FCS Luncheon: "How Financial Web Sites Create Credibility... or Kill It"

When 40% of people can't name a bank that they trust, you know it's time for financial institutions to think hard about how they're connecting with their customers.

When 25% of bank customers (the majority response in a recent survey) prefer to do their banking online compared to any other method, you know it's time for financial institutions to take a hard look at their web sites.

That was the backdrop for our September luncheon, where Catalyst Group presented the results of its recent research project, which was conducted specifically for the FCS. Catalyst, a leading user experience design & research firm in New York, conducted a two part quantitative/qualitative study in August, asking consumers people think about trusting banks and whether particular bank websites are effective at building trust.

Catalyst CEO Nick Gould led the presentation are revealed that 71% of consumers do not trust banks any less than they did 18 months ago. Panelist Jack Otter, Executive Editor of CBS Money Watch, would later note how this statistic underscores the ongoing miserable lack of trust of banks, since this consumer sentiment didn't get much worse despite the recent scandals of "TARP, executive pay, and hidden fees."

Gould reported that only 36% of consumers surveyed said that when considering a bank, "security" and "safety" are the main decision drivers. "Customer service" was the top choice at 52%.

Why is it important for a bank to be trustworthy and credible? Well, besides the obvious factors of consumer confidence leading to deposits and transactions, banks viewed as "credible" have more room to offer "new" and "innovative" services, reported Gould. He added, "When credibility as an institution has been established, consumers are more interested in how that institution is different from its competition."

In its review of specific web sites, Catalyst had survey participants visit the home pages of Wells Fargo, Bank of America, E-Trade Bank, Ally Bank, and Redneck Bank. The last two, seen as "challenger brands," have the challenge of being relatively unknown, and the study showed that offering new services, they were "perceived somehow trying to ‘pull one over' on the consumers, or worse: simply not a credible bank." The established banks fared much better, but the study confirmed that bank web sites need to back up claims with real information about how customers are treated."

Gould concluded that for banks to regain trust with their consumers, they must "change the relationship, not just the conversation."

The panel that rounded out the discussion on the role of trust in financial services agreed with Gould's assessment.

Both Wayne Park, Vanguard's Marketing Executive for Advertising, Corporate Marketing and Communications, and Jeff Macintyre, Principal at strategy consultancy Predicate LLC, both focused on transparency.

Park commented, "the consumer just wants a fair shake. They get that it's a business; they're not looking for altruism. It's up to us in Marketing to push for transparency." In a similar vein, Macintyre noted that the way "to build trust is through transaction transparency," pointing out that the "most important thing on a web site is customer account information. It should accurate, accessible and protected."

To achieve transparency, Marketing should – in the words of Bryan Clagett, CMO of Geezeo.com – "seize the opportunity to serve as the client advocate." He added that through an online presence, Marketers should "manage the company's image and control the user experience, and to develop true dialogue with the consumer."

Bob Tobin, SVP, Branding & Digital Development in Marketing at Dreyfus, suggested that there exists "a disconnect in implementation of content," warning that "if everything has an asterisk, it will sound alarms with consumers." Echoing the sentiment of the overall presentation, Tobin implored the audience to be "more client centric."

Click here to download a copy of Catalyst's presentation.