With aggressive cross sales,
longer teller lines, and an emphasis on fee income, is service
quality suffering?
Why isn’t Online Bill Pay growing
faster?
How can we become the
consumer’s “Trusted Financial Adviser”?
Is there demand for Identity
Theft Protection and will consumers pay for it?
Financial Trends & Competitive Update
Prior to examining consumer research results, SPSG sets the stage by reviewing
key economic statistics affecting the marketing of financial services.
Competitive information from a variety of sources concerning the most recent
marketing strategies and tactics being employed nationally will be examined.
Following this introduction, consumer responses to the following questions
will be explored. Market Segmentation
How do deposit, loan and investment usage and balances differ among RFG’s six
consumer segments? Who are your best targets for which products? What does
anticipated product purchase for the next 12 months look like? In what ways
can a Product-to-Product Correlation matrix improve marketing efficiency? Delivery Channels
How are consumer channel preference patterns and usage frequency changing?
Trends will be examined for all transaction channels. What is the profile of
each of the channel users? What is the relative importance of service options
at branches ranging from full service (employees available to conduct deposits
and withdrawals, loan officers and investment representatives available) to
limited service (ATMs for conducting deposits and withdrawals, no deposit or
loan officers)? With what frequency do consumers visit their financial
institutions to interact with an employee to discuss, apply for, or open a
specific account?
Choosing from among several payment types (cash, check, signature or PIN debit
card, and credit card), consumers will be asked to provide their payment
preference across a variety of purchases. What percentage of consumers pay a
fee for PIN debit card purchases and what amount do they pay? What type of
reward debit/check card programs are being offered to consumers and how
prevalent are they? How many consumers are participating in these programs and
what type of fee is involved? Online Banking
What does the profile of the online banker look like? How important to
consumers is online banking when selecting a PFI? Has online banking changed
users’ channel usage over time?
What methods are consumers using to pay their monthly bills and which methods
are used most frequently? What factors contribute to their use of different
types of online methods? What type of online bill pay applications are
consumers using (fee or free (with or without strings), or relationship)?
Would consumers pay $1 to receive a paper statement or choose to receive a
free e-statement? What method of communication would consumers choose to
receive information and offers from their financial institution? Which online
banking features do consumers value most? Checking
What effect has financial institution ownership changes had on the
satisfaction level of consumers? In general, how do consumers feel about their
PFI in terms of reasonable pricing, quality service, appropriate sales and
concern for their banking needs?
What are consumer attitudes regarding courtesy coverage for checking accounts?
How many have used this coverage and what is their overall impression of the
service?
What is the general level of concern about identity theft? What is the
consumer level of interest in identity theft protection (free) as well as
comprehensive protection (involving a fee)? What, if anything, would consumers
be willing to pay for comprehensive protection?
What relative value would consumers place on checking account features and
what tradeoffs are they willing to make between free or fee checking and free
or fee online bill pay? Considerations include direct deposit (with/without)
and balance requirements (with/without). Deposit and Investment Services
Who will open and who will add to deposit/investment accounts in the next 12
months? What CD features do they value most? What would the minimum interest
rate increase have to be to entice account movement from one financial
institution to another for Savings, Interest Earning Checking, Money Market
Accounts and CDs? In order to get specific CD enhancements (bump or rising
rate, no penalty withdrawal, etc.), would consumers be willing to accept a
lower interest rate?
How many consumers have a trusted financial advisor/planner? Who serves in
that capacity for them and what are the important attributes that contribute
to that relationship?
What percentage of consumers have given their financial service provider
comprehensive information to build a personal financial profile? Who was the
provider involved, how has the profile been used, and what level of comfort do
consumers express about the confidential nature of the information provided?
What are consumers’ current liquid positions and how do they plan to allocate
this money over the longer term? Loan and Mortgage Products
What type of loans do consumers plan on applying for in the next 12 months?
What attitudes do consumers have toward long term borrowing? How many loans do
they currently have? From which providers do consumers typically get an auto
loan? How many prefer to pay cash for an auto, under what circumstances will
they do so?
How did consumers initially apply for their home equity loan or line of
credit? How did they first hear about the product offer? For what purposes are
the loans or lines being used? What factors do consumers consider when
choosing a lending institution for the home equity loan or line? How
attractive do consumers find credit card access to their home equity line of
credit. What is the most important feature considered when selecting a home
equity loan or line lender (monthly payments, interest rates, fees,
relationship, etc.), and how consumers vary in the feature they consider most
important? Small Business
What type of financial service products do small businesses anticipate opening
in the next 12 months? What degree of loyalty do small businesses have for
their financial provider and what are the indicators of that loyalty? What
does the typical small business delivery channel usage look like and how does
it differ across demographics? What is the overall satisfaction level of small
business customers and how satisfied are they with their primary banking
contact? What attributes do small business customers consider most important?
