Net.Finance wrap-up

My better late-than-never Net.Finance re-cap:

• Customer-centric was the flavour-du-jour. Everyone is measuring satisfaction, gathering customer feedback, monitoring their Net Promotor score. While all of value, one would have to wonder what the points of differentiation are between most banks if we’re all being ‘customer-centric’ (a question I posed to a panel during the conference).
• ING posed some interesting brand alignments such as “cheaper coffee” in their in-branch cafe’s being in line with “great value” and the value of a simplified message that can help you stand out in a cluttered, commoditized financial services marketplace. Their success with a minimal product shelf, top-notch rates and a brand that resonates in many key segments is impressive abet orange.
• A/B and multivariant testing rule the roost at the top banks. Many deploying complex implementations to test creative, evaluate best placement and ensure maximum sales generation. The presentation from Touch Clarity (now owned by Omniture) illustrated the power of these tools in banking (as well as other sectors).
• Helen Loh from Charles Schwab spoke at length about their tactics to build better customer relationships. Her quiet and kind demenour was a welcome change from other speakers. Schwab’s move to customer, not market driven targeting; service orientations that put listening ahead of everything; and desire to let customer advocacy drive the ship was impressive. I really liked the brand alignment and the execution. Hard to stand out on service, but their trying some interesting things. Similar propositions to what we’re doing at NSCU, but with better execution across both current and prospect customers.
• Notifications/alerts as well as online Personal Financial Management are the big retention tools for online bankers. While text chat and click-to-call features continue to be an abandonment fix. Of course, ING isn’t doing any of this but still is signing up thousands of new accounts each day. Where’s the balance? Will smaller players be left out? Javelin Research sees this as consumers wanting to be more active participants in their finances (partners)/
• Web Analytics was more apparent. Data driven decisions are helping both design and developers justify the spend and direction as well as the content on the home page of many of the major players. There was an increase in the adoption and usage — too bad we didn’t get to see any of their techniques, reporting, and evaluation. James McGuire from RBC, did a nice job recaping on RBC’s move to build a culture of measurement (like deja vu for those who have taken the UBC course of a similar name). Jason Palmer from WebTrends was also fantastic. Adam Greco from Omniture stole the show with a fast-paced presentation covering not only Omnitures tools and use in the financial services space but also the link to common bank strategies online (reducing lead acquisition costs, reducing operational costs by moving more self-service online and tying together measurement of online and offline channels).
• Javelin Research, as always, threw up some great slides about the importance of targeted onboarding of customers in the first 90 days; the growth of P2P money and the mobile channel (the next Internet space for banks) and reiterated much about the coming onslaught of GenY/Millennials (those born from 1982-2002) – the next big segment who will eclipse the boomers by 2010. Interestingly most rely on the advice of their parents when it comes to money so good luck moving acquiring those billions inherited. Some interesting techniques from American Century and others to try and speak to this market and connect via web 2.0.
• Michael Seaton from Scotiabank, gave a fantastic presentation covering their foray into social media marketing and podcasting (he always looks nervous but is an excellent speaker). Their success with The Vault (advisory e-mail) and The Money Clip (podcasting) is admirable and well aligned with their brand.
• P2P lending is, for some, the next big concern in the banking space. The numbers don’t show a long-term growth model for me that could endanger the banks, but the model from Prosper and others is compelling and certainly attractive to many looking for credit options that are loans (an area virtually abandoned by the banks) and lenders looking to capitalize on potentially higher returns. Colin’s CommunityLend will be the first player here in Canada and should be interesting to watch considering that access to capital in this country isn’t as major an issue as it is in the U.S.
• The use of blogs is still a work-in-progress by banks and credit unions. No definitive ROI, but Shari Storm from Verity cited 1% of new members mentioned their blog as a reason for joining. William from Vancity had a rocking presentation (my peer bias and friendship with William speaking out loud). While I like the brand alignment and can see the value for Vancity (go EnviroWoman) I haven’t yet seen widespread adoption of ChangeEverything by their members. Take out the posts from their in-house blogger and a core group of ‘citizens’ (Rob, Kate, William) and you have about a dozen post per week — a lot of spend for what? Will be interesting to see how they ride this out.