Website Subscriptions

Subscriptions allows visitors to sign up to be notified when content is published on topics of interest — this chapter covers how to set them up.

Subscription options

The first step involves deciding which subscription options to offer for non-product content (i.e., content that doesn’t mention any specific products by name). Fortunately, the category list used for website content — which might be a simple list of asset classes (e.g., equities, fixed income, multi-asset, and alternatives) — can be used as the list of options.

Adding a subscription form

Next, a form needs to be added to the website — which should only be made available to professional investors — so that visitors can subscribe. I would suggest including the following fields:

Field	Type	Example
First name and surname	Free text	John Smith
Email address	Free text	john.smith@domain.com
Country	Dropdown	United Kingdom
Client group	Dropdown	Institutional investor
Job function	Dropdown	Manager research/fund selection
Subscription options	Checkbox	Equities Fixed Income

Note that job function and client group are only needed if the volume of new subscribers is high enough that a lead vetting process would require automation (otherwise, new subscribers can simply be vetted manually).

The job function dropdown should contain a list of functions common in investment management. Some will be of interest to the sales team (providing investment advice, performing research, and managing portfolios) while others won't be (providing operations or investment support, managing risk, and selling or marketing products). A catch-all option should also be included to cover other functions.

Options for the client dropdown should cover the client group and organisations that work with B2B investment managers. Ideally, it should align with the structure of the firm's sales team.

These two fields will enable new subscribers who might be of interest to the sales team to be identified and automatically routed to the appropriate team for vetting.

Once created, the form should be added to the firm's website.

Lead generation & management

For each new subscriber:

• The marketing automation system creates a contact record
• The system checks the firm’s CRM to determine whether that contact already exists and is assigned to a salesperson
• If the contact is known, the marketing and CRM records are synchronised

For any new, unknown contacts:

• Automated lead grading is set up that identifies key individuals — those who can allocate capital into the firm’s products, directly or indirectly
• A process is established to determine when a CRM record is created, how new contacts are assigned to a salesperson, and how the salesperson is notified