Checklist for FinTech Product Growth: Channels, Trends, and Tools

The global fintech market was valued at approximately 226.71 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach a value of around USD 917.17 billion by 2032. This looks promising, but very few web fintech applications that are brought to life actually survive.

In order to increase your chances in the harsh yet abundant reality, you have to evaluate your current position and explore strategies that you can tailor to your business, because there are no universal solutions that guarantee success for any product.

In this article, I'd like to highlight the key stages of the web fintech product user lifecycle, indicating which tools for evaluating the effectiveness of the product are used at each stage of the user journey.

Based on the statistics obtained, hypotheses can be formed, changes can be made, and... statistics can be gathered again to evaluate the accuracy of the decision made.

If you've read up to this point, you may already understand how much constant attention from developers and marketers is required to maintain the viability of a web fintech product, and audience interest at the launch stage still does not mean that the development will bring profit.

Strategies can be divided into those used at the user acquisition stage (Acquisition), at the activation stage (Activation), at the retention stage (Retention), and at the engagement stage (Engagement). At each of these stages, metrics are applied to help assess the "health" of your fintech product.

Step 1: User Acquisition Stage

User Acquisition Campaign Metrics for Evaluating User Acquisition:

• Impressions: Shows how many times your web page or advertisement was displayed to users. An impression is counted each time a user sees the advertisement or page with your product.

• Clicks: This metric shows how many times users clicked on your product in search results or on advertisements.

• Sign Up: The number of signups shows the number of people who considered your product interesting enough to try it out.

• Onboarding: The number of users who completed your onboarding is a clear indicator of the effectiveness of your approach to this stage and of the actual usability of your service.

• CPA (Cost per Acquisition): The cost of a customer completing a specific action (registration, purchase) helps assess the effectiveness of advertising expenses.

When talking about strategies at the acquisition stage, paid ads (by that, I mean Google Search ads, Google Display, and paid social media campaigns) come to mind first. However, paid advertising is not everything. If you are launching a product or feature, or simply want to increase your reach or brand trust, do not neglect external channels in addition to other tools, namely: media, social media, native advertising, and cross-promotion, as well as the landing page and its SEO.

Remember that the marketing mix for promoting web fintech products is chosen individually, just like for other types of services on the market. The rules of the game haven't changed. Each of these channels has its pros and cons, and your choice should depend on identifying who your potential audience is.

If you feel lost, here are just a few possible channels to consider:

1.1 Relevant Mentions in Media

Place articles in media outlets that would be indexed for relevant product queries – it’s always a good way to get needed attention. For example, if you're launching a deferred payment service (BNPL), try to get featured in articles like "Top 10 most trustful products to help you buy now and pay later."

You can also place an article highlighting the uniqueness and undeniable advantages of your product on platforms where your competitors are featured.

1.2 Reddit, Quora, Forums, and Blogger Presence

Make sure you're present in the information space of your target audience. To do this, you need to engage in platforms where your target users interact. Even before the launch, it's important to create anticipation among potential users. For example, if your product helps postpone payments (as said in the examples above), participate in threads where users talk about the pros and cons of using such services. As a pleasant bonus, this will help you better understand your target audience and their pain points.

1.3 Paid Advertising

You can promote your product through paid posts on social media and high-traffic websites, launch Google AdWords campaigns, and targeted campaigns on social media (depending on the market segment). Also, don't forget about landing pages for advertising campaigns to test which offer works best in your fintech segment. If we're using websites to promote the fintech product, SEO tools may also come in handy.

1.4 Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Of course, SEO cannot be overlooked, as it's critically important for increasing the visibility and attractiveness of your product in web search engines. At the end of the day, it’s one of the main channels that can make your product visible to the audience that is actually looking for it directly.

Choosing the right keywords for the title and description (adapting them to your target audience) will help improve your product’s ranking. Keyword planners like Google Keyword Planner can simplify this task since it can be a tedious process if you haven’t engaged with SEO before. The first impression is crucial – it’s a psychological thing. Therefore, it's important to think about how your product will first appear to the user in the search results.

Your app's title and meta description should be compelling and optimized for relevant keywords, as well as hit a sweet spot with your potential customers. Visual elements such as images, videos, and infographics can also enhance your app's overall appeal in search results. Is the icon of good quality? How well is the text written? These are all questions you should ask yourself before expecting instant results from SEO.

Step 2. Activation/Onboarding Stage - Turning Downloads Into Users

Metrics for assessing User Activation:

• Activation rate: Indicates how many users of those registered have started to use your service or submitted a KYC check application.
• DAU (Daily Active Users): The unique number of active users per day.
• CPU (Cost per User): Average expenses for acquiring one user.

2.1 Ensure that the registration and authorization methods available in your service are convenient for your target audience

Incredible, but true: registration and KYC authorization after signing up should be as fast and accessible as possible. Many fintech services require a mandatory KYC check, and the main task for your onboarding team is to make the process as seamless as possible for the user.

How do you make sure that the user not only signs up for your product but also starts using it? The onboarding process, i.e., activating a new user, plays a very significant role here. There are two diametrically opposite views on what this process should be like for the user:

2.2.Attention Retention and Data Collection Strategy

Some build the user journey in such a way that from the first seconds (while the user's attention is fresh and acute), they familiarize themselves with the navigation and features of the application and enter the data they plan to collect.

2.3 Quick Access to Functionality Strategy

According to another approach, onboarding should be as quick as possible. The user immediately starts solving the tasks for which they chose and downloaded the application, and getting acquainted with the application and collecting data is better postponed for later.

Regardless of the chosen strategy, use interface elements that make the user feel the successful completion of a particular scenario: progress bars, checkmarks, and animations. Your task is to take the user by the hand and show the key value of the application or its specific feature.

Step 3. Retention & Engagement Stage

Evaluation of Retention and Engagement:

• Retention rate: Indicates the percentage of users who continue to use the product after a certain number of days (usually 7, 14, 28).

• Engagement or stickiness: Indicates how often a user interacts with the product.

• Sessions: The time a user spends in the service.

• Sessions per user: Helps understand how often users access your service.

• LTV (Customer Lifetime Value): Shows the revenue a user generates throughout their interaction with the service.

If the Retention and Engagement metrics leave something to be desired, check if the following checklist items are met:

• The service is regularly updated.

• Irritating malfunctions are absent.

• The service works equally well on different devices and operating systems.

• The product is localized to your specific regions.

• For example, track and eliminate phenomena such as Rage Clicks, Error Clicks, and Dead Clicks. All these occur when your product reacts unexpectedly to the user, does not react at all, or does not interact sufficiently fully and clearly with the user, causing irritation and abandonment.

• The ability to interact with the product in one's own language and cultural code increases user loyalty, and therefore, retention.

• The service operates quickly and is intuitive.

• Application crash statistics are tracked.

  
  

  So, in this article, we recalled the main stages of user experience in the context of a web fintech product. The tools are the foundation and should be enough for a start; however, I hope that this checklist will help teams plan a strategy, distribute work among teams, identify and prioritize problems, and quickly implement solutions. If all the items are completed but the metrics are still low, I would recommend considering the current Product Market Fit of the application.