Forrester Research: Forrester Retail Insights Financial Services First Look: Research & Event Highlights From Forrester

 12 May 2005
Direct Brokerage Wars?
Direct brokerages are aggressively courting the active trader. But as firms cut prices and bulk up on functionality, they erode the profitability that got them interested in active traders in the first place. We expect diversified firms like ETRADE to offer trading at cost for the chance to cross-sell to these customers. Its cross-sell success is one of the reasons that we were not surprised by ETRADE's attempt to acquire Ameritrade.


Hot New Research
What To Look For In Consumer Strong Authentication Solutions by Jonathan Penn
US Investors Don't Trust Their Mutual Fund Companies by Bill Doyle and Tom Watson
The ATM Functionality Quandary by Benjamin Ensor and Tim van Tongeren
US Online Marketing Forecast: 2005 To 2010 by Charlene Li and Shar VanBoskirk

We also have some valuable new Forrester Wave evaluations:

Financial Planning Software by Tom Watson
Web Content Management by Kyle McNabb
Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Software by Robert Markham and Paul Hammerman


How Can We Help?
Here are some of the areas where we've recently been able to help financial services firms:

Online activity benchmarks. We can compare metrics of your firm's online efforts with those of other banks and credit unions in North America.
Customer experience reviews. We can evaluate the usability of your Web sites, emails, and phone apps.
Web functionality assessments. We can compare the features on your site with your competitors'.
Market research. We can provide you with deep insights about consumers.
Fraud avoidance. We can help protect your firm and your customers against phishing attacks.


Financial Firms' IT Plans
Our analysis of responses from 52 banks and 75 insurance companies uncovered the top priorities for overall IT spending, software and infrastructure, and IT services and outsourcing.


What's Hot, And Not, In IT
What's Hot, And Not, In IT

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Improve Your Cross-Sell Success

If you're not looking to improve your cross-selling, stop reading right here. Still with me? Then you won't want to miss our Finance Forum on June 9 and 10 that will focus on cross-selling.

Cross-selling a wide range of products to customers is the Holy Grail for banks. But our survey of more than 5,000 US consumers shows that only 44% will consider their primary bank for more than one additional product.

Of course, some banks do better than others. Our analysis of the purchase intentions of customers from the 10 largest banks shows that National City has the advantage in cross-selling credit products, Wachovia has the lead in investment products, and SunTrust is best positioned for insurance products.


The drivers of future purchase intention What Drives Cross-Sell Success?

We examined how a number of factors affect consumer purchase intentions. It turns out that customer advocacy -- the extent to which consumers believe that the bank is acting in their best interest -- was the best predictor of cross-sell potential.

Our findings have important implications for banks' marketing efforts. We'd sum it up this way: Banks must earn the right to cross-sell.

Don't Miss The Upcoming Finance Forum
This year's Finance Forum, Boost Your Cross-Sell Success With Great Customer Experiences, will be full of best practices. We've loaded up the agenda with:

  • Great industry speakers like Cecelia Sutton, head of retail banking at Wachovia, and a brokerage panel with CMOs from ETRADE, Ameritrade, and TD Waterhouse.
  • Top Forrester analysts like Bill Doyle, Ron Shevlin, Cathy Graeber, Marc Cecere, Robert Markham, and Jonathan Penn.
  • Insightful tracks on marketing, customer experience, and hot IT issues.
  • Opportunities to network with hundreds of other financial services executives.

So don't miss this great event at the Sheraton in midtown New York City June 9 and 10.

Got Feedback?
I'd really like to hear about topics you'd like to see us cover, data you need, or technologies that you want assessed. Drop me a line at brucetemkin@forrester.com so we can connect.


Bruce Temkin
Vice President & Practice Director, Financial Services


Research Referenced In This Issue

Financial Firms' IT Services And Outsourcing Plans (36771)
Financial Firms' Software And Infrastructure Spend (36718)
Financial Services: IT Spending And Priorities (36653)
Ranking Banks' Cross-Sell Opportunities (36807)
The ATM Functionality Quandary (36695)
The Drivers Of Future Purchase Intention (35925)
The Fight For The Active Trader Will Lead To Zero-Profit Trades (36628)
The Forrester Wave™ 2005 (36769)
The Forrester Wave™: Financial Planning Software, Q2 2005 (35870)
The Forrester Wave™: Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Software, Q1 2005 (35961)
The Forrester Wave: Web Content Management, Q1 2005 (36407)
US Investors Don't Trust Their Mutual Fund Companies (36684)
US Online Marketing Forecast: 2005 To 2010 (36546)
What To Look For In Consumer Strong Authentication Solutions (36652)
Why E*TRADE Plus Ameritrade Makes Sense (36963)


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