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This case study shows how The Bank of New York used a "high user involvement" strategy to encourage 1,650 users to adopt a unified sales process in 32 countries. Key takeaways: Get users involved early, use an efficient implementation approach, and maintain a tight focus on delivering benefits for users, not just management.
We started a series analyzing how consumers research and apply online.
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Researching and applying for financial products online increased in 2004 over 2003, driven by increased activity by Gen X and Gen Y consumers.
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We analyzed the media patterns of customers from 47 financial services institutions. Some of our findings:
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Comerica and NetBank customers are the most likely to use Comcast for Internet access.
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ETRADE and USAA customers are the most avid users of Google.
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Navy Federal Credit Union and ETRADE customers are active visitors to ESPN.com. |
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Here are some of the areas where we've recently helped other firms:
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Benchmark online activity. We can compare metrics of your firm's online efforts with other banks and credit unions in North America. We are also starting a multiclient research project on organizational models and resources.
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Customer experience reviews. We can evaluate the usability of your Web sites, emails, and phone apps -- and make recommendations for improvements.
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Web functionality assessments. We can compare the features on your site with competitors' in four areas: researching, applying, transacting, and servicing.
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Market research. We can provide you with insights on consumers from our existing Consumer Technographics data or through customized research.
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Fraud avoidance. We can help develop strategies for protecting your firm and your customers against phishing attacks. |
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During the next 15 years, millions of mass-affluent baby boomers will hit retirement, and trillions of dollars will change hands. Mass-affluent boomers have become accustomed to researching investments online and making their own financial decisions. While most will reach out for financial advice as they approach retirement, this well-educated, tech-savvy group will expect the best of both worlds: easy access to qualified reps, as well as the opportunity to be hands-on in the financial planning process.
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HIGHLIGHTS FROM FORRESTER'S FINANCE FORUM
If you weren't one of the 400-plus people who attended our Finance Forum "Boost Your Cross-Sell Success With Great Customer Experiences" in New York last week, you missed a great event. But don't worry: There was so much outstanding content at the Forum that we decided to share the highlights -- and provide links to some related research documents.
Here are the five major themes from the Forum:
1. Customer Advocacy
Bill Doyle opened up the Forum by unveiling our 2005 customer advocacy rankings of 34 large financial firms. Only seven organizations had a majority of their customers rate them high on customer advocacy. Five of them are customer-owned -- USAA, credit unions, AAA, State Farm, and Vanguard. What firms landed at the other end of the list? Seven of the bottom eight firms are top retail banks.
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Ron Shevlin showed how consumers view advocacy. He identified three types of customer advocacy: benevolence, trusted advice, and convenience. To serve customers, he recommended that firms demonstrate advocacy by adopting "smart selling" -- which includes making rates and fees crystal clear, providing fair rate and performance comparisons, and educating customers on how to shop around.
2. Customer Experience
Cecelia Sutton, head of the retail bank for Wachovia, talked about the retail customer experience. The topic was particularly timely since Wachovia was the top bank in our customer advocacy rankings. She explained how the bank was actively trying to get customers at branches to meet with financial planning specialists. She also described its success at improving customer satisfaction levels. A key insight: Satisfaction scores jumped when they were tied to incentive plans and then jumped again when the bank started reporting satisfaction scores at the individual employee level.
Bridget van Kralingen, global and Americas leader for financial services for IBM Global Services, discussed the need for firms to look at "relationship fidelity" -- aligning brand promise with customer experience. She said that CRM efforts have focused on hygiene (efficiency and responsiveness), and they now must look at emotive attributes (assurance, empathy, and trust) to better align with brand strategies. She discussed three key drivers for this effort: active research, human performance, and business process and technology.
In my keynote speech, I made the case that firms need more discipline in their customer experience efforts. My research uncovered a framework of best practices that we call the Customer Experience Value Chain that builds on an organizational foundation of customer-centric DNA.
In our online design track, Moira Dorsey made the case that usability really matters. She highlighted best and worst practices of both email responses and Web sites that serve prospects looking for new credit cards and checking accounts. During the second half of the track, Brad Strothkamp led a group of panelists from Wells Fargo, ETRADE, and Fidelity Investments. One of the practices that they discussed was ETRADE's use of chat. Look for more highlights from that panel in upcoming research.
3. Brokerage Industry Shifts
With a potential merger between TD Waterhouse and Ameritrade in the works even as ETRADE made an overture for Ameritrade, the environment was perfect for our panel of CMOs from Ameritrade, ETRADE, and TD Waterhouse. The discount brokerages see consolidation as inevitable. And, the panelists felt that investors would continue to require a mix of online and offline channels. When asked about competitors they expect to see in five years, they mentioned Merrill Lynch, Fidelity Investments, and Bank of America.
4. Consumer Marketing
One of our tracks looked at a number of important topics in consumer marketing. Catherine Graeber led a panel on search marketing, Shar VanBoskirk led a panel on email marketing, and Rob Rubin tapped into data from our Ultimate Consumer Panel to uncover the behaviors, demographics, and attitudes of consumers with multi-account relationships. Look for upcoming research about each of these sessions.
5. Hot Topics In IT
Marc Cecere's speech highlighted how the time is right for IT organizations to be agents of business change. But business and IT organizations must work together to make this happen. Some suggestions: Business should have ownership of every project, and senior relationship managers should be the voice of the business groups to IT and vice versa.
In our track on IT, Jonathan Penn presented best practices for consumer strong authentication and also led a panel about trends in online fraud with participants from Charles Schwab, Cyota, and JPMorgan Chase. Look for upcoming research with highlights from that session. Robert Markham led a panel about enterprise content management, and Bobby Cameron presented his research on how to stabilize IT with process methodologies.
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 D. Temkin
Vice President & Practice Director, Financial Services
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