Website Setup

In this chapter

In this chapter, we briefly outline the typical website setup for a B2B investment manager.

Content

Most websites will consist of content grouped into four sections:

  • Products — information about available products & strategies
  • Insights — regularly published blogs, videos and webinars
  • Firm information — history, investment philosophy & process, people, press releases, job postings, and contact details
  • Resources — tools, educational materials, and fund literature

Investor type & location

Before they can access any content, visitors are usually asked to select their investor type and/or location from a list of options. Because these selections can’t be verified, lengthy disclaimers are typically included and must be accepted before continuing.

While this can be a rather blunt and off-putting experience — and should therefore be made as seamless as possible — it does allow the website to be personalised for each visitor based on their selections, using rules set in the website content management system (CMS).

Selections are typically stored in a browser cookie, so visitors don’t need to reselect them each time they return.

Investor type

For investor type, the simplest option is to offer two choices:

  • Professional investor
  • Non-professional (or retail) investor

Although this does assume all visitors are investors of some kind, other groups — such as job seekers and journalists — can be categorised as non-professionals. Their access can then be limited to job applications and high-level firm information, while professional investors can view all content and subscribe to topics of interest.

The professional investor option is often divided further into the two client groups, institutional and intermediary, either for familiarity reasons or because the investment manager produces content specifically aimed at one group (e.g. for example, educational materials for financial advisors).

Visitor location

When an investment manager offers products in more than one country, visitors are often asked to select their location so that the website can display available pooled funds — or relevant regional content.

Single vs multiple website domains

Firms offering investment products in multiple countries can either:

  • Host websites on local country domains where products are available (e.g. .com, .it, or co.uk), or
  • Use a single domain for all visitors and tailor content dynamically once the visitor’s location is known.

While there may be SEO advantages to local domains, they can create complications for smaller marketing teams. Although most CMS platforms allow a page to be published across multiple domains simultaneously, distributing content via social media and email is often easier when using a single, globally shareable URL.

Languages

Some investment managers make their website available in multiple languages, which can be demanding for the marketing team.

Fortunately, tools are now available that can automate much of the translation process (such as Weglot). These tools allow for manual corrections and the creation of translation rules, so key terms and phrases don’t need to be edited repeatedly.

Personalisation

Beyond investor type and location, some firms aim to personalise content based on a visitor’s browsing behaviour, subscriptions, or CRM data.

However, visits to B2B investment manager’s websites are typically short and task-driven. Unlike platforms such as Netflix or Amazon — where visitors land on the homepage with the specific intention to browse for something to watch or buy — most visitors land directly on a specific page, find what they need, and leave. Those that do land on the homepage usually have a clear goal and want to accomplish it quickly.

For that reason, the focus should be on clarity and findability. Making sure the website has a clear structure, intuitive navigation, well-organised content, and an effective search function should be a priority.

A couple of additional features can help visitors quickly find content they need to revisit regularly — a common need in investment management:

  • A dropdown showing a visitor’s most recently browsed pages (which may be from a previous visit)
  • The ability to save products or share classes as “favourites”

Importantly, these features should rely on browser cookies, so that registration or login aren’t required.

Finally, I should mention that there’s no harm in attempting personalisation based on browsing behaviour or CRM data — I just wouldn’t expect any earth-shattering results from doing so.