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Financial Services Website Conversion Benchmarks
Key Takeaways
- Website conversion rates for financial services companies are based on either micro conversions or macro conversions, which result in a range of industry conversion rates.
- The range of median conversion rates for the industry is between 3.4% and 5%.
- Website variables affect conversion rates.
Introduction
Industry experts explain there are two primary types of conversions: micro and macro. Macro conversion "occurs when the visitor takes an action that corresponds to the primary objective of a website", while micro conversions "are actions taken by a visitor that primes them for the ultimate conversion event", such as "newsletter sign ups, product information downloads, and other actions that signify intent and engagement". This helps in explaining the range of reported conversion rates for the financial services industry. Common conversion points used in calculating financial services' website conversion rates include form submissions, clicks to initiate specific communication directly to the company, and downloads. The following research is for website conversion rates only, unless otherwise noted, and based for U.S. companies, although key financial services companies tend to be global.
Average Conversion Rates for Financial Services Websites
- A website conversion rate for financial services companies above 3.4% ranks in the top 20 percentile, while a conversion rate over 5% ranks in the top 10%, according to financial companies benchmarked by Little Data. This was based on an analysis of more than 20 financial websites in May 2020.
- A different study provides different percentages for companies in financial services. A WordStream study shows 5.01% being the median website conversion rate, 11.19% for the top 25 percentile, and over 24% for the top 10 percentile.
- 20 Over 10 reported the average number of monthly visitors for financial websites is approximately 300, and most people view one or two pages per visit. They also report that the average financial adviser gets about a .75% conversion rate of visitors converting to a booked meeting through the website.
- Allocation of digital spending for financial services companies is as follows:
Conversion Rates Definition & Desktop v Mobile
- Little Data defines website conversion rate as, "the number of purchases divided by the total number of sessions", where sessions represent visits.
- Certain website variables affect website conversion rates. Among these are page load time, mobile optimization (or the lack thereof), site navigation, UX design, website aesthetics, copywriting, and SEO.
- An analysis of "Contentsquare’s database of 900+ global brands to collect over 20+ billion individual user sessions from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020, shows the breakdown between desktop, mobile, and tablet for financial services companies at 57%, 42%, and 2%, respectively.
- In addition, the analysis shows the rate of new website traffic for financial services is 38% and returning users make up the remaining 62%, representing a YoY change of +37% of new users and -23% of returning users.
- The same research details only 8% of website traffic was paid, while 92% was earned traffic. The bounce rate for financial services company websites was reported at 47%, with the bounce rates per device, desktop, mobile, and tablet, reasonably equal: 43%, 51%, and 41%, respectively.
- "Across the top 100 Finance websites, desktop traffic accounts for roughly 55% of all traffic, followed by mobile traffic accounting for 45%."
Research Strategy
Research shows that discussions of conversion rates based on top, mid, or bottom funnel are exclusively found on marketing websites, such as Top Agency or Call Rail, that are geared toward companies looking for marketing services and data for improving website performance, which includes conversion rates. As well, industry expert bloggers discuss funnel based website conversion rates, but are generally not specific to the financial services industry. Website conversion rates for Chase, Prudential, and Wells Fargo were not found during research.