

The typical B2C sales funnel is often broken down into four simple stages:

Awareness: when a prospect first finds out about your product or brand
Interest: where a prospect starts to learn about the benefits of your product
Desire: when a prospect understands that they need your product
Action: the actual process of closing the sale

Even the most simplified B2B sales funnel includes several key stages.

Here’s a brief overview of each:

Awareness: Buyers recognise they have a problem and start looking for solutions. Stand out with blog posts, social media updates, ebooks and whitepapers.
Consideration: Buyers are aware of your company and are comparing options. Provide product demos, webinars and case studies to address their concerns and build trust.
Conversion: Buyers have chosen your product or company. Offer live demos, customer service, case studies and testimonials to finalise the purchase.
Loyalty: Buyers have made a purchase and are now customers. Nurture relationships with thank you emails, follow-ups, how-tos, reward programs and surveys to encourage repeat business.
Advocacy: Loyal customers become advocates, promoting your brand to others. Encourage this with surveys, testimonial requests and a referral program.

A longer sales cycle typically involves not only more touchpoints but also extended decision-making processes.

More teams are involved in the marketing and sales process

The last differentiation in B2B attribution is the number of people involved. Instead of clear-cut sales and marketing teams, revenue teams are becoming more common.

They include all go-to-market teams like sales, marketing, customer success and customer support. In B2B sales, long-term customer relationships can be incredibly valuable. As such, the focus shifts away from new customer acquisition alone.

For example, you can also track and optimise your onboarding process. Marketing gets involved in post-sale efforts to boost loyalty. Sales reps follow up with customer success to get new sales angles and insights. Customer support insights drive future product development.

Everyone works together to meet high-level company goals.

The next section will explore how to set up an attribution system.

How to find the right mix of B2B marketing attribution tools

For most B2B marketing teams, the main struggle with attribution is not with the strategy but with creating a reliable system that gives them the data points they need to implement that strategy.

We’ll outline one approach you can take to achieve this without a million-dollar budget or internal data science team.

Use website analytics to track touchpoints

The first thing you want to do is install a reliable website analytics solution on your website.

Once you’ve got your analytics in place, use campaign tracking parameters to track touchpoints from external campaigns like email newsletters, social media ads, review sites (like Capterra) and third-party partner campaigns.

This way, you get a clear picture of which sources are driving traffic and conversions, helping you improve your marketing strategies.

With analytics installed, you can track the referring sources of visits, engagement and conversion events. A robust solution like Matomo tracks everything from traffic sources, marketing attribution and visitor counts to behavioural analytics, like clicks, scrolling patterns and form interactions on your site.

Marketing attribution will give you a cohesive view of which traffic sources and campaigns drive conversions and revenue over long periods. With Matomo’s marketing attribution feature, you can even use different marketing attribution models to compare results:

For example, in a single report, you can compare the last interaction, first interaction and linear (three common marketing attribution models).

In total, Matomo has 6 available attribution models to choose from:

First interaction
Last interaction
Last non-direct
Linear
Position based
Time decay

These additional attribution models are crucial for B2B sites. While other web analytics solutions often limit to last-click attribution, this model isn’t optimal for B2B with extended sales cycles.

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Use a CRM to integrate customer data from multiple sources

Use your CRM software to integrate customer data from multiple sources. This will give you the ability to get meaningful B2B marketing insights. For example, you can get company-level insights so you can view conversion information by company, not just by person.

Done effectively, you can close the loop back to analytics data by integrating data from multiple teams and platforms.

Implement self-reported attribution

To further enhance the data, add qualifying questions in the lead signup process to create a hybrid attribution model. This is also known as self-reported attribution.

Your web analytics platform won’t always be able to track the source of certain visits — for instance, “dark social” or peer-to-peer sharing, where links are shared privately and are not easily traceable by analytics tools.

Doing self-reported attribution is crucial for getting a holistic image of your customer journey.

However, self-reported attribution isn’t foolproof; users may click randomly or inaccurately recall where they first heard about you. So it’s essential to blend this data with your analytics to gain a more accurate understanding.

Best practices for handling B2B prospect data in a privacy-sensitive world

Lastly, it’s important to respect your prospects’ privacy and comply with privacy regulations when conducting B2B marketing attribution.

Privacy regulations and their enforcement are rapidly gaining momentum around the globe. Meta recently received a record GDPR fine of €1.2 billion for insufficient privacy measures when handling user data by the Irish Data Protection Agency.

If you don’t want to risk major fines (or customers feeling betrayed), you shouldn’t follow in the same footsteps.

Switch to a privacy-friendly web analytics

Instead of using a controversial solution like Google Analytics, use a privacy-friendly web analytics solution like Matomo, Fathom or Plausible.

These alternatives not only ensure compliance with regulations like GDPR but also provide peace of mind amid the uncertain relationship between Google and GDPR. Google Analytics has faced bans in recent years, raising concerns about the future of the solution.

While organisations governed by GDPR can currently use Google Analytics, there’s no guarantee of its continued availability.

Make the switch to privacy-friendly web analytics to avoid potential fines and disruptive rulings that could force you to change platforms urgently. Such disruptions can be catastrophic for marketing teams heavily reliant on web analytics for tracking campaigns, business goals and marketing efforts.

Improve your B2B marketing attribution with Matomo

Matomo’s privacy-by-design architecture makes it the perfect analytics platform for the modern B2B marketer. Matomo enables you to meet even the strictest privacy regulations.

At the same time, through campaign tracking URLs, marketing attribution, integrations and our API, you can track the results of various marketing channels and campaigns effectively. We help you understand the impact of each dollar of your marketing budget.

If you want a competitive edge over other B2B companies, try Matomo for free for 21 days. No credit card required.

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B2B Customer Journey Map: A Quickfire Guide for Growth

Erin — Mon, 20 May 2024 21:38:20 +0000

What is a company’s biggest asset?

Its product? Its employees? Its unique selling proposition?

More and more people are recognising it’s something else entirely: your customers.

Without your customers, your business can’t exist.

Nearly 77% of B2B buyers found the buying process too complicated.

With more competition than ever, it’s crucial you provide the best possible experience for them.

That’s where your customer journey comes in.

If you’re in the B2B space, you need to know how to map out the journey.

By building a B2B customer journey map, you’ll be able to analyse the weak spots in the customer journey so you can improve the experience (and generate more revenue).

In this article, we break down the B2B customer journey stages, how to build a customer journey map and how Matomo can help you track your customer journey automatically.

What is a B2B customer journey?

Every customer goes through a specific path within your business.

At some point in time, they found out about you and eventually bought your products.

A B2B customer journey is the collection of touchpoints your customer has with your business from start to finish.

From discovery to purchase (and more), your customers go through a specific set of touches you can track. By analysing this journey, you can get a snapshot of your user experience.

One way to track the customer journey is with a B2B customer journey map.

It helps you to quickly see the different steps your customers take in their path with your business.

With it, you can quickly identify weak spots and successes to improve the customer journey.

5 stages of the B2B customer journey

Every one of your customers is unique. Their specific needs and their journey.

It’s all different.

But, there are crucial steps they take through their journey as your customer.

It’s the same path your entire customer base takes.

Here are the five stages of the B2B customer journey (and why you should track them):

1. Awareness

Awareness is the first stage that every B2B buyer goes through when they start their journey in B2B companies as a customer.

At this stage, your target buyer understands they have a problem they need solving. They’re out, actively trying to solve this problem.

This is where you can stand out from the competition and give them a good first impression.

Some helpful content you could create to do this is:

Blog posts
Social media posts
Ebooks
Whitepapers

2. Consideration

Next up, your buyer persona has an awareness of your company. But, now they’ve started narrowing down their options for potential businesses they’re interested in.

They’ve selected yours as a potential business to hand their hard-earned cash over to, but they’re still making up their mind.

At this point, you need to do what you can to clear up any objections and doubts in their mind and make them trust you.

Some helpful content you could create here include:

Product demos by your sales team
Webinars
Case studies

3. Conversion

Next up, your target buyer has compared all their options and decided on you as the chosen product/company.

This is where the purchase decision is made — when the B2B buyer actually signs or clicks “buy.”

Here, you’ll want to provide more:

Case studies
Live demos
Customer service
Customer reviews/testimonials

4. Loyalty

Your B2B buyer is now a customer. But, not all customers return. The majority will slip away after the first purchase. If you want them to return, you need to fuel the relationship and nurture them even more.

You’ll want to shift your efforts to nurturing the relationship with a post-purchase strategy where you build on that trust, seek customer feedback to prove high customer satisfaction and reward their loyalty.

Some content you may want to create here includes:

Thank you emails
Follow-up emails
Follow-up calls
Product how-tos
Reward program
Surveys

5. Advocacy

The final stage of the B2B customer journey map is advocacy.

This is the stage beyond loyalty where your customers aren’t just coming back for more; they’re actively telling others about you.

This is the cream of the crop when it comes to the B2B buyer stages, and it happens when you exceed customer expectations repeatedly.

Your goal should be to eventually get all of your customers to this stage. Because then, they’re doing free marketing for you.

This is only possible when a customer receives enough positive B2B customer experiences with your company where the value they’ve received far exceeds what they perceived they have given.

Here are a few pieces of content you can create to fuel advocacy:

Surveys
Testimonial requests
Referral program

Difference between B2C and B2B customer journeys

Every person on earth who buys something enters the customer journey.

But, not all customer journeys are created equal.

This is especially true when you compare the B2C and B2B customer journeys.

While there are similarities, the business-to-consumer (B2C) journey has clear differences compared to the business-to-business (B2B) journey.

The most obvious difference between the two journeys is that B2B customer journeys are far more complex.

Not only are these two companies selling to different audiences, but they also have to deploy a completely different set of strategies to lead their customers down the path as far as they can go.

While the journey structures are similar (from awareness to advocacy), there are differing motivating behaviours.

Here’s a table showing the difference between B2C and B2B in the customer journey:

Different Factors	B2B	B2C
Target audience	Smaller, industry more important	Larger, general consumer
Buyer	Multiple decision-makers	One decision-maker
Buying decision	Based on needs of the organisation with multiple stakeholders	Based on an individual’s pain points
Buying process	Multiple steps	Single step
Customer retention	Organisational needs and ROI-based	Individual emotional factors
Repeat sales driver	Deep relationship	Repetition, attention-based

Step-by-step guide to building a B2B customer journey map

Now that you’ve got a basic understanding of the typical B2B customer journey, it’s time to build out your map so you can create a visual representation of the journey.

Here are six steps you need to take to craft an effective B2B customer journey map in your business:

1. Identify your target audience (and different segments)

The first step in customer journey mapping is to look at your target audience.

You need to understand who they are and what different segments make up your audience.

You need to look at the different roles each person plays within the journey.

Unlike B2C, you’re not usually dealing with a single person. You likely have a few decision-makers you need to interact with to close a deal.

The average B2B deal involves 6 to 10 people.

Analyse the different roles and responsibilities of your audience.

Figure out what requirements they need to onboard you. Understand each person’s level of influence in the buying decision.

2. Determine your customers’ goals

Now that you have a clear understanding of each person involved in the buying process, it’s time to analyse their unique needs and goals.

Unlike B2C, which will include a single person with a single set of needs and goals, you have to look at several people through the decision-making process.

What is every decision-maker’s goal?

An entry-level admin will have much different goals than a CEO.

Understand each of their needs as it will be key to selling them and taking you to the next person in the chain of command.

3. Lean on data and analytics

Now it’s time to analyse your data.

You don’t want to guess what will work on your B2B buyers. Instead, leverage data that proves what’s working (and what’s not).

Analytics software like Matomo are crucial tools in your B2B customer journey toolkit.

Matomo can help you make data-driven decisions to fuel customer acquisition and loyalty to help get more customers all the way to the advocacy stage.

Using Matomo (which analyses and interprets different data sources) can give you a holistic view of what’s going on at each stage of the journey so you can reach your goals.

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4. Draw out customer journey stages

Now that you have your data-backed plan, it’s time for some customer journey mapping.

You can do this on paper or use a diagram tool to create a visual B2B customer journey map.

Here, you’ll draw out every single stage in your customer journey, including every single touchpoint from different decision-makers.

5. Determine each customer touchpoint

Once you’ve drawn up the customer journey stages, you’ll have a key list of B2B customer journey touchpoints to implement.

Write down every single customer interaction possible on the journey through.

This could be reading an email, a blog post or watching a video on your home page.

It could be an advertisement, a phone call or a follow-up email.

It could even be a live demo or video sales call (meeting).

6. Identify your own goals

Now that you’ve got your visual B2B customer journey mapping done, it’s time to go back to you and your company.

What are your goals?

What are the end results you’re looking for here?

You’ve got your current map in place. Now, how would you like customers to go through this journey?

Where would you like them to end up?

Look back at your company’s primary objectives if you’re stuck here.

If your company is looking to increase profit margins, then maybe you want to focus more on retention, so you’re spending less on acquisition (and leaning more on recurring revenue from existing customers).

How to create a Matomo funnel to track your B2B customer journey

If you want to start tracking and optimising your B2B customer journey, you need to have a good grasp on your funnel.

The reality is that your customer journey is your funnel.

They’re one and the same.

Your customer journeys through your sales funnel.

So, if you want to optimise it, then you need to see what’s going on at each stage of your funnel.

With Matomo, you can map out your entire funnel and track key events like conversions.

This allows you to identify where your site visitors are having problems, where they’re exiting and other obstacles they’re facing on their journey through.

To start, you first define what events or touchpoints you want included. This could mean:

Landing on your website
Visiting a product page
Adding something to cart
Going to checkout
Clicking “buy”

Then, at each stage, you’ll see conversion rates.

For example, if only 3% of your visitors go from landing on your website to the product page, you likely have an issue between your homepage (and other pages) and your product pages.

Or, if you can get people to add to cart, but you rarely get people going to checkout, there’s likely a problem to fix on your add-to-cart page.

By leveraging Matomo’s funnels feature, you get to see your entire customer journey (and where people are falling off) so you understand what you need to optimise to grow your business.

If you’re ready to start building and optimising your customer journey today, then try Matomo for free for 21 days.

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