Throughout 2009, firms continued to
enhance a number of innovative services to aid consumers in
decision-making, including chat rooms, blogs, widgets and personal
financial management (PFM) tools. The current economic environment
has raised the importance of services that facilitate financial
management, such as free credit scores and debt-relief
solutions.
According to comScore’s annual State of
Online Banking report, comprehensive PFM sites are of interest
to 31% of respondents, but only about 10% knew of specific sites,
and less than 4% of respondents actually use these sites. However,
despite PFM services being offered by banks, a large pool of
customers prefer to use conventional tools such as Quicken and MS
Money software.
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Although 30% of respondents expressed an interest in having
financial institutions make PFM features available, most of the
respondents were not aware of the many independent sites that have
been launched in this space since 2008.
For example, except for Quicken Online, nearly
80% of the respondents were not aware of some of the popular PFM
sites such as Mint and Prosper. Awareness remains low even among
active online bankers. With the recent acquisition of Mint.com by
Intuit, the PFM space has become heavily concentrated with just a
few providers, yet most banks are launching or about to launch
their own solutions.
Because awareness of these solutions remains
low, those hoping to enter the market will need to educate
consumers and increase awareness if they hope to gain traction.
Although PFM sites are having trouble
penetrating the online banking market, social media continues to
play an important role in the online community.
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By GlobalDataWhen asked what might entice respondents to
engage with their financial institution through social media
outlets, online shopping and retail promotions ranked highest.
Respondents again indicated how valuable
customer service is to the online banking experience, rating it
highly as a reason for engaging with social media with their
respective banks.
It is clear the current economic climate has
affected the way consumers are interacting with their finances and
their financial institutions. Consumers’ perception of the state of
the economy is improving, but individuals are not as comfortable
with their own financial management skills, especially as
unemployment remains a concern for many US consumers.
For marketers in the online banking industry, this backdrop
means that opportunities to cross-sell and entrench customers are
critical because brand loyalty will be important as the economic
climate continues to improve. The current environment presents
financial institutions with abundant opportunities to redefine
their online banking value proposition to meet the current concerns
of their customers.
Banking customers are generally satisfied with
their primary financial institution, but there are a number of ways
financial institutions can improve this rating as well as attract
new customers.
With the lack of credit available and low
savings interest rates, customers are looking for stability and
support from their banks. Whether it is online chat or phone
service, customers want to know that they have access to quality
support, particularly as bank branches are frequented less and
online banking becomes the norm. Customers also want to know that
their hard-earned money is protected and that online banking sites
are secure.
Fear and uncertainty are hindering the online
banking community in adopting tools like automatic bill pay, as
well as keeping a significant segment of banking customers
offline.
If financial institutions can dispel this
fear, they can capitalise on these untapped markets and continue to
grow the online banking industry.
