CEL team applies power of customer analytics in review of finance firm’s microsites

Edward Jones, a full-service brokerage firm with a high reputation, concentrates on working with serious, long-term investors across both the United States and Canada.

With more than 18,000 financial advisers, the company helps clients make sense of investing. At Edward Jones, each financial adviser has their own website, allowing clients to get to know more about the advisers and their business.

---

Shirley (Jingxuan) Zhou, MSCA 2019, wrote this on behalf of her team for the Center for Experiential Learning.

---

During the past four months, a team of two MBA and four MSCA students cooperated closely with Edward Jones’s marketing team and analytics team to explore customer behavior on these sites and measure the effectiveness of the advisers’ microsites.

In the meantime, professor Seethu Seetharaman and Michael Wall also provided constructive guidance on data processing and marketing strategies, ensuring the project was at the right track.

Using data analytics to make an impact

The whole process could be divided into four steps:

• Identify if customized microsites provide benefits over standard microsites.
• If they do, explore the optimal level of customization.
• Discover driving factors that lead to customization by an adviser.
• Provide business insights and recommendations obtained through the analysis to improve microsite performance.

On December 5, the team visited the headquarter of Edward Jones, delivering the final presentations to both marketing team and analytics team. According to different audiences, the team had different focuses. After showing the data analysis results, key insights and recommendations, both teams were impressed about their work.

Real-world experience

The CEL practicum has offered the team a great opportunity to apply data analytics skills to real business world. While leveraging the analytical skills and business sense to help Edward Jones better optimize its business-decision process, the team also gained a lot of experience and knowledge on team collaboration and communication. This is definitely an amazing experience for every team member.

Pictured above: Madhuri Mada, MBA 2020; Gaurav Malik, MBA/MSCA, 2020; Sabrina Alexandre, MSCA 2019; Shirley Zhou, MSCA 2019; Katherine Yin, MSCA 2019; and Max Jiang, MSCA 2019.