Financial Marketing and Cross Selling Blog
Bank customers turn the corner on branches and head to online channels
It’s not a surprise but in a recent American Bankers Assocation survey report it shows that the online channel is now the #1 place for customers when it comes to conducting their banking tasks. The survey spoke to 1,000 consumers over the phone ages 18-55+ and 25% said they prefered going online then to any other channel. Branches came in at #2 with 21% saying they go here to conduct activities (This includes all age groups). If you segment out the 18-35 age group the online channel is a whopping 38%! 
The moblie channel appears to have gone backwards. This raises a few eyebrows considering the massive amount of new moblie phone users and the number of new banking applications that have been developed over the past year.
Netbanker has some interesting insight on to how these numbers came about. Read more here.
But no matter how you slice it, more and more people are moving away from what was and still is the heart and soul of the community bank – the branch.
In recent posts we’ve discussed the need for banks to look at this new migration as an opportunity for developing deeper relationships. If done right, the web and mobile phone channels can be a catalyst to pulling your customers back to your branches for one on one meetings with professionals.
[Image credit: American Bankers Association]
The future of cross selling in banks
A recent report from the Mercator Advisory Group, Cross-Selling Through Multiple Channels: Soft Selling to the Jittery Customer, highlights the areas where banks have the greatest opportunity to cross sell to their customer base. The two areas that they have narrowed in on are somewhat of an ironic pair – smart phones and branches.
While this may seem counter intuitive to some, to us it makes perfect sense. We’ve been advocating for several years now that a banks website should not be seen as a separate touch point from the branch but rather as a touch point that can help drive customers to your branches. Too often banks view their website or mobile devices as just a convenience for their customer but in order to be successful, banks must take advantage of places like their website to help drive the client back to them for help.
To do this, banks must be doing more then talking about their specific products such as their various rates for special savings or CD accounts. Today, the American consumer is looking for answers to the many financial decisions they face throughout their life. And with all that’s going on today there’s no better time for banks to take a leading role in providing this information, not the government.
Banks and social media – what kind of content are you using?
For the past year, the social media revolution has been gaining traction in the financial industry. A recent article in the popular social media blog, mashable.com, highlights some of the ways banks are using social media today.
One tool that’s played a large roll is Twitter. Recently, the ABA announced that they would like all their attendees at the ABA Marketing Conference in San Antonia this week to use Twitter and to use the hashtag “#abamc” when tweeting about their experiences. The hashtag is a popular tool among users as it allows for people to connect in a way that wasn’t possible prior to its invention. The hashtag phenomenan came about because of Twitter Search. People type in the hashtag they want to follow into the search engine. This brings up everyone in Twitter who is talking about the event or happening that’s related to the hashtag. Read more >>
Sovereign Bank’s Brokerage Reaps Referral Windfall
BOSTON, Sept. 14 – Evidence shows that financial institutions’ cross-selling efforts have come up short, but Sovereign Bank is a major exception.
The $78 billion-asset bank has increased referrals to its retail investment unit by 15% or more for three years straight, according to senior vice president Casey Roberts.
“And the quality of those referrals has been higher as well,” he says.
Sovereign is one of several banks and credit unions that have significantly boosted their referrals while the industry at large has struggled in its attempts to do so. The institutions credit their success to an innovative system that replaces the traditional hard-sell approach with one that is built around customer education.
“In a financial institution, you can’t turn the staff necessarily into salespeople,” says Steve Ryerson, a vice president with United Nations Federal Credit Union, in New York, which reports similar success in boosting its customer referral rates.
Bank marketing – In with the new and out with the old
When we talk to bankers, we often talk about the old way versus the new way of bank marketing. If you want to be seen in your community as the place to go for more then just checking or savings accounts, there are three key areas where changes are necessary:
- Marketing
- Referral generation
- The website
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