The Andera Blog

Everyone in retail banking today talks a lot about "customer experience," but usually, we don't specify exactly what we mean.  In reality, customer experience can mean many different things, and the exact definition depends onwhoyour institution to be.  Creating a coherent experience is essential, but what type of experience are you trying to create? Do you want your customers to see your institution as a friendly neighborhood shop, a financial version of Apple, or a five-star hotel?

Deciding who you are isn't easy; in fact, it's probably the hardest and the most important decision financial institutions make.  In today's low interest rate and highly competitive environment, it's increasingly difficult to differentiate on products or rates.  

Increasingly customers start their search for new financial relationships online. So today, when community financial institutions are looking for new customers they are also starting their marketing online.  This has raised the visibility of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) in the financial community and raised questions as to which is more effective.

It is fair to say that SEO is really part of SEM, but SEO specifically refers to attempts to improve your website's organic (non-paid) search results.  Institutions that use SEO ensure that their websites have proper titles, and emphasize keywords in hyperlinks, headings, and URLs.

As a college student, I feel like it's impossible to get a bank to trust me. I understand that banks need to prioritize security to protect themselves and their customers from fraud. Still, nothing is more frustrating than having a bank tell me they don't believe that I'm me.

I have a thin credit file. I've never borrowed from a bank, never accumulated debt. I have, however, paid regular and timely rent payments, cell phone bills, utilities, etc. I am a reliable and trustworthy customer. Unfortunately, banks don't usually check for those forms of credit, so I often get rejected on the basis that they don't have enough information on me to determine my trustworthiness.

I'm not the only one. According to FICO, 33 million adult Americans also have...

In the Wild Wild West atmosphere of the early internet era, companies raced to slap websites online without thinking too hard about what purpose their website should ultimately serve.  Consumer retail companies found their ROI in online shopping, and their websites gradually evolved to draw visitors in and drive them to checkout.  In contrast, financial institutions focused on expanding eServices, until their websites became little more than portals to online banking.  

In the last few years, we've seen institutions start to wise up to a second, essential function of the online channel.  As Joe Swatek from ACTON marketing said, "Your website has an important SALES...

Also known as the 80-20 rule, the pareto principle says that for many cases, about 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. I think that the pareto principle applies to user experience in financial services in at least three ways:

1) 80% of users use 20% of use cases

Trick question: when users navigate to your website, where do they go? 80% or more of the time they go directly to your online banking login. That means they ignore your homepage, don't read your special offers, and don't see anything on your product pages.