Marcus Rothaar

Raddon recently wrapped up another round of workshops for participants in our Performance Analytics program. More than 1500 financial services executives attend these sessions each year to collaborate with peers and discuss strategies to improve performance.

For the last decade, marketers have been obsessed with trying to reach the elusive millennial consumer. The quest is not unwarranted, as the Millennial generation continues to make its presence felt on the financial services sector with each passing year.  But with the leading edge of Millennials now in their late thirties, this group is no longer the new kid on the block.

Small businesses that use community-based financial institutions are typically more loyal – and exhibit higher levels of satisfaction – than those that use larger national banks, according to Raddon Research Insights data. While many small businesses that use community-based institutions are likely to recommend their institution to others, mega-banks still dominate the small business market. Communication of capabilities is one way community banks and credit unions can help boost future market share.

There are countless examples of digital technology contributing to the demise of businesses that did not evolve their business model fast enough to keep pace with the demands and preferences of the digital consumer. 

In the process of gathering research and analyzing data for Raddon’s most recent report on the small business market, a number of interesting trends emerged that highlight just how different small business owners are from their retail banking counterparts.

Raddon’s most recent survey of 1,200 small businesses reveals an intersection of lending attitudes and needs, which alternative lenders are taking advantage of. One out of 10 small business owners feel credit has dried up and financial institutions have stopped lending to small businesses.

Of all the challenges facing small businesses today, the general health of the economy and the ability to continually attract new customers are the top two concerns, according to Raddon's Fall 2014 Small Business National Research survey.

One clear result of the data and card breach at Target has been greater awareness and more of a push to speed up the adoption of EMV chip cards in the United States. As retailers make efforts to restore customer confidence that “this won’t happen again”, the mag-stripe card has become target number one.

Google recently announced a second round of “spring cleaning”, shutting down a number of older features and services. As mentioned in their blog post on the subject, they have now closed 70 such products in the last two years. One of the more noteworthy items on the closure list is Google Reader, the once popular web feed aggregator which purportedly allows users to stay up to date with their favorite websites and blogs all in one place. While Google recognizes that there is a loyal group of Reader users, the devotion is apparently not enough to overcome the declining usage and they will officially retire the product on July 1, 2013.