For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

US Investors Continue To Adopt eStatements

by Bill Doyle, August 21, 2009

Investor adoption of eStatements continues to inch forward. What's holding back wider adoption of eStatements? Most brokerage clients say that they need a paper statement for their records.

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

Customer Advocacy 2009: How Customers Rate Canadian Banks

Scores Drop Overall, But RBC Rises And Credit Unions Lead

by Bill Doyle, Peter Wannemacher, June 30, 2009

Customer advocacy — the extent to which a firm's customers believe it does what's best for them rather than its own bottom line — is a key predictor of customer retention and growth. Forrester has measured customer advocacy among Canadian banks and credit . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

US Millionaires Use Multiple Channels To Interact With Their Financial Advisors

Satisfaction Rises With Range Of Channels Used — Not Just Contact Frequency

by Bill Doyle, Peter Wannemacher, June 12, 2009

Four in five US millionaires have financial advisors, and they use a variety of channels to communicate with them: three or more, on average, in the past year. Phone and in-person are the most widely used channels. But more than half of all advised affluent . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

Customer Advocacy 2009: How Customers Rate US Banks, Investment Firms, And Insurers

by Bill Doyle, May 26, 2009

US consumers rate their financial services firms lower than ever in our most recent customer advocacy survey. Investment firms as a group rank lowest as former high-fliers Edward Jones and Vanguard slip and full-service firms like Morgan Stanley skid . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

How US Consumers Research Retirement

Many Sources Are Used, But Financial Advisors Are Considered Most Helpful

by Bill Doyle, Peter Wannemacher, April 28, 2009

Less than half of US online adults have done retirement research. Consumers who are worried about having enough money to retire are less likely to have done research; investors and older consumers are more likely to have done retirement planning. Books, . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

What US Mass-Affluent Investors Want From Their Investment Firms' Web Sites

Account And Portfolio Data Remain Most Important

by Bill Doyle, Peter Wannemacher, April 9, 2009

Mass-affluent investors represent one-third of all US households and control about the same proportion of retail investment assets. Four in five online mass-affluent investors have visited their primary investment firm's Web site, and the majority have . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

How US Online Investors Rate Their Firms On Retirement Planning

Edward Jones, Independent Advisors, And Vanguard Rank Highest

by Bill Doyle, Peter Wannemacher, April 3, 2009

More than half of all US investors are worried that they won't have enough money to retire comfortably. When we ask clients to rate investment firms' ability to prepare them for retirement, Edward Jones, independent financial advisors, and Vanguard lead . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

What US Affluent Investors Want From Their Investment Firms' Web Sites

Account Data Is Most Important, With Vanguard Rated Highest For Quality

by Bill Doyle, Peter Wannemacher, February 12, 2009

More than three-quarters of all US online affluent investors use their investment firms' Web sites, up from two-thirds in 2005. What site features do they value most? Balances and holdings are by far the most important. Online trading has also become . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

What Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Must Do Now

The Combined Firm Needs Better Electronic Channels For Advisors And Clients And Needs To Abandon The "House Brand" Financial Supermarket Model

by Bill Doyle, January 30, 2009

To succeed with today's investors, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney will need more than an advisor army; it must do a better job for clients. Today's clients — and their advisors — need better electronic channels than either firm offers today. And the new . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

Fidelity Becomes An Online Financial Content Publisher

Personal Finance News And Commentary Dominate Redesigned Home Page

by Bill Doyle, December 31, 2008

Fidelity Investments is launching a new home page more akin to Yahoo! Finance or SmartMoney.com than to any other financial services firm's home page. Fidelity.com will feature hundreds of news stories daily, commentary from independent financial columnists, . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

Lessons In How To Retain Financial Services Customers

Insights From Industry Keynote Presentations At Forrester's 2008 Finance Forum

by Bill Doyle, December 8, 2008

In times of crisis, smart financial services firms focus on the customers they already have. Smart channel strategy executives do their part by delivering superior customer experiences. At Forrester's 2008 Financial Services Forum For Marketing And Strategy . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

How The Financial Crisis Will Affect Bank Customer Loyalty

Big US Banks Need To Demonstrate Customer Advocacy Now More Than Ever

by Bill Doyle, November 25, 2008

Customer advocacy scores are down this year as the financial crisis takes its toll. Low customer advocacy scores are bad news for any firm that wants to deepen relationships with existing customers. They're especially bad news for the three biggest US . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

Ten Ways Financial eBusiness Executives Can Weather The Recession

How To Evolve Your eBusiness Strategy To Deal With The Financial Crisis

by Bill Doyle, Brad Strothkamp, November 10, 2008

The sharp worsening of the financial crisis in the past two months and the recession in most Western markets mean that eBusiness executives need to rethink their priorities — and fast. As the business owners of a primary communication and distribution . . .

For Consumer Market Research Professionals

Benchmark 2008: Which Generations Bank And Invest Online?

North American Consumer Technographics

by Bill Doyle, October 27, 2008

Online financial services run counter to the general pattern of technology adoption, where Gen Y typically sets the pace. Instead, Seniors are the generation most likely to track their investment holdings online and to trade stocks or bonds online; Gen . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

The Financial Crisis Spawns One-Stop Shops

Which Consumers Are Willing To Consolidate Products At One Firm, And What Do They Want?

by Bill Doyle, Peter Wannemacher, October 6, 2008

The financial crisis in the US is creating a new wave of financial supermarkets that combine banking and investing. These one-stop shops hope their greater breadth will win more customer wallet share. But few US households are interested in consolidating . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

The Web Dominates US Auto Insurance Research

How Auto Insurers Can Take Advantage Of Consumers' Online Research Habits

by Bill Doyle, Peter Wannemacher, September 11, 2008

In 2007, nearly 15 million Americans researched auto insurance on the Internet. These US online auto insurance researchers are an attractive group for insurers: They are relatively wealthy, financially active online, and prone to buying financial products. . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

Who's Researching Life Insurance Online?

by Bill Doyle, Peter Wannemacher, July 11, 2008

Of the 3 million Americans who have researched life insurance during the past year, more than one in three used the Internet to do so, making it the second most popular research channel after researching in person. But researching on the Web often doesn't . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

The Social Technographics® Profile Of US Investors

by Bill Doyle, June 23, 2008

Investors are less likely than the general online population to use social technologies such as blogs. And the more affluent an investor is, the less likely he or she is to use social media. Why? Age: Older investors have the most money, while young consumers . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

Customer Advocacy 2008: How US Consumers Rate Their Banks, Brokerages, And Insurers

by Bill Doyle, June 23, 2008

Consumers who rate their financial services providers high on customer advocacy are more likely to consider those firms for additional financial products. USAA customers give their firm the highest rating, as they have for each of the past four years. . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

Case Study: Charles Schwab Storms Back By Focusing On Customer Loyalty

by Bill Doyle, May 21, 2008

After stumbling badly in the early 2000s, Charles Schwab bounced back, thanks to a strategy built around customer advocacy and loyalty. The strategy of driving organic growth by doing what's right for customers led senior management to sharpen pricing, . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

ING Direct Infiltrates The Brokerage Market With ShareBuilder

by Bill Doyle, April 14, 2008

ING Direct brought disruptive innovation to banking — and succeeded wildly. With its acquisition of ShareBuilder at the end of last year, ING Direct added a complementary investment business to its offerings. The deal got little attention. But Forrester . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

US Investors Adopt eStatements

But A Majority Of Investors Still Receive Paper Statements

by Bill Doyle, Elizabeth Davis, April 1, 2008

The adoption of eStatements for financial products in the US continues to grow. More than half of US online consumers with a brokerage account receive an eStatement. But even among investors who have signed up for electronic statements, a wide majority . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

Online Tax Filers Double In Number

by Bill Doyle, Peter Wannemacher, March 21, 2008

More than 20 million US households currently file their taxes online — double the number of online filers from five years ago. Today's online tax filers represent a broader cross-section of Americans who are increasingly comfortable with online financial . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

The Social Technographics® Of US Online Bankers

by Bill Doyle, Peter Wannemacher, March 4, 2008

As consumer adoption of social media rises and alters the relationship between companies and consumers, eBusiness professionals at banks must understand how their online customers use and interact with social media. We applied our Social Technographics® . . .

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals

Which Media Sites Do Financial Consumers Visit?

Our Data Reveals An Interest In News, Sports — And Social Computing

by Bill Doyle, Peter Wannemacher, February 13, 2008

Reaching consumers means having a presence on the Web sites they visit. Where do banking and brokerage consumers spend their time online? Among media sites, the Weather Channel and local newspapers dominate. But Social Computing is coming on strong: Sites . . .