MenuWednesday, 12 February 2014.
FPA CEO Mark Rantall said Australians have voted with their ‘click-through feet’ to secure the guidance of professional financial planners, linking to the FPA through social media and online platforms during its recent Ask an Expert week.
“Our mission to elevate the profession of financial planning and help make an enduring difference in the lives of Australians helped secure record engagement levels during our most recent Ask an Expert campaign.
“We are proud of the difference we continue to make, and we view these strong engagement results as everyday support for the FPA’s continued lobbying for sensible reforms that are in the best interests of all consumers,” he said.
Specific results from Ask an Expert week:
- Ask an Expert Week wrapped up on Sunday 9 February.
- For the second year running, the initiative connected qualified financial planners to Australian consumers seeking financial guidance. The free service is facilitated by the FPA via its free online channels (Twitter and the FPA website).
- The national event aims to improve access to financial advice for consumers and educate the public about the tenets of quality advice.
- The event’s success proves that there is strong demand for professional advice and it has pledged to continue similar initiatives in future that allow it to help connect consumers seeking advice with professional advisers.
- The FPA hopes consumers will seek professional advice outside of Ask an Expert Week encouraged by the best interests duty obligation in law which will provide consumers with protection and certainty never seen before.
Key results:
- The FPA’s regular Find a Planner page which allows consumers to locate a planner in their area also saw a huge surge in visits as a result of Ask an Expert Week – with views tripling from 2,275 the week before the event to 6,711 views during the event week
- Since the Ask an Expert web page opened on 28 January 2014, there have been 8,704 page views and 1,662 unique visitors
- During Ask an Expert Week alone (3 – 9 Feb) there were 7,038 page views. This equates to seven times the number of views the week before the event
- The average time spent on Ask an Expert page was 5 minutes 58 seconds, proving a high level of engagement with the page and its content
- Social media helped drive consumers to the Ask an Expert page, with the FPA Twitter page and event handle delivering 54 page clicks to the Ask an Expert page
- Over 150 questions were posted by consumers since the Ask an Expert page was reopened, with a variety of topics and questions covered
- The FPA also launched a new blog as part of 2014 Ask an Expert Week with financial tips and advice provided by qualified financial planners who are members of the FPA
