Optimize your Nest Egg Guru Subscription.
A survey of our subscribers’ websites revealed that most FAs are not incorporating the applications into their websites in the manner in which we intended.
You’re Doing It All Wrong!
(Let Us Help You Optimize Your Nest Egg Guru Subscription)
By J.R. Robinson, co-founder (April 15, 2020)
While the Nest Egg Guru team is delighted that we have developed something of a cult following in the independent financial advisor space (despite doing virtually no marketing or advertising), a recent survey of our subscribers’ websites revealed that most FAs are not incorporating the applications into their websites in the manner in which we intended.
To be honest, the results of our survey were sobering. Our goal has always been to provide powerful client-facing software to help FAs to better engage and educate their clients, strengthen the advisor-client bond, improve SEO, and help generate new clients…all at a price that is affordable relative to other advisor software. While the feedback we receive about the apps themselves suggests that our users genuinely value the intuitive design and client engagement capabilities, we realize that we need to do a much better job of educating all of you about how to maximize the value of your subscriptions.
That is entirely on us, and I aim to fix the problem.
“I have subscribed to Nest Egg Guru for more than a year and it has not generated a single lead.”
The quote above was from an email we received from an FA requesting the cancellation of his subscription. The message compelled me to see how the FA had positioned Nest Egg Guru on his website. Much to my surprise, I discovered that he had never incorporated the apps into his website! Simply put, if the apps are not visible on your website, no one will know that you have them, and it will not attract site visitors or generate a single lead.
Although this discovery produced a short-lived chuckle, it served as wake-up call and provided the impetus for us to survey how other subscribers are using Nest Egg Guru’s planning app suite. Below is a summary of the biggest mistakes we found in order of prevalence –
Nest Egg Guru apps not featured on FA’s HOME page…A review of your website analytics will likely reveal that most new visitors to your website (a) do not stay very long and (b) do not visit another page on your site. When implemented properly, positioning Nest Egg Guru on your HOME page can help hold new visitors on your website longer and can make your website a hub for existing clients to return to your site more frequently. Both of these outcomes may enhance your online visibility by helping your site rank higher in the “eyes” of the major search engines (Google, Safari, Bing, etc.).
[Snarky tip: If you want to ensure that visitors to your website never see or use Nest Egg Guru, bury the apps on a “RESOURCES” or “CALCULATORS” page. These pages typically receive virtually zero organic traffic.]
FAs Not Using a CTA to entice site visitors to use the apps…Calls-to-Action hold visitors on your website longer. Whether the CTA is an offer to subscribe to your newsletter, provide an e-book, or test one’s financial planning preparedness, calls to action serve to enhance search engine optimization (SEO) and boost your online visibility. Examples of useful CTAs for Nest Egg Guru include, “Are you on track?” “Will you have enough?” “Will you run out of money?”, etc.
[No-so-snarky tip: Do not use the word “Calculator” in your CTA. It invokes dry, boring, arcane connotations and may actually dissuade site visitors from running the apps.]
FAs not instructing their website design firms to incorporate Nest Egg Guru in to their websites with the embed code we provide… FAs have two ways to run Nest Egg Guru with clients and prospects – using the unique URL (aka “hyperlink” or “subdomain”) we provide (e.g., https://financialplanninghawaii.nesteggguru.com) or via the embed code we provide in your Nest Egg Guru account dashboard. Although the URL allows subscribers to begin using the apps immediately upon subscribing, the problem with using it permanently is that it actually takes traffic off your website, since the apps run on Nest Egg Guru’s servers. By embedding the apps into your website, the apps run on your website, which enhances your SEO.
[Tip: Copy and paste the embed code into an email that you provide to your website design firm along with the CTA you would like use to introduce the apps.]
Nest Egg Guru apps not formatted properly by website designer…We have found that, absent direct guidance from the FA, some website designers simply paste the embed code into the FA’s website without any consideration of the visual appearance or functionality. This may be attributable to the designer’s lack of familiarity with Nest Egg Guru and lack of understanding of how the apps are intended to be used. To solve for this, we encourage our subscribers to enlist us to communicate directly with your website design firm.
[Tip: To give your website design firm a clearer understanding of how the apps are intended to be used and presented on an FA website my own Financial Planning Hawaii website may serve as a model.]
SOLVING THE PROBLEM
The four examples above are by no means an exhaustive list of the shortcomings we discovered in exploring how our subscribers are incorporating Nest Egg Guru into their websites and their business models. To help our subscribers maximize the benefit they receive from our service, I offer the following three solutions –
1. Go Through the Optimization Checklist that appears on the welcome screen when you log into your Nest Egg Guru account.
2. Use the Financial Planning Hawaii website (www.fphawaii.com) as a guide to how the apps are intended to be presented and used. As you will see, Nest Egg Guru is introduced using a CTA that reads “Are You on Track”. Clicking on the CTA takes the visitor further down the HOME page where he/she/they is introduced with the 3 individual apps, each of which has its own separate CTA. When the user clicks on these CTAs, the apps open in a format that is easy to read and ready to use.
3. Have me audit your site with you. For better or worse, Nest Egg Guru is not yet so large that I cannot provide one-on-one assistance to our subscribers. If you would like me to audit your site with you, feel free to contact me directly at jrobinson@NestEggGuru.com or to schedule a time on my Calendly app.
I hope this information is helpful. Thank you for subscribing. Stay safe and be well.
Aloha,
J.R.
J.R. Robinson is a co-founder o Nest Egg Guru and is the owner/founder of Financial Planning Hawaii. He is a prolific contributor of content for the financial planning community. He has authored or co-authored many papers and articles that have appeared in peer-reviewed journals (including three award-winning papers on retirement income sustainability) and has published scores of articles on a broad range of financial planning topics. He has twice been included on Investopedia’s list of the top 100 most influential financial advisors in America.
Leave a Reply