Author: Jim Bruene

New Online Banking Report Published: 2010 Guide to Online & Mobile Products, Pricing & Strategy

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Online Banking Report, Planning, Strategic Planning, Strategies

imageBelieve it or not, there are just 23 business days left before Q4 2009. That means planning season is just around the corner. To help ease the pain, we offer you the ultimate idea-generation tool; our 15th annual Planning Guide for Online & Mobile Banking.  

imageThe 80-page report is packed with more than 500 product and marketing tactics designed to help you generate new ideas, plans, and strategies for 2010 and beyond.

Online Banking Report subscribers, may download it (here) free of charge. Others may purchase it (here).

Note: Yes, that’s USAA’s awesome native iPhone app on the cover. Mobile banking, specifically via the iPhone and text messaging, are top opportunities for next year.  See below.

  Twenty projects from the report were selected for our 2010 hot list (in alpha order):

  • Activity dashboard/ticker
  • Archives, long term  
  • Automatic alert enrollment
  • Blog/Twitter and other social media
  • Credit score/report zone
  • Friends-and-family loan facilitation
  • High-yield online savings/checking
  • Home equity center
  • Micro/small-business services
  • Native mobile app (iPhone/Blackberry/Android)
  • Personal finance functionality 
  • Premium/VIP online services
  • Prepaid/gift cards
  • Problem mortgage resource center
  • Retirement planning center
  • Service standards/guarantees for online/mobile interactions
  • Student banking/financial education center
  • Text (SMS) banking
  • Ultra transparent (flat fee) mortgages
  • Usage-based contests/rewards

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What Does Google’s Possible Entry in to Mortgage & Loan-Rate Aggregation Mean for Banks?

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Google, Lead Generation, LendingTree, Mortgage, Refi & Home Equity, Search Engine Marketing

image Thanks to information in LendingTree’s lawsuit (embedded below) against its rate-engine provider, Mortech (see note 1), which was picked up by the NY Times, then echoed across the Internet, Google appears to be looking at providing loan rate comparison/aggregation directly in its search results. The service appears to have been beta-tested in the UK more than a year ago (screenshots here).

It’s no surprise Google would make this move. It’s long worked on ways to help online shoppers compare products and services. For example, a search today on “air conditioner” displays the usual targeted text ads on the top and right, but also shows various “shopping results” in the middle of the page (see screenshot below). There are even catalogue-like thumbnails in the right-hand column, something I’d not noticed before.

Financial services, with heavy search volumes, are an obvious area for expansion by the search giant.

The LendingTree lawsuit says the service may launch within the next 30 days. Google says only that it is “currently working on a small ad unit test that will run against a limited number of mortgage-related search queries in the U.S.”

What it means to NetBankers: The service, if successful, could help users streamline their rate-research process by eliminating a visit to a loan-comparison site. But it’s not likely to have a material impact on banks, credit unions and other mortgage lenders. There will just be more advertising dollars ending up in Google’s pocket at the expense of other financial lead-gen sites such as BankRate.com, Interest.com and LendingTree, of course.

LendingTree complaint


Search results for “air conditioner” (27 Aug 2009, 3 PM Pacific, from Seattle IP address)

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Note:
1. LendingTree claims that Mortech, an info provider to LendingTree, would be in violation of its contract if it provided similar technology to Google. See LendingTree’s press release on the matter.

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Banking Apps in the Google Android Market vs. Apple iPhone App Store

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Android, Apple, Bank of America, Google, iPhone, Mobile Banking

image A few weeks ago, we noted a milestone at Apple’s iPhone App Store, 1000 apps available in the finance category (U.S. store). I was been curious how that compared to Google’s Android Market so today I did a quick comparison.

The Android market now has a respectable 211 apps in the finance category. However, few financial institutions have staked a claim. Only, Bank of America and Alliant Credit Union, had branded apps (see note 1, 2).

In comparison, the iTunes App Store has 11 U.S. banking apps and 3 from U.S. credit unions. That’s up from 6 banks and no credit unions when we published our most recent report on the subject (see note 3).  See the the following table for details. Did I miss any? Let me know in comments or email jim@netbanker.com

  Google Android (Rank) Apple App Store (Rank)
Number of finance apps 211 1,089
Number of U.S. bank-branded apps (note 1)

(number shown is rank in the finance category)

 #2 Bank of America #1 Bank of America
#2 USAA
#3 Chase
#4 Wells Fargo
#10 E*Trade
#13 Citibank
#28 & 32 PNC Bank
#43 BBVA Compass
#156 IBC
#409 1st Mariner Bank ATM/Branch locator
#962 Plaza Bank Mtg Calc
Number of CU-branded apps #30 Alliant CU — ATM Locator #185 Tech CU
#327 CUloc8 (TDECU)
#411 iDeposit (WV United FCU)

Source: Online Banking Report tally, 24 Aug 2009

1. In addition, Qualcomm’s Firethorn unit has an app that works with several dozen banks and card issuers including Citi, Chase, Wachovia, SunTrust and USAA. It’s ranked tenth in the Android Market and 15th in the iPhone App Store. Also, in the Android Market, Visa has a beta app that works with Chase cards ranked #77. However, according to commenters, that test is ending in September.
2. There are another 15-20 international banks listed in the iPhone App Store.
3. Our Online Banking Report on iPhone Mobile Banking was published March 11, 2009.

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PocketSmith and Cashflow Insite are Newest Online PFMs

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Launches, Personal Financial Management

Last September, six online personal finance managers launched in a single month (previous post). Since then, just a handful of new PFMS have appeared online. Most newcomers have instead chosen the iPhone where more than 1,000 finance apps have launched in the past 12 months.

The iPhone is great for on-the-go transaction processing, but most PFM users will still do their heavy lifting at their computer, setting budgets, tracking expenses, planning for the future, preparing tax returns and so on. So the online venue is still the key competitive battleground. 

Two new online efforts have come to my attention in recent weeks. We’ll look at them in more detail later this year (see note 1). 

  • image Cashflow INSITE, from Neuralus. The Winnipeg, Canada-based startup is looking to partner with banks and credit unions to deliver the PFM. The company is also targeting the financial advisor market where they have a number of independent advisors paying a flat fee (currently under $100/mo) to support up to 100 clients on the Cashflow INSITE platform. 
  • image PocketSmith, a New Zealand-based firm which launched its beta last year, uses the popular calendar approach to tracking personal cash flow and appears to be gaining some traction in the United States. It’s monthly unique U.S. visitor total in July was more than 8,000 according to Compete (see chart below). That puts it at number 13 of the busiest online PFMs in the U.S. according to estimates from Compete (note 2). It’s also the highest ranked newcomer to the chart and the non-US PFM with the most U.S. traffic.

PocketSmith monthly traffic estimates from Compete
Monthly unique visitors Aug. 2008 through July 2009

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Cashflow INSITE homepage (21 Aug 2009)

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PocketSmith homepage (21 Aug 2009)

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Notes:
1. We covered the personal financial management space several times in Online Banking Report, most recently: Personal Finance Features for Online Banking; Social Personal Finance; and Online Investing Communities.
2. See the current issue of Online Banking Report: 2010 Planning Guide, for the U.S. traffic estimates for 28 online PFMs.

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Chase Bank Targets WaMu Overdrafters in Google Search Ads

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Chase Bank, Search Engine Marketing, Washington Mutual

image Someone’s getting creative on Chase’s search-engine marketing team. Look at the ad they placed on the RSS feed of a recent Payments News article (see first screenshot below, note 1). Using Google AdSense, the bank cleverly placed an ad against a story about Wells Fargo’s same-day bill pay service.

Chase probably figures consumers reading about same-day payment capabilities might also have experienced problems with overdrafts in the past. But, I’m not sure why Chase used a call-to-action aimed at driving prospects to a branch:

Wamu Overdraft Forgiveness 
Help Take Control of your Finances. Find a Chase Branch Near You Today! (emphasis added)

Prospects that clicked through on the first ad landed on a microsite with a large branch finder at the bottom. This is a good microsite, although it doesn’t directly mention taking control of your finances (see second screenshot).

Over at the main Google site, Chase used a pitch that seemed more likely to induce clicks (see third screenshot): 

Welcome to Chase
Chase Checking Alerts Help You Avoid Fees. Learn More Today!

These search ads were not displayed in searches today, so perhaps they were pulled after performing poorly.

Lesson: There’s a lot of attention in the press these days about overdraft fees (see NY Times editorial today). If you have good tools to avoid them, especially mobile alerts, it might be an effective way to attract new customers.

And even though these particular ads may not have worked, it demonstrates that Chase is being creative in its search engine marketing efforts. The only way you can find what works in your market is by continuous trials (note 2).

Google ad on Payments News RSS feed (29 July 2009)

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Chase landing page from ad shown above (link, 29 July 2009)

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Google AdWords ad for “Wamu overdraft forgiveness” (29 July, 12 PM Pacific, from Seattle IP address)

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Notes:
1. Viewed in a soon-to-be-defunct NewsGator reader.
2. For more info on search engine marketing, see Online Banking Report: Searching for Customers 3.0 (March 2008).

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PNC Bank Does a Great Job Packaging Business Banking Benefits into its CFO Account, but Misses Mobile

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: PNC Bank, Small Business, Website Usability & Design

imageToo often we don’t give online business banking the coverage it deserves, both here and in Online Banking Report (note 1). Online services can be far more valuable for a business customer than for the average consumer. But consumer services, with bigger advertising budgets and much more press coverage, tend to be more visible when we search for examples of financial innovations.  

image That’s why I was especially intrigued with the PNC Bank ad in the Aug/Sep issue of BusinessWeek SmallBiz magazine. Not only had PNC Bank shelled out for a full-page ad (p. 20, see inset; note 2), the creative was interesting and included a tease for the CFO product combined with easy-to-recall URL <pnc.com/cfo>.  

The new account, cleverly dubbed PNC|CFO, an acronym for Cash Flow Options, covers all the major headaches of business owners:

  • Accelerate accounts receivable
  • Improve your outgoing payments
  • Invest your cash wisely
  • Access information online
  • Ensure access to cash (note 3)

Analysis
Naturally, I was most interested in the second-to-last bullet, online information. The audio-visual online banking demo is thorough, but surprisingly neglects mobile banking services. The only mention of mobile banking is at the end of the last paragraph on the online banking landing page. With business owners increasingly tethered to their businesses via Blackberry or iPhone, mobile capabilities should be front-and-center. 

The other thing missing from the web-based marketing: a human connection. The main call-to-action is the big orange Contact Request button (see screenshot below). Presumably a biz banker will quickly get on the horn and make that connection. However, the bank should make it clear that they have a bevy of qualified bankers available to usher new clients into the CFO account.

Simply changing the button to Contact a Business Banker would be an improvement. But I’d also like to see a bullet point that talks about customer  service. The only thing I saw was a few generic screenshots in the online demo which talked about responding to most questions “within 24 hours.” That doesn’t make the reader feel particularly special.

Finally, a small rant about the bank’s contact form. I received error messages the first three times I attempted to submit it. Evidently, commas are not allowed in the company name or address fields. That not good programming and creates a needless poor first impression. There’s is also no space in the form for comments from prospective customers. PNC Bank has been on the web for 14 years, it should have flawless forms (note 4).

Grade: Overall, I really like what PNC is doing so I’ll give the marketing site an A for design and B- for execution.

Landing page for PNC’s Cash Flow Options service (link, 19 Aug 2009)

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PNC new account “contact me” form with error message

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Notes:
1. Our last report on Online Small Business Banking is available here (June 2004).
2. Key Bank (p. 9) and Bank of America (p. 29) also bought full pagers.
3. The bank is referring to credit lines and loans; I’m not sure why they didn’t state that more clearly. Access to cash sounds more like a checking account feature.
4. While I’m at it, here are a few more minor flaws: (a) Even though I made two errors in the form, the error message only identified the first one; (b) When an error is made, the form automatically clears the checks in the bottom column of boxes; (c) The bank has neglected to turn off auto-fill (at least in Firefox 3.0) in the “confirm your email” field. 

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Bank of America to Eliminate Wire Transfers from Branches, Moving Volume to Online Banking

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Bank of America, CashEdge, Funds transfers

image When I logged in to Bank of America’s online banking Saturday, I was greeted with a pitch encouraging me to use the bank’s new online wire and electronic funds transfer (ACH) capabilities. Consumer online banking can now be used to move money electronically to most anyone in the country. Previously the bank allowed consumers to transfer funds only to their own accounts (funds transfer FAQs), either within Bank of America or at other U.S. financial institutions.

This is a capability offered by many major banks including Citibank, ING Direct and others, often powered by CashEdge. What I almost missed was the more interesting news in the last paragraph:

Beginning this summer, wire transfers will no longer be available in your local banking center… (emphasis added)

I haven’t been able to confirm whether this is a nationwide change or something that impacts only certain markets or customers (note 1). On the FatWallet forum a member reported seeing the same message Aug 1 on his account. Another member tested the service and reported that the fees were $3 for a 3-day ACH, $10 for next-day ACH, and “varied” for same-day wires.

The bank’s online wire transfer FAQs (for California) still point customers to online banking or their local branch.

What it means: When the nation’s largest online bank starts talking about reducing branches and takes steps to eliminate a traditional (and labor-intensive) branch-based service, you have solid evidence that branch banking growth has stalled (note 2). 

Bank of America login message (15 Aug 2009, 1:30 PM Pacific time)

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Note:
1. I was served this message when logging in to my business credit card account. When I logged in to my Washington-based checking account (which runs on a different, and much less feature-rich system, than the rest of BofA), I saw no such message.
2. But not everyone agrees. Rob Cox and Antony Currie argue in today’s New York Times that the bank branch still has legs, in part because capital market financing has become more expensive, therefore elevating the importance of retail deposit gathering, a branch strength.   

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Out of the Inbox: Credit Karma’s Monthly Email is Hard to Ignore

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Credit Karma, Credit Reports & ID Theft Protection, Email Marketing, Email Samples, Virgin Money

image I get dozens of newsletters and marketing pitches from my various financial accounts every month. While they are interesting to me as an analyst, for the average consumer there’s rarely any actionable information.

However, one financial company consistently drives users to its site month over month with their email missives. And they don’t even have to change the creative.

Free-credit-score provider Credit Karma simply reminds users that it’s been more than two weeks since they last checked their credit score. The company goes on to encourage users to check in every month to to make sure no adverse changes have occurred (see first screenshot below). It’s a simple yet powerful message that drives traffic to the company’s ad-supported site (see second and third screenshots).

I’ve received this message on the 16th of each month this year, except May, when I must have already visited Credit Karma in the two weeks prior. A large yellow button invites the reader to click through to see the latest score (see first screenshot).

And the technique seems to be working. Traffic, measured in unique visitors by Compete, is up six-fold in the past 12 months, to 310,000 visitors in July (see chart below).

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Credit Karma email (received 16 July 2009; 10:05 AM Pacific)
Subject: Credit Karma update image

Current landing page after clicking “update” button in email (13 Aug 2009)
Note: Virgin Money’s friends-and-family mortgage offering is the lead product placement while The Easy Loan Site has the top banner. Lending Club is also running a banner across the top.

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Landing page two months ago (16 June 2009)
Note: Virgin Money’s friends and family was also the lead product placement, while ING Direct’s Sharebuilder had the banner.  Virgin Money also has a product offer in the middle of the page.

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Note: For more info on the market for credit scores and monitoring see our Online Banking Report on Credit Report Monitoring (published Aug 2007).

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USAA Hits 1 Million Mobile Users; Grabs Great Press Coverage with Remote Deposit Feature

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: iPhone, Mobile Banking, Public Relations, USAA

imageThe New York Times ran a positive piece on USAA’s mobile efforts today, leading with the bank’s innovative mobile rimageemote check deposit service. A feature the bank announced in June and is rolling out this week.

USAA is the first major financial institution to use the iPhone’s camera to allow customers to upload paper checks for automatic deposit. However, it was beaten to market by tiny WV United FCU, which launched a cruder version two weeks ago (previous post).

The San Antonio-based bank with 7.2 million customers, now has one million mobile users, a 14% penetration rate, up from 11% in May. It’s the second U.S. financial institution (after Bank of America with more than 3 million; see note 1) to officially hit the million mark, though Chase/WaMu and Wells/Wachovia are believed to have passed that milestone last year.

Financial institution lesson: Mobile banking, and the iPhone specifically, still make a great story for the press (and customers). If you’re first in your market with an iPhone app, or some other mobile milestone, let the media know.

Live demo of USAA’s Deposit@Home iPhone app
Starts at 1-minute mark

Note:
1. 43% of BofA’s mobile customers access via iPhone or iPod Touch. The bank does not yet support text-banking, so it’s user base is skewed towards smartphone users.
2. For more info, see our Online Banking Report on iPhone Mobile Banking. 

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Links from My Presentation at the National Credit Union Directors’ Convention

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Conferences, Credit Unions

image Thanks to everyone who attended my presentation: Ecommerce Opportunities for Credit Unions yesterday at the CU National Directors’ Convention in Las Vegas. 

Here are the links to the examples cited:

Mobile banking

Second-generation online banking (online banking 2.0)

Connecting with people

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Lending Club Offers New Lenders $50 to Get Started on its Peer-to-Peer Platform

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Email Samples, Lending Club, Loans & Credit, P2P Lending

image This morning Lending Club emailed its existing lenders encouraging them to refer friends to become lenders on the peer-to-peer lending platform. The peer-to-peer lending pioneer says that is has added 11,000 new lenders this year, an impressive 1,600 monthly pace. Lending Club now has 20,000 registered lenders (note 1).

The pitch: Instead of paying referral fees, the $50 incentive is earmarked entirely for the new lender/investor. Basically they get a free trial of the service. The offer is available for only two weeks, otherwise Lending Club risks being flooded with new accounts that just want to get a hold of the $50.

Analysis: Typically, companies pay a fee to user who made a successful referral. Sometimes with an equal incentive to the new customer. While that may result in a slew of new accounts, converting them to long-term profitable participants can be difficult.

I believe the more-sophisticated investor/lender attracted to Lending Club will be MORE likely to make good referrals if they don’t personally benefit from the referral (note 2). No matter how much users like Lending Club, if they are being paid to spam friends, it just doesn’t feel right. While Lending Club may get fewer referrals this way, the ones they do get should convert better in the long run.

Lending Club is making it incredibly easy to spread the word. Existing customers can use an automated wizard to send messages to friends (see second screenshot) or prospects may simply enter the referring customer’s member name to qualify for the $50. And there appears to be no fine print on the offer other than the Aug. 15 expiration date.

Lending Club email (sent 4 Aug 2009 at 6 AM Pacific)
Subject: Give your friends $50 to try Lending Club

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Landing page
Includes tools for automating the process of reaching out to friends

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Notes:
1. So far this year, $21 million in loans have been originated at Lending Club, approximately $1,000 per lender.
2. Lending Club does pay $25 to the referral source for new APPROVED borrowers. That’s an affiliate marketing strategy and makes economic sense because it’s only paid for approved loans. 

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