The conversion on a form is terrible
A two to four percent page conversion means almost every paid click is gone before a name hits the inbox. Then the meeting still has to happen, and the close still has to happen.
Guide for RIAs
A paid click should become a wealth client.
Most advisor ads send a click to the firm site and ask for a form. Most people never fill it out. The ones who do get a phone call that rarely becomes a wealth client. Athena places the ads, retargets the people who showed up, and lands them in the firm-branded wellness app so they get something useful first. The advisor then has many later shots to convert that household.
Book a demoThe usual path
An ad, a form, a phone call, and then hope.
A typical campaign looks like this. The advisor buys a LinkedIn ad, or a search ad. The click goes to the firm website. The site often cannot keep a reliable cookie after that click, especially on iPhone and Safari. The page asks for a name, an email, and a phone number. Most visitors leave. The few who submit wait for a call. Some take the meeting. A smaller set become a wealth client.
Industry landing pages in financial services convert around two to four percent. Kitces research put paid advertising at about $3,805 to acquire one client, and social media used on its own at about $11,937. Lead programs that sell names often convert two to four percent of those names into a funded account. Cost per lead can look fine. Cost per funded client does not.
Paid clickOne shot
Ad LinkedIn, search, social
Firm site Cookie often dies
Form Most people skip it
Phone call Maybe a wealth client
Why it fails
The first ask is for their data, and you rarely get a second chance.
The form is not a gift. It is a request for a name, an email, and a phone number before the household has received anything useful. People who would use a real tool will not sit through that. The ones who do are not automatically ready to hire you.
The cookie is a weak hook
Apple’s tracking prompt and Safari’s cookie limits make it hard to recognize a visitor who only hit the site. If they bounce, retargeting often cannot find them again.
One conversation is a thin funnel
Wealth clients do not hire from a single ad. A form and a phone call are one ask. If that call is missed or the meeting is a no-show, the spend is spent.
The Athena path
Give them the wellness app, then convert them later, more than once.
Athena Ad Tech writes the ad, runs a compliance check, lets the advisor approve it, and publishes to Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Google, LinkedIn, and YouTube. The click does not go to a form. It lands in the firm-branded wellness app.
The household can connect accounts, see net worth and cash flow, get ranked next steps, and ask Athena AI in the firm’s voice. That is useful on day one. It is also a first-party relationship. The firm can retarget people who clicked and have not funded, because they are in the app, not a lost site visit.
Mission Control is the household CRM. App opens, Athena AI conversations, linked accounts, and funded status sit on one record. The advisor gets many later shots: a useful week in the app, a retargeted ad, an in-app prompt, a conversation when they are ready.
Paid clickMany shots
Ad Six platforms, advisor approved
Wellness app Something useful, not a form
Retarget Clicked, not funded
Wealth When the household is ready
Side by side
The same ad spend can buy a name, or a household that keeps coming back.
The usual campaign still ends in a form
The click goes to the firm site. The first action is a form. Tracking often dies on the phone. Follow-up is a phone call. If they do not convert that week, the firm has little left to work with.
The path is from ad to wealth client
The click goes into the firm’s app. The first action is useful. The household is known. Retargeting and Mission Control keep working after the first session. Conversion to wealth can happen on the second visit, or the tenth.
What you are actually buying
A form buys a row in a spreadsheet. The wellness app buys a relationship the firm can see: opens, questions, linked accounts, and whether they funded.
What you should judge
Judge the program on funded households, not cost per lead. A cheap name that never funds is the expensive outcome.
What to measure
Count the shots you get after the click, then count funded households.
Exact rates vary by book and offer. Use this frame in a pilot. These are not promised scores.
The click lands in the app
Did the paid click land in the wellness app, or bounce from a form?
The app session has to be useful
A linked account, a roadmap view, or an Athena AI question proves they got something.
They are not funded, and you can still reach them
How many clickers can you still retarget or message because they are in the app?
Wellness can become a funded client
Conversion rate and time-to-fund. That is the growth number. Cost per lead is not.
Questions this usually raises.
Is this just a better landing-page form?
No. LinkedIn lead forms convert better than a website form, and they are still a data ask. The point is to land the click in the wellness app so the household gets something useful, and the firm keeps more than one chance to convert them.
Which ad platforms does this use?
Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Google, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Creative goes through a compliance check and advisor approval before it publishes. See Ad tech.
What if they never become a wealth client?
They still used a useful app under your brand. You can keep working that household in Mission Control. On the form path, a bounce is usually the end of the spend.
Does this replace our CRM or custodian?
Mission Control is the household CRM. Athena does not replace the custodian, or the books and records. Wellness, ads, and funded status sit on the same household record. See Integrations.
Is the wellness app free to the client?
Free to the household. The firm runs Athena. That distinction matters in marketing and in compliance conversations.