Tradesmarter extends welcoming hand to new clients: No registration required

Here we are, some 16 years after the ubiquitous MetaTrader 4 platform made its way into production, giving rise to a plethora of new entrants into the retail FX sector, the originators of which had their professional roots in other sectors – namely digital marketing and affiliate networks.

These new entrants, whilst at the time often inferior to the established companies with their own platforms, used their affiliate marketing mettle to ensure that the client acquisition model became what it is now – a lead acquiring and data business.

This has had its serious limitations, one of which is that the same potential client base is continually bombarded with sales attempts by what are effectively white label brands of MetaQuotes, all offering the same range of products and services, another being that these brands can never own their own intellectual property, as all of these client lists are hosted on MetaQuotes servers.

Demo accounts have been the order of the day ever since the dawn of retail FX trading, and the affiliate-driven methodology which has been magnified by the MetaTrader brands has amplified the use of demo accounts exponentially.

Whilst demo accounts give new customers a chance to familiarize themselves with trading, after 16 years of off-the-shelf platforms being available to what are in some cases effectively marketing teams rather than FX brokers, retail FX traders, especially potential ones, are wise to this harvesting of data and unlikely to consider even a demo account, as registration is required, meaning that the details a client inputs then often begin the circulation to over 1200 other brands with the same marketing system, and fear the deluge of hard sales attempts.

Seeing a client as a potential long term trader rather than a ‘lead’ is vital to the sustainability of the retail electronic trading industry, and only genuine software firms which operate a SaaS model really understand that well.

Tradesmarter is one example, having this week released a new methodology along these lines.

The company is now offering demo accounts which are completely open, insofar as that all functionality is available for trial, without a client having to register their details.

This provides greater transparency and allows clients to test the platform, and to familiarize themselves with functionality without the overriding fear of receiving a sales call the moment they enter their details, and of course several more from other firms due to data distribution.

Whilst the benefit to potential clients is absolutely clear, there is also a benefit to brokers wishing to use the Tradesmarter platform, as this method will reduce the junk registrations to almost zero, and will free the conversion teams to deal with hot leads more likely to convert instead of chasing fake emails and dead-end dial tones.

The solution goes onto the market this week under the guise “Guest Practice Account”, which Tradesmarter sees as a frictionless feature that allows traders fully experience trading platform anonymously without the need of registration or opening an account.

While encouraging customers to register for an account is a good idea, making it a requirement to onboard with a broker adds friction and can turn customers away. Instead, provide a guest practice account option and encourage guests to sign up for an account after they experiencing the features and fees is already complete.

Reinforcing trust

Trust is built up by the overall site experience and includes things like using clear messaging and layout, having a reliable site experience and standardising forms – but there are ways you can ensure that the onboarding experience maintains that trust. Visible assurances about pricing and user experience are key, as is consistent branding; if you redirect to an outsourced onboarding lengthy page,

As brokers compete to attract this burgeoning breed of trader, they must be able to differentiate themselves from their peers and present a comprehensive unparalleled trading solution. The main problem is that those brokers require a lengthy onboarding flow even without having the option to try out their trading platform. As Consumers are becoming more tech savvy, they expect brands to keep up. Because of this, brokerage businesses now have to adapt and offer more attractive product followed by similar e-commerce shopping habits.

Tradesmarter considers that brokers using the Tradesmarter platform can offer this service from a specific landing page, not necessarily to any visitor of the broker’s website, and that it provides an anonymous trading experience and practice mode with $10,000 practice money, letting the trader to open position, close and experience all features of the platform without any potential sales pressure, or fear that their details will be circulated to many firms.

This morning, FinanceFeeds spoke to Ben Horovitz, COO of Tradesmarter, who explained “We aim to optimize and reduce the friction points between the client and the broker. The guest demo feature is just part of our whole education-engagement set of tools allowing our brokers to build trust and increase conversion and retention throughout smart engagement.”

Certainly, the more platform providers view their sector as what it should be – a software business rather than an affiliate marketing business, the more effective and credible it will continue to be.