Financial Advisors: Is Boring Copywriting Killing your Website?

This article was updated on January 15, 2020.

While most every financial advisor has a website these days, many of these sites do not consistently produce leads. The purpose of a website is to attract web traffic and then turn that traffic into prospects. If it’s not doing that, your website is not working for you.

There may be a few culprits.  A common one is ineffective financial advisor website copywriting.

If you look at the websites of the financial services industry giants, you’ll see they invest in great web copy.  Jump on their sites and there’s compelling text that captures your interest.  Then go to a couple small financial advisor websites.  Does the copy jump out and grab your attention?  Some do…but unfortunately,  many do not.

Boring web copy usually focuses on the wrong party.  The website’s goal is to attract new prospects, but instead, the ineffective copy is likely turned inward, talking only about the company itself.  In today’s very crowded digital world, that focus is not very effective.

Compare this:

We are an independent wealth management firm providing financial planning and custom portfolio management. 

To this:

Investing isn’t just about money – it’s about your future

Notice the difference?  The second one (from a Fidelity Investments site) is primarily about the future clients, not about the firm.  Put simply, it’s about them, not you.  We need to talk directly to the prospect, not at them.

The second line of copy also successfully appeals to our emotions and imagination.  Nothing boring about that.

Think of your web copy as a virtual salesperson on the front line with newcomers.  For this critical position, would you rather hire Cindy, the helpful salesperson, or Joe the numbers guy?  No offense to Joe—after all, he’s smart, skilled and he’s who we trust to handle the all-important financial work.  But we –and he—are smart enough to know he shouldn’t be the one greeting visitors at the door.

Cindy, on the other hand, knows how to talk with prospects. She can engage them in friendly conversation.  Your web copy should sound like Cindy…a welcoming, caring salesperson who is interested in helping out. Totally different approach to the no-nonsense numbers guy.

You can and should provide the facts about your firm. But just not right out of the gate—you have to catch the visitor’s attention first.  When you do provide that information, it should be through the lens of talking to the prospect and not just rattling off information.  Ask yourself:

• How can your firm make a difference in the prospect’s life?
• Why should a prospect care that you are independent?
• What will you being a fiduciary or a CFP mean in terms of their financial well-being?
• What can your collective years of experience do for them?

All of it should be written in an informal, conversational tone.  That style works best to engage today’s digital audience.

Fortunately, developing good web copy doesn’t require the immense budgets of the giant firms; it simply requires finding the right financial writing team.  Unless you’re lucky enough to have an in-house copywriter who understands these concepts, find a specialist with a style that will appeal to your target market.  Then, plan on participating in the process to get an authentic result.  Resist the temptation to cut corners or breeze through the process quickly.  If you do, it may cost you magnitudes more in lost revenue if your visitors never turn into leads.

Remember the old commercial about never having a second chance to make a first impression?*    Prioritize your web copy accordingly.

*Are you old enough to remember what that line referred to?  🙂  I am and yes, it was talking about the unspeakable social tragedy of a bit of dandruff on your shirt.  That’s probably the best example of the power of copywriting, isn’t it?  🙂

Wavelength Financial Content Inc. provides web copywriting along with other types of digital content for financial advisors and the financial services industry.