Washington Mutual’s Web Site Ranked No. 1; Based on Customer Experience


Nice summary of WAMU and their online offering, which is highly differentiated. Washington Mutual’s Web Site Ranked No. 1; Change Sciences Ranking Based on Customer Experience Earlier this month, Washington Mutual enhanced its online channel with a paperless account opening process in support of the new WaMu Free Checking(TM) account. Accounts can be opened in minutes at “www.wamu.com” with online approval and authentication technology that eliminates the need to mail a traditional signature card. Instead, the customer uses a special check that is included with the first order of checks and then when the bank processes that check, it uses … Continue reading Washington Mutual’s Web Site Ranked No. 1; Based on Customer Experience

Bill payment evolves


Bank of America display a best practise here, with money remaining in the customers account until the biller receives it. Pay Bills With a Click? More Americans Are Doing It and Banks Are Loving It – New York Times Earlier this year, Bank of America also changed its system so the customer’s money remains in his account until the biller has deposited the payment. In years past, the customers’ checking account was immediately debited. Other banks are also developing systems where customers can pay bills at the last minute and have the biller paid instantly. Online Resources, an online bill … Continue reading Bill payment evolves

Google Checkout, Google Mastercard


Googling Google is a blog that tracks Google, and speculates on their future, based on some geeky detective work. This potential development, aligns with the Yahoo /ebay alliance just announced.  As ecommerce develops, and goes mainstream, its clear that the big portals will have a large role to play relative to payments, and Banks should be aware and ensure they protect their customer base, because the opportunity for others to attract them is high.  The all important transactional moment will be a big driver of customer loyalty in the future. » Welcome to Google Checkout, that will be $3.14 | … Continue reading Google Checkout, Google Mastercard

Some household-name banks and full-service brokerages struggle with customer advocacy, while credit unions and insurance firms connect with consumers


Big banks rank low in customer advocacy.  But on looking deeper, there are clues to systemic change occurring in financial services.

destinationCRM.com: Consumers Size Up Financial Services

Forrester defines customer advocacy as consumer perception that their financial services firm does what’s best for its customers, not just the firm’s own bottom line.

Like last year JP Morgan Chase and Citibank received the lowest ratings, earning scores of 18 percent and 19 percent. In fact, six of the seven lowest-scoring firms are large banks like Bank of America (30 percent), Wells Fargo (32 percent), and Washington Mutual (33 percent), according to the report. Click here to learn more!

There are two major culprits responsible for poor customer advocacy rankings among large banks, according to Bruce Temkin, vice president and practice director of financial services at Forrester and report coauthor. “It’s hard to be everything to everybody, and a lot of the big banks have spent most of their time over the last view years focusing on their M&A strategy,”

The changes we are seeing offer four clear clues to future success for large banks.

  1. the full service brokerage model is under attack, and some argue is dead
  2. big organisations have lost customer focus, yet some such as A.G. Edwards do it masterfully
  3. Credit Unions are perennially successful, because customers feel they “belong”
  4. property & casualty do well – because of simple, easy to price products, with consumate focus on delivery (claim payouts, fast service)

Continue reading “Some household-name banks and full-service brokerages struggle with customer advocacy, while credit unions and insurance firms connect with consumers”

How Design Personas Differ From Typical Customer Segmentation Models


Most banks use customer segmentation models, whereas design personas are better suited to web design.  They align stakeholders behind a shared understanding of the customer.  I’d argue they also support product design too. Forrester Research: How Design Personas Differ From Typical Customer Segmentation Models Traditional customer segmentation models don’t provide the key information about users’ goals, attitudes and behaviors that is required for effective interaction design — personas do. Valid personas are derived from primary user research, foster a shared point of view among the diverse group of people who impact the customer experience, and enable design decisions. To make … Continue reading How Design Personas Differ From Typical Customer Segmentation Models

The Essentials Of Consumer-Driven Innovation


Great piece of research just released at Forrester, by Christine Spivey Overby, with Carrie A. Johnson, & Brian Tesch.  This makes the point very objectively for re-considering marketing.  While marketing claim to be the voice of the customer, they are not hearing the message, and in fact are completely ill-equipped to do that today. Forrester Research: The Essentials Of Consumer-Driven Innovation Marketers live by “the voice of the customer.” But shifts in consumer behavior and the high failure rate of products, services, and experiences suggest that companies must re-evaluate their listening techniques. Products are failing, and trust in brands is … Continue reading The Essentials Of Consumer-Driven Innovation

The value of tagging, and why we should care


Tagging is very useful, and there will be lessons from tagging that we can use in bank sites, and online banking.  This post at Bokardo outlines well the current state of tagging, which many think is stuck.  Tagging is continually held up as social computing, yet the primary value is personal. Bokardo » The Del.icio.us Lesson The one major idea behind the Del.icio.us Lesson is that personal value precedes network value. What this means is that if we are to build networks of value, then each person on the network needs to find value for themselves before they can contribute … Continue reading The value of tagging, and why we should care

Online account opening – an idea whose time has come


Loans and mortgages online have become fairly standard, even though not that well done yet.  Yet deposits are the core of banking, and accounts are a cheap form of funding. GonzoBanker – Article Now, many banks are starting to eye the opportunity to sell and open more deposit accounts on the Web. For some, the thought is that niche products (money market, high-rate CDs) can be sold nationally without the need for brick and mortar. ING, NetBank and E*TRADE FINANCIAL have all been very successful with this strategy – ING has raised over $40 billion (uh huh, with a “B”) … Continue reading Online account opening – an idea whose time has come

Barclays Bank turns to texts in fight against fraud


In what is fast becoming standard practise, and table stakes, Barclays offer mobile alerts.  This has historically been only the province of credit cards, such as Diners Club, but expect all big banks to offer this. Bank turns to texts in fight against fraud Barclays will send customers messages to their mobile phones to let them know of new payees in their account to alert holders to any suspicious transactions. Technorati Tags: online_banking, mobile_alerts Continue reading Barclays Bank turns to texts in fight against fraud

Citi takes on Bank of America in Boston


Interesting disparity in size between these banks. Citigroup will open 4 offices in Hub as part of push to grow – The Boston Globe The four branches — located in Downtown Crossing, Back Bay, Fenway, and Government Center — will be Citi’s first in Massachusetts when they open later this year, and they are part of a nationwide expansion of its consumer business in the United States and abroad. Though Citi has more assets than any other US bank, it has less than a fifth of the branches as its next-largest competitor, Bank of America Corp. Citibank executives, aware of … Continue reading Citi takes on Bank of America in Boston