Rakuten Securities

Rakuten Securities, a global force in forex and metals trading, faced a critical inflection point. Their previous efforts, handled by Rakuten Marketing, yielded underwhelming results. Involve Digital was brought in to execute a digital marketing transformation built around precision, efficiency and measurable business growth.

The core issue: sign-ups were not converting into funded accounts. Rakuten needed a strategy that did not just generate volume, but drove high-quality traffic that actually deposited funds. We restructured the marketing around a two-stage funnel: acquisition first, funding second.

The first priority was overhauling the website. Involve Digital won the bid by promising faster delivery and a lower cost than the next best option, while still lifting performance.

We redesigned and built all creative from the ground up. Campaigns were tailored to speak directly to active traders, those who understood key terms like "tight spreads" and "leverage". Continuous creative testing across all formats optimised click-through rates and reduced CPAs.

To improve both scale and relevance, we segmented trading audiences into distinct micro-niches by interests, platforms, intent stage and geography. These were targeted across Google, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter and programmatic platforms to maximise reach and performance. Every dollar spent was tracked, analysed and reinvested based on return.

Google Ads strategy shifted from broad targeting to long-tail and competitor-specific terms. Chinese-language ads were introduced in Australia, reducing CPC and unlocking new cost-efficient audience segments. Smart bidding adjusted in real time to prioritise high-performance time slots, devices and geographies.

Rakuten cut cost per sign-up by 80%, down from $100 to $20 per account sign-up. Conversion to funded accounts reached 60%, exceeding expectations. Involve Digital delivered 5× more funded accounts than initially forecasted.

Video view-through rates increased by 97%, boosting brand lift and intent. Google CPCs dropped by 42% across Chinese-language variants. Facebook conversion rates improved 3.4× post audience refinement.

What began as a redesign brief evolved into a complete digital transformation across the entire acquisition funnel, from website build through to multi-platform paid media optimisation.