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What We’re Reading: YouTube, Pinterest and Gen Y

May 3, 2012 By Banking.com Staff Leave a Comment

Below are interesting stories the Banking.com staff has been reading over the past week. What have you been reading? Let us know in the comments section below or Tweet @bankingdotcom.

Chase Has the Best of the Big-Bank Mobile Apps, Forrester Says

American Banker

Forrester Research has evaluated the mobile initiatives of the top four U.S. banks and declared JPMorgan Chase’s the best. The research firm gave the bank a score of 74 out of 100 on its mobile banking functionality, for providing a wide array of mobile money movement options, including funds transfer, bill payment and remote deposit capture. The other three banks — Citi, Bank of America and Wells Fargo — all scored above average in the tests. The overall research report offered a few insights into mobile banking trends: The percentage of mobile banking users has crept up to 17% as of the end of 2011, according to Forrester estimates.

YouTube Casts a Spotlight on Banks’ Social Media Challenges

American Banker

Twitter and Facebook audiences are tough nuts to crack, but the toughest of all is YouTube. YouTube, the dominant online video site, has hundreds of millions of users, but holding their attention is far more difficult than typing out 140-character messages or encouraging customers to “Like” the bank’s brand. Many of the banks that have a YouTube account devote little attention to it; they populate it with repurposed TV ads and prohibit users from leaving comments. Putting in the effort to provide professional-quality and unique content for YouTube keeps customers engaged and even prompts conversations with branch staff, as Lakeland Bancorp’s (LBAI) Lakeland Bank has learned.

Where’s the Tech Support?

American Banker

A recent survey of 1,527 mobile banking users found a gaping void in the typical mobile banking application — a lack of technical support, tutorials and advice. Asked the one improvement they’d most like to see in their mobile banking application, 60% of these consumers said links to and contact information for technical support. Easier navigation and chat tools would help banks improve their overall mobile banking adoption numbers, says Michael McEvoy, managing director at ath Power Consulting, based in Boston and Washington, D.C., the firm that conducted the survey. Another thing that would help: better education about mobile banking services.

7 Ways Banks Can Use Pinterest

American Banker

Financial institutions could benefit from being active on the fast-growing social media website Pinterest, Corporate Insight has found. Pinterest relies mostly on images instead of text and incorporates different aspects of Twitter and Facebook to connect users. After examining the website, Corporate Insight said Thursday that it found seven financial themes for which companies could use Pinterest to increase their digital presence. These themes were retirement, savings and investment goals, credit card rewards, lifestyle, corporate mascots, contests and charitable giving.

Ally Rolls Out Mobile Banking Offering

Bank Systems & Technology

Direct bank Ally announced it has released a mobile banking app for iPhone and Android mobile phones. Features of the new app include the ability to check account balances, search transaction history, transfer money between Ally Bank accounts and find ATMs and cash-back locations using the phone’s GPS capability. Additionally, Ally is offering a second app for non-customer Android and iPhone users, which will locate nearby ATMs and cash-back locations in the U.S. This app is available to the public and free to download at the App Store and Google Play Store, Ally said.

Leading the Bird: What Bankers Can Learn from Duck Hunting

Celent Banking Blog

Every duck hunter knows that in order to avoid coming home empty-handed, one must aim ahead of the bird – lead the bird as it is commonly referred. The idea is that if one aims directly at the bird, every shot will be a miss no matter how precise the aim. That’s because by the time the bird shot gets in the vicinity of the duck, it will have flown out of the shot pattern. What does this have to do with financial services? Tons! Today’s financial services landscape is challenged with astonishing array of changes, and the rate of change is faster than most have seen in our lifetimes.

Gen Y Found in Branches as Much as Seniors in Fiserv Survey

Credit Union Times

Fiserv Inc. has found Gen Y consumers are not strictly tied to online and mobile banking, based on the company’s latest Consumer Trends Survey. Fiserv said its Gen Y findings include the following: Gen Y members do not limit themselves to online and mobile banking — they’re more likely than any other age segment to visit a branch, drive up to an ATM or phone a call center. For each of the banking services mentioned, Gen Y represents the highest percentage of high volume users (five or more visits/uses per month) than any other age segment. Online banking, debit cards and bank-based bill pay are the top three financial management tools utilized by Gen Y.

Securing smartphones and tablets against banking fraud

Help Net Security

Trusteer announced a new version of the Trusteer Mobile service which prevents mobile and online banking fraud. The service detects mobile malware infection and helps bank customers fix security vulnerabilities on their devices. End users can also turn off access to their online bank accounts from anywhere using their mobile devices and safely access the bank web site via a secure mobile browser. Financial institutions can authorize online banking transactions using Trusteer Mobile Out-of-band Authentication for Android and iOS devices.

The Post-Cash, Post-Credit-Card Economy

New York Times

In London, travelers can buy train tickets with their phones — and hold up the phones for the conductor to see. And in Starbucks coffee shops here in the United States, customers can wave their phones in front of the cash register and without even an abracadabra, pay for their soy chai lattes. Money is not what it used to be, thanks to the Internet. And the pocketbook may soon be destined for the dustbin of history — or at least if some technology companies get their way. The cellphone increasingly contains the essentials of what we need to make transactions.

Filed Under Financial Management Insights Tagged With banking news, gen y, Pinterest, what we're reading, YouTube

Millenniels, Mirth, and Money: Making Gen Y Laugh and Learn Pays for Credit Unions (Part II)

February 28, 2012 By Kathy Klotz-Guest 1 Comment

This is the second of a three part series on Gen Y and credit unions by guest author, Kathy Klotz-Guest. The first post was published last week, and can be read here. The second part of this series discusses using videos, contests and social media. Read more below:

Video: Gen Y consumers watch a lot of online video (research firm ComScore reports the average American viewed over 23 hours of video in the month of December 2011) and, today, a growing number are watching them on mobile devices. Video is your chance to connect with this audience at a human level in ways that traditional media cannot. Based on research I have conducted with more than 100 companies, the most important factor in video success is having a great story that is relevant to your audience. If your video happens to go viral, that’s great. Your goal, however, is to connect with your audience in a meaningful way and prompt them to take some specific call to action.

If computer giant IBM, viewed as stodgy and out of touch just 10 years ago, can change its image and poke fun of itself in the now famous “Art of the Sale” videos, so can credit unions. Video should humanize your brand, not bore people. That’s what collateral is for! There are credit unions creating some innovative and funny videos. One of the best videos to speak about the benefits of credit unions is a spoof of Apple’s celebrated Mac v. PC ads (Bankerspank.com or YouTube). The younger, cool guy represents the credit union, while the stodgy, “stuffed suit” represents the bank.

This video series, a handful in all, works well for a number of reasons. First, it’s a funny parody of well-known commercials. Secondly, it uses elements of “story” and metaphor to make its points, and to connect on a human level. The fact that a Gen Y actor plays the ‘cool’ role of the credit union—the banking equivalent of a Mac—is salient. Thirdly, the video series also educates younger viewers on the important differences between banks and credit unions without trying to sell a particular credit union.

Finally, it upends expectations about the way credit unions are marketed. It’s even okay for your credit union to poke fun at itself and its history (for example, maybe you haven’t always been on the vanguard of technology adoption)—as long as you demonstrate that you have changed and are looking to create better relationships with younger customers. Humor shows humility, and it signals to your audience, “Hey! We get it. We know how we have been perceived, and we’re ready to change.”

Another example of a fun video that shows credit unions with personality is “The Winning Team” by University of Kentucky (UK) Federal Credit Union. It shows a handful of bored Gen Y credit union employees who start an impromptu baseball game in the office. The fun is unexpectedly endorsed by the boss. Besides providing a great laugh, this video did not cost much to produce. Quality content is not the same as quality production. Content trumps production values, according to my research on video storytelling. The potency of the message is an important one: This credit union believes fun and service are all parts of a compatible winning team that serves, and is served by, Gen Y members. This matters, given that the credit union is associated with a university system. It’s a good example of what a lighthearted tone (and a relevant message) without a heavy budget can do. And just as with the Credit Union v. Bank video, this video is short. The ideal video is under two minutes.

Contests: Social media also enables content to be interactive and shared in a way traditional media does not, so take advantage of its participatory elements. People love to create and share their own content. Allowing users to participate by creating their own media (CGM, consumer-generated media) is a way to increase engagement and fun and enable your audience to help tell your story to peers. It’s also a great way to stretch your marketing budget and ensure that content is created by your intended audience with their own needs in mind. Fairfax Credit Union in Virginia launched a video contest for the Gen Y Extreme Checking Account commercial (on YouTube). They invited members of Gen Y to create short 30-second videos about the credit union’s new Gen Y Extreme Checking service.

This effort worked on a number of levels. First, it facilitated awareness and engaged Gen Y members to create content and, in turn, educate their peers about the new “Extreme” service. Secondly, the videos were funny, absurd and odd— an authentic reflection of Gen Y humor created by Gen Y participants. Finally, by inviting members to create their own videos, the credit union expanded its reach without having to create all of its own content. Often, an organization’s best storytellers come from outside its walls. Your engaged fans are your best and most credible referral sources. Just remember to make it fun, encourage creativity and allow them to share their creations on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

Stay tuned for the last post in this series!

About Kathy Klotz-Guest: Kathy Klotz-Guest, CEO of Keeping it Human, helps organizations connect with audiences on a human level and get better marketing results. In her 20-year career, she has led successful marketing and communications strategies for high-tech, financial and services firms. A founding fellow for the Society for New Communications Research and comic improviser with the ComedySportz San Jose Rec League, she can be reached at kathy@keepingithuman.com, or via LinkedIn and Twitter.

Filed Under For Financial Institutions Tagged With credit unions, gen y, social media, video

Millenniels, Mirth, and Money: Making Gen Y Laugh and Learn Pays for Credit Unions (Part I)

February 23, 2012 By Kathy Klotz-Guest Leave a Comment

This is the first of a three part series on Gen Y by guest author, Kathy Klotz-Guest.

Today’s financial institutions, like other industry sectors, recognize how important it is to reach out to the Generation Y cohort of 18- to 30-year-olds. Traditional, conservative and stuffy marketing approaches do not work with these digital natives—and neither does throwing social media technology or “cool” marketing on top of existing approaches. While Gen Y likes technology, a lot of interaction and great deals, they also want you to embrace fun and humor, and help them achieve their goals. They want you to change the way you do business in order to earn theirs.

One area where credit unions already have an advantage over banks is in developing deeper customer relationships, and social media can facilitate even richer connections. The good news is there are many ways to increase your relevance by using serious technology combined with a not-so-serious tone.

After all, marketing should be fun if you’re doing it right.

Humor me! Social Technology Meets Fun

In its research, Forrester found that Gen Y members value humor—even odd humor—and embrace it in business. They also view banks with a bit more apprehension, as they feel most financial institutions “don’t get them.” Consequently, it takes not only an investment in technology to reach this group; it also requires a commitment to changing the content of your communications. The key is to communicate that your credit union understands what Gen Y values. And humor is a way to build that generational bridge.

That Gen Y values humor is great news: it can help your marketing cut through lots of noise in a crowded market. Additionally, fun as a wrapper for great content adds value. There is no reason great information has to be delivered in a stodgy way. However, fun without a targeted, relevant approach is pandering.

It’s not enough to use mobile technology and web 2.0 platforms. A powerful and credible marketing approach to Gen Y must involve the integration of social technologies, the right messaging and personality, and an engaging, interactive user experience. Social media, like all great customer experiences, is about connecting with people. Otherwise, they would have called it anti-social media!

Work That Humor Muscle

So, how can you integrate humor with technology? First, it is important to understand what fun and humor are and how to make them pay off. Funny is great; yet, just having a fun attitude that makes customers smile is an important step in the right direction.

Here’s the most important point to remember: Humor is about the element of surprise. The question to ask isn’t, “How can we make people laugh?” Trying to be funny is a needlessly high and daunting bar to reach. Thus, the right question to consider is, “How can we surprise our audience?” When expectations are inverted, we are delighted. Here is the great news: because banking hasn’t exactly been known as a “fun factory,” there are many things your credit union can do to upend expectations and change the way you are perceived. Consider integrating fun, humor and technology into the following elements as part of your larger marketing strategy: video, contests, apps and games, and social networks.

Stay tuned the remainder of this series!

Filed Under For Financial Institutions Tagged With credit unions, gen y

Gen Y: Leading the Technology Revolution

November 30, 2011 By Banking.com Staff Leave a Comment

Gen Y consumers are quick adopters of new technologies, so it came as no surprise that Intuit Financial Services’ Fourth Annual Financial Management Survey found nearly half (48 percent) of Gen Y consumers currently use their mobile device to conduct banking activities, compared to only 15 percent of Gen X, Baby Boomers and Seniors.

While disparate in actual usage, all consumers share the same viewpoint toward the main barrier to adoption – 41 percent do not own a Smartphone. The survey also found:

Nearly one-third (30 percent) of Gen Y would switch financial institutions if theirs stopped offering mobile banking. Only 15 percent of Gen X, Baby Boomers and Seniors would switch.
Gen Y uses mobile banking the same way they use online banking – viewing account balances and transferring funds is ranked as most important (70 percent utilization), followed by bill pay.
Gen Y is three times as likely to use remote deposit capture for checks compared to Gen X, Baby Boomers and Seniors (12 percent versus 4 percent )They are also three times as likely to use a tablet to access and conduct banking (18 percent versus 6 percent).

Furthermore, Gen Y is more likely to voice their opinion and dissatisfaction with their financial institution – in fact, 42 percent have already or plan to switch where they bank due to increased fees. As referenced in our recent post, How to Attract Gen Y Customers and Members, it is now more important than ever for financial institutions to provide solutions to satisfy all demographics.

How is your FI adopting to the ever changing needs of Gen Y? Do you have specific marketing campaigns targeting the Gen Y audience? Let us know by tweeting @Bankingdotcom or leaving a comment in the section below.

Filed Under Surveys Tagged With #IFSsurvey, gen y, Intuit Financial Services

How to Attract Gen Y Customers and Members

November 29, 2011 By Banking.com Staff Leave a Comment

Many financial institutions are vying for the coveted attention of that elusive generation, Gen Y. With pressure on the banking giants from younger generations to reduce hidden fees and increase transparency through movements like Occupy Wall Street and Bank Transfer Day, credit unions and smaller community banks are reaping the rewards.

However, some institutions are still unsure how to market their offerings to the younger, tech-savvy generations. Young and Free Indiana recently released a video that addresses concerns of some Gen Y-ers that credit unions may be too local. As Currency Marketing’s president and Creative Director notes in a blog post, “technology, shared branching and ATM networks go a long way to solving this problem, but the biggest hurdle is perception and understanding.”

See how Young and Free Indiana navigates attracting younger members in the video below.

How are you marketing your offerings to a younger audience? Are you helping to educate your community on the national reach of your financial institution? Let us know by tweeting @Bankingdotcom or responding in the comments section below.

Filed Under Videos Tagged With credit unions, customers and members, gen y

Gen Y: The Digital Generation

August 10, 2011 By Banking.com Staff 1 Comment

The Intuit 2020 Report, The Future of Financial Services, predicts that in the next 10 years Gen Y will transition from young carefree spenders to an important part of the financial services customer segment. By 2020, a majority of this group will be in their early to mid-thirties and learning to manage money as adults, with families and mortgages.

Gen Y, also known as the digital generation, is a tech-savvy group of individuals who were brought up using mobile technologies, Facebook and email. Javelin Strategy & Research recently released a report, Gen Y: How to Engage and Service the New Mobile Generation, which outlines how to reach the mobile generation as financial members and customers.

Some of the key findings include:

4 out of 5 Gen Y consumers already have a personal and/or joint checking account, and 38 percent of them are very satisfied with their current banking relationship.
A Gen Y consumer is nearly twice as likely as an everyday consumer to be a mobile banker, and 31 percent of Gen Y consumers review account balances more than eight times a month via mobile banking.
Gen Y has high expectations from PFM tools, and 23 percent want PFM to categorize their spending.
For mobile PFM users: 46 percent want to make comparisons when shopping, and 33 percent use it to track finances on a daily basis.

For more Gen Y statistics, Credit Union Times has a slideshow here.

Are your Gen Y customers and members using mobile solutions more frequently than Gen X and Baby Boomers? Do you see a high demand in PFM functionality from Gen Y’ers? Let us know in the comments section below.

Filed Under Banking 2020, For Financial Institutions Tagged With Banking 2020, gen y, mobile, mobile banking, PFM, PFM tools

Risk Shift Creates Opportunities for FIs

May 3, 2011 By Steve King and Carolyn Ockels Leave a Comment

Over the past few decades, economic, political and social changes have resulted in the shift of risk management responsibilities from institutions to individuals, a trend we are forecasting to become more acute over the next 10 years.

The biggest driver of this shift is the changing nature of work. Lifetime employment – and the retirement, health care and career planning benefits that once came with it – are no longer the norm. For example, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 28 percent of Americans, and less than 20 percent of Americans working in private industry, participate in a traditional defined benefit pension plan.

In addition to the decline in corporate benefits, support services from federal, state and local governments are also being reduced due to fiscal problems. The current policy debates in Washington and state capitols are not about whether or not to cut services, but instead how much to cut.

These shifts are resulting in an increased burden of responsibility for both individuals and families in all aspects of personal financial management, including planning and decision making in the areas of education, retirement planning, health care and elder care.

While this shift in responsibility enhances individual choice and can be empowering, it also forces individuals and families to shoulder the burden of managing the risks and complexities of their financial lives. This is a time consuming task requiring discipline, skill and specialized knowledge.

Driven by the risk shift, individuals and families will turn to products, services and trusted advisors to help them anticipate and understand the implications of their financial decisions. Financial institutions are well positioned to provide individuals and families with their increasingly complex financial planning and risk management needs.

While all adults are facing the risk shift, baby boomers (born 1946 – 1964) in particular have a very complex set of planning needs. They are reaching traditional retirement age, but many are also financing their kids’ education and dealing with aging parents. Gen Y (born 1980 to 2000) will also need help as they move from the relatively carefree spending days of the 20s to the more careful financial management years of middle-age.

The risk shift is a powerful trend that impacts almost everyone. It also creates new fee-based service and product opportunities for financial institutions that can effectively and efficiently help individuals and families navigate their increasingly complex financial lives.

For more information on this topic, you can view the latest edition of the Intuit 2020 report, Intuit 2020 Report: The Future of Financial Services, which identifies and examines four key trend areas that will transform the financial services industry over the next decade.

About Steve King: Steve is a Partner at Emergent Research. His current research and consulting is focused on economic decentralization, the growth of small business and the future of work and workplaces. Steve has extensive consulting, marketing and general management experience with both large and small companies. Steve is a senior fellow and board member at the Society For New Communications Research, a research affiliate at the Future of Work and an advisory board member at Pond Ventures.

About Carolyn Ockels: Carolyn is the Managing Partner at Emergent Research. Her current research and consulting is focused on economic decentralization, the growth of small business and Gen Y. Carolyn has extensive consulting experience, and prior to Emergent Research managed Cambridge Energy Research’s Asian energy consulting business, led market research in Japan for RCM Capital Managment, and held a variety of domestic and international consulting positions with the economic forecasting and planning consulting firm Data Resources, Inc.

Filed Under Banking 2020 Tagged With #b2020, Banking 2020, financial institutions, gen y

Checking In? Ka-ching!

March 8, 2011 By Banking.com Staff Leave a Comment

Credit card company American Express has teamed with location-based service Foursquare to allow users to win prizes and meet people by using their mobile devices to “check in” at their favorite places.

With Gen Y users showing noticeable interest in mobile applications, the partnership allows American Express to win over these younger consumers, and proves larger companies are starting to seriously consider entering the mobile space.

With Facebook and Twitter strongly cemented as the top two social services, Foursquare is looking to quickly close the gap.

Are your customers “checking in?” Have you considered offering incentives for those using Foursquare at branches? Let us know in the comments below.

Filed Under Social Media Tagged With American Express, credit cards, Facebook, Foursquare, gen y, twitter

Millennials vs. Boomers: A Banking Divide

December 28, 2010 By Banking.com Staff Leave a Comment

It’s no secret that the millennial generation is adopting technology at rate that surpasses the Baby Boomers, leaving a technology gap in our society. Whether it’s the difference between texting and calling or Facebook messaging and e-mailing, millennials are among the first to try new technologies. The banking industry is no different. In order for financial institutions to reach the millennial generation, they need to embrace new technologies to retain clients who are just starting out on their financial journey.

James Van Dyke of Javelin Research has long been an advocate of banks recognizing the difference in behaviors between the younger and older generations. In a recent blog post, he wrote:

“We all know the examples of how millenials are different in terms of everyday communication with other people, but are we grasping how this translates to payments, online financial services, security or mobile? I see an unmet need, and future potential changes such as reduced interchange for debit the implications could portend even greater significance.”

Additionally, Van Dyke referenced a November survey where more than 5,000 US consumer’s payment preferences that asked respondents what value they found in alerts (e-mail or text/SMS). After honing in on this question, he wrote:

“What the data told me is that younger people are significantly more likely to value particular electronic updates from their bank that fall within the ‘everyday’ category ‘b’, while older Americans place significantly higher value in just the opposite “a” or security updates.”

Are you catering to the needs of millennials? Let us know in the comments section below.

Filed Under For Financial Institutions Tagged With Baby Boomers, gen y, online banking

What We’re Reading: YouTube, Pinterest and Gen Y

Millenniels, Mirth, and Money: Making Gen Y Laugh and Learn Pays for Credit Unions (Part I)

Gen Y: Leading the Technology Revolution

How to Attract Gen Y Customers and Members

Gen Y: The Digital Generation

Risk Shift Creates Opportunities for FIs

Checking In? Ka-ching!

Millennials vs. Boomers: A Banking Divide

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