OneFN Likes Surveys Better

Only 10% of investors use options tools, so even if you advertise them on targeted financial sites, you waste 90% of the impressions. OneFN has a better idea.

The company, a network of 20 financial sites, has begun offering advertisers a direct marketing program that targets individuals who express interest in their products. Advertising is only sent to the individuals who opt in, with advertisers paying for leads.

OneFN uses surveys to find prospects, running them across the sites in the networks that pertain to the advertisers. The surveys run as tower units on the side of a page or pop ups or can be sent by email. There's an opt-in offer at the bottom of the survey. Those who opt in will receive the advertising.

The program started last month but is accelerating now, with four campaigns planned for August. One of them is for OptionsXpress, an online options brokerage firm. Lou Friedmann, the company's VP of marketing, says the program "goes beyond a traditional ad buy. People who come through the system will be qualified and in tune with what we offer."

Traditional Web advertising generates click-throughs that take visitors to the site, but they aren't nearly as qualified as the survey participants, Friedmann says. The surveys provide "a better indication of what we do," which will generate a more qualified prospect.

He says the company will prepare multiple responses to the surveys, based on the answers received, and send a variety of advertising to the prospects offering everything from free educational materials to special commissions on brokerage deals. The idea is to "deliver what people are looking for, which isn't possible with a traditional banner ad," he says.

Gary Kreissman, a consultant who developed the program for OneFN, says it's a targeted DM approach that enables marketers to define who they want to reach and deliver customized messages or incentives to them.

He distinguishes it from other forms of online advertising that have been ineffective and from traditional advertising, which targets prospects differently. "It turns traditional media on its head," he says. "When you buy traditional media, you look at the composition of the audience and put the message where it's most likely to reach the most people. Here, we're just looking for hand raisers, so we can run it on any site, not necessarily the biggest." OneFN buys space on the sites to run the surveys, so there is no charge to advertisers for impressions or space. "Clients don't worry about how many impressions are running," Kreissman says.

The cost is about $15 per lead with 500 and 1,000 lead programs available, he says.

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