State of Marketing Binary Options Industry. How Does Marketing Impact Revenues?

Transcription

1 State of Marketing 2015 Binary Options Industry How Does Marketing Impact Revenues?

2 Introduction This report reviews the marketing practices of a sample of binary options brokers The purpose of this report is to show the potential impact of marketing on trader deposits, turnover and bottom line revenue. As a starting point, we have reviewed the following in the prospect journey across 44 binary options brands: Content Is a welcome being sent after signing up? Are follow up s being sent? If so, are they promotional or content/educationdriven in nature? Style Are they text or graphic (HTML) s? Do they contain social media links? Frequency: How many s are sent in the first 30-days after sign up?

3 Content: Automated vs. Manual Automation Rules 93% are doing some marketing Out of 44 brands, 41 (93%) had some type of marketing in place, either automated or user-generated (manual) 91% have it automated 40 (91%) followed up with automated messages (not manually sent by an agent) 86% say "Welcome" on the first date 38 (86%) followed up with welcome messages (instead of a straight promotion) 66% go on a "second date" 29 (66%) brands had follow up after the welcome (either promotions or education-driven marketing messages) 34% like it social Out of the 44 brands that had an program, 15 (34%) included social media links in their messages The majority don't educate 31 operators (71%) did not send any educational materials to their traders 91% are (very) lazy 40 operators out of 44 (91%) communicated with their leads less than once a week An automated program is a must for consistent and cost-effective marketing

4 How Often? They do it once a week... The average frequency was once a week But most don't The majority of operators ed less than once a week (median of 3.0 s over 4 weeks) Top senders: - Option Fair 36 messages - Opteck 22 messages - 24 Option 20 messages - Any Option 14 messages Period Analyzed: April - May 2015 How about established operators? The more established names are also the most frequent mailers. Increased frequency means increased revenue

5 Promotion vs. Education An Explosive Mix Promotion vs. Education 23 operators (52%) followed up with promotional messages, whereas 12 (27%) brands followed with educational marketing messages. Promotion AND Education 10 (21% ca) brands followed up with both types of messages (24 Option, Any Option, Big Option, Cedar Finance, IQ Option, Opteck, Option Rally, Options Click, Options XO, Stock Pair, UK Options, Win Options) Style Out of the 41 brands that had some marketing in place, 36 (82%) opted for s in HTML format, whereas 5 (11%) brands sent s in text only format Those who sell and educate do it in style... The brands that sent both promotional and educational marketing all sent in HTML format Out of the top 10 positions, 9 operators followed up with both educational and promotional messages Out of the top 10 brands, 9 brands sent both promotional and educational messages

6 And The Winners Are... The leading brands in marketing are also the leading brands in the market

7 Results By Brand - 2

8 The Losers

9 Winners Frequency and content are behind the most established brands' success 1. Option Fair (19 points) Option Fair is the clear winner ticking almost all boxes: automation, welcome , educational s - all in graphic format including social media assets. The missing piece that could have a drastic impact on conversions? Educational content Option (15 points) 24 Option ticks all boxes. Why is it not number 1 then? It could send out s more often. More equals more revenue. 3. Opteck (14 points) Opteck is a solid #3, just 1 point behind 24 Option. 4. Any Option (13 points) Any Option also ticks all boxes. Why is it not #1? It could (and make) more Win Options (12 points) They seem to have got everything right except...the (low) number of s.

10 Losers Less established brands are behind the curve 1. BetOnMarkets, Start Options (0 points) There just seems to be no marketing 2. Capital Option, RBinary (1 point) RBinary sent a system-generated registration Capital Option sent an agent-generated welcome , with no follow up after that. 3. Trader XP, Option XP, First Binary Option (2 points) These operators all sent a systemgenerated, text-based welcome before...vanishing. 5. Ez Trader, Market Punter, Super Options (3 points) Mostly automated welcome s with no further follow up.

11 Here's What The Winner's Inbox Looks Like

12 Best Newsletter 1. Call To Action (CTA): Repeat CTAs above the fold and at the bottom of the 2. Branding: Clear recognizable branding across the and across devices (desktop, tablet) 3. Credibility: Strong content offering the reader the opportunity to be elevated to professional investor status 4. Update preferences: Reader can choose a different mailing frequency or newsletter type instead of unsubscribing altogether

13 Worst Newsletter 1. Call To Action (CTA): No CTA above the fold. Redundant content. Some naked links with no CTA 2. Graphics: Links and CTAs difficult to see (green on black). Lack of capitalization, poor punctuation 3. Content: Lack of special offers for the reader. Link to FAQs with no clear next step. No specific content distinguishing Option Rally from competitors.

14 Conclusions What Are The Traces Of Success? CONTENT All of the winners have automated campaigns in place including: a) A well thought strategy that complements the sales team activity as the lead matures through the funnel b) This is implemented through a combination of promotional and educational content c) It all starts with a well-written, engaging and professional-looking welcome as soon as the lead signs up d) Which then transitions into a regular, frequent sequence of engaging follow up s e) All of this is automated

15 Conclusions What Are The Traces Of Success? STYLE s are in graphic format and include social media links s are tested an optimized to go past the Spam folders into the user's inbox s are responsive and use modern, engaging brand graphics FREQUENCY marketing messages are sent on a daily basis and in any event never less often than every 2 business days

16 Why Is This So Successful? - 81% of conversions take place after the 5th marketing contact (American Association Of Sales Professionals) - If a company can communicate with a prospect for at least 12 consecutive months, it has a 61% chance of converting the prospect into a client (TBC) - Compared to non-nurtured leads, nurtured leads will gain 47% larger purchases from a business (Hubspot) - Marketers will send 61% of leads to the sales department. But only 27% of those leads will be qualified (Marketing Sherpa) - 91% of customers are happy to give referrals, but only 11% of salespeople will actually ask for a referral (Dale Carnegie)

17 Why Is This So Successful? - s that contain social sharing buttons receive 158% higher click-through rates (Get Response) - Consumers who receive marketing spend 138% more than customers who don't (ConvinceAndConvert) - 48% of consumers would prefer to communicate with a business via (Kentico) - The average return per every $1 spent on marketing is $40, that's a 4,000% ROI (Direct Marketing Association) - Prospects buy when they are ready to buy, not when you are ready to sell (Tiz G. Corta)

18 Next Steps 1. WHO ARE THE 0.8% GENERATING 51% OF YOUR REVENUE? Analyze your database and understand how different segments respond to different types of marketing. 80% of revenues are generated by only 20% of leads/customers (Pareto's law). 64% of revenues are generated by 4 of the database. 51.2% of revenue is generated by 0.8% of the database only! With marketing you can identify these segments and invest only where the ROI is highest 2. HOW MUCH CAN YOU SAVE BY REPLACING 80% OF YOUR TELESALES ACTIVITIES? Up to 80% of any sales process is prospect education. How about automating this part with marketing to sales reps only spend time on what is most productive - closing deals? What is the cost of marketing education vs cost of running a call centre? 3. HOW MUCH REVENUE IS GENERATING FOR YOU? 48% of customers prefer to communicate with businesses by . What if became a stand-alone revenue source through constant contact with your leads? By achieving TOMA (Top Of Mind Always) your business will be the first they go to when they are ready to convert

19 Looking To Improve Your Competitor Rankings? Contact Us Tiz G. Corta, CEO UK Office: +44 (0) US Toll Free: Finchley Road, London NW11 7TJ, United Kingdom

20 Ranking Methodology We scored each binary options brand according to 8 metrics. For each, a score was given. The sum of each brand's points gave it a total score and the brands were then ranked by the highest score. The following 8 metrics were used: 1. Automated s - 1 point if communications were automated 2. Welcome - 1 point if the lead was greeted with a welcome after signup 3. Follow up s - 1 point if there were follow up s sent post registration (other then a welcome ) 4. Promotional s - 1 point if these were sent 5. Educational s - 1 point if these were sent 6. Graphic or text s - 1 point if the s were in graphic format 7. Social media links - 1 point if these were present in the body 8. Number of s sent over 30 days - 1 point was awarded for every 3 s sent. For example if 30 s were sent, the brand would be given 10 points.

21 Glossary Automated s A system-generated (not sent by a sales / customer support agent) Welcome welcoming the lead to the firm and offering assistance with no explicit promotional message Follow Up sent after the initial welcome , typically days or weeks after lead registration Promotional explicitly prompting the lead to deposit or trade. Typically with one or more calls to action (CTA) Educational Training with no explicit promotional message or call to action Format Graphical s typically contact formatting and images. A text only is pure text.

22 Disclaimer Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of DVFX as a company. Examples of analysis performed within this article are only examples. They should not be utilized in real-world analytic products as they are based only on very limited open source information. For the purposes of the report a number of working assumptions have been made, including: - Only data has been considered, excluding any other forms of marketing (telephone, SMS, retargeting and others) - We have defined the typical user as someone who registers on the platform and conducts no further trading activity (including placing a deposit). Therefore, forms of behavioural-based marketing (eg depending on whether the person deposited) have not been included in this analysis - External factors such as spam filters might have impeded some of the marketing communications from reaching the test accounts. Please report any omissions or mistakes to contact@dvfx.com. The rankings and score given to each operator represent our limited understanding of the brand's marketing activities and under no circumstances are designed to represent a reflection of the operator's strength in the marketplace or levels of success.