Why You Should (and Shouldn’t) Include a Calendar on Your Financial Advisor Website - YFCD #42
To reduce friction, or add a barrier to entry
Welcome back,
It's said that 34% of adults would rather spend an hour in traffic than go over their money mistakes with a financial advisor.
45% would rather go to the dentist than make an appointment with an advisor.
This is crazy. Because meeting with an advisor shouldn't be scary, and it definitely shouldn't be difficult.
I've reviewed many sites over the past few years and I'm consistently shocked at how hard advisors make it to get new business online.
No "schedule a call" buttons, no calendar, no contact page.
Nothing.
So this biggest reason to include your calendar on your website is because it removes all friction & challenge to meeting with an advisor.
People don't want to "send a message" and wait to see if you'll email them to find a time that works for both of you.
They want to see when you're available & pick a time that works for them.
So the two easiest ways to implement this are:
- Adding buttons linked to your calendar
- Directly 'embedding' the calendar on website pages
When using a button, I recommend selecting the "open in new tab" option so when someone clicks the link, it doesn't take them away from your website & they can go back to the same page.
If you've never used a scheduling tool before, my favorite options are:
1) Acuity - lots of integrations with other tools, easy-to-use, semi-affordable
2) TidyCal - simple functionality, minimal, $29 lifetime access
3) Calendly - easy-to-use, not the best 'embed' options
Whichever you use, you'll be better off than having a "Name, Email, Message" form on a contact page.
But I've seen a couple of instances where it makes sense to remove direct access to your calendar and filter leads through a pre-qualification form:
- When you have too much inbound
- When you have a team of advisors
At AllStreet, we embedded our calendar on every page for the first ~12 months.
Anyone who visited our site could meet with us at any available time.
Then once we were getting too many new appointments & couldn't balance onboarding and ongoing service, we throttled new meetings by creating a more-detailed application form:
Once someone submits the form, we reach out to schedule a time & make sure they're a good fit first. It's a similar process to having direct calendar access, but lets us limit the amount of people that we meet with each month.
Additionally, if you have multiple advisors who meet with potential clients, a submission form can be an easy way to filter leads & assign them to the proper advisor.
I've seen some sites include pictures of the team & links to schedule with individual members, but I'm not a fan. Making a website visitor choose an advisor can be intimidating & reduce the chances they reach out. If needed, you could have a field within the form where someone can select or mention a preferred advisor.
Whatever stage of business you're at, it shouldn't be difficult for someone to learn more about what you do & how to work together.
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