Elena Berestovaya, CMO UpTrader
In UpTrader we often see forex brokers that struggle with sales growth stoppage. In their efforts they often try to improve soft, add new assets, change employes or find new Forex CRM. All of these things make sence, but let’s talk about marketing tools that can help beyond Forex CRM and other software forex solutions.
Every Forex broker has probably faced a situation where the sales growth plateaued and did not want to budge. Some of them encounter it soon after the company's launch, while others face it already when the sales are at a solid volume. To understand what will launch your company’s growth again, you need to analyse your own business model to look at the situation as a whole: the region, product, sales department, reputation, licence, marketing strategy, how to deposit and withdraw funds. Everything is important. We will consider a few marketing techniques you should start with and see what ready-made products you can add to your business to increase sales.
Customer Segmentation
The very first thing to start with is probably to understand whether you are dividing your customers into segments and whether your methods of working with them are different. A clear definition of who your customer is will be the foundation of your marketing strategy and sales team.Your company could very well be only focused on one client type: for example, you might only work with large clients from Asia, or you only offer investments in managed PAMM accounts, or maybe you are a broker offering products to traders, investors, and clients with any deposit amount. Your sales funnel depends on the answer to this question. It will define whether you will have one funnel or several, one for each type of client. Funnels could differ dramatically from one another in tone and content of your emails, products you sell, services you plan to launch, marketing promotions, trading conditions, and sales methods. If you are a multi-product broker, you should categorise customers into different groups, identify key audiences, and build tactics to work with each. Many companies do not segment customers, which leads to blurred advertising, unclear offers, and too much traffic on the website. As a result, the client does not find anything for themselves and gravitates towards a competitor with a clearer offer. Separate funnels for different segments help increase the conversion of leads into customers and keep the customer with the company, thereby increasing sales.
Narrowing or expanding the audience
This point flows seamlessly from the previous one. There is nothing wrong with narrowing your audience. It allows you to focus on what your team does best. It helps you get to know your client well, understand their needs, and not be spread out over everyone looking for ways to make money in the Forex market. Narrowing down the audience, sharpening your communication with it, fine-tuning the product is a painstaking job. However, if this job is well done once, and with good results, it can be scaled to new regions. You can then add new products and new target audiences, expanding your business.
Choosing a flagship product
This point also complements the previous two. When a customer chooses you from a variety of other companies, your offer should be obvious to them. What do you consider your number one product, why do you have the best product? In our experience, a common mistake that brokers make is not emphasising their main product, the showpiece of the company. They offer everything at once, thinking that a variety of options is better than having no choice. Indeed, the variety of options is very good. Nevertheless, if a potential client visits the website and sees a bit of everything, they might enter a state of procrastination, not knowing what to choose. It will be easier for the client if you make the initial choice for them. And then, when they choose you, you can offer them so much more. If you attract experienced traders and expect them to make their own choice, make sure you have a licence, because professionals are well aware of the cost of non-compliance.
Copy Trading platform
Many novice brokers are wondering: is there a magic service which easily allows you to increase the sales volume? Yes, there is. One simple and popular way to activate beginners or hesitant audiences is to offer them the copying trading platform with experienced traders. Many traders who are new to the market are understandably anxious over the potential to lose their deposits and struggle to understand how to trade in general. A procrastinating client equals a lost client. Sometimes, copy trading can help them make their first step. A clear rating system, transparent terms of copying, risk limitation, and instant deposit of profit to the account make the service attractive enough for the customer to start earning in your company. The only problem to be solved is attracting traders to the service. Good trading conditions, a user-friendly interface, and good rewards can help.
Market Analytics in your Forex CRM
A fairly inexpensive, but an extremely useful sales tool is daily trading recommendations. It can be used for both marketing and sales. This is a great way to interest your audience and stir up their greed by showing forecasts for the market and the potential profit. Nothing motivates better than numbers. One of UpTrader's clients who sends analytics to their customers through it’s Forex CRM allowed me to analyse their trading account data for 2021. It turned out that customers who read analytics deposited on average 15% more per customer compared to those who did not use this tool. The median bill was 25% higher. At the same time, their trading volume increased by 230%!
Bonuses/Promotions: are they effective?
This is a tricky question. No two bonuses are alike. Welcome bonuses, popular in the Forex market, work great for lead generation. But do you need clients who come for freebies? Do you know how to work with such clients? Will the sales team be able to sell these customers something beyond free bonuses? Are you willing to spend the resources of your customer support team to help the clients to understand the bonus allocation and bonus withdrawal rules, burden your staff with dealing with complaints from clients who believe that they have been unfairly written off a bonus, etc.? We believe that bonuses can be used, but they should be distributed carefully. They must not become the primary source for lead generation, because they attract an audience that you might not need. Bonuses for the deposit and accrual of interest on the account balance have proven their value. In general, all clients like bonuses and promotions, the key here is to use them in moderation. In UpTrader Forex CRM for instance we have all kinds of bonuses, but they are not really popular among our clients. Copy trading platform is more popular.
In this article, we went over some strategies to increase sales. If you are currently considering what you would like to improve in your brokerage business or if you are thinking about starting your own firm from scratch, contact the UpTrader team. We will help, guide, and consult you.