Online marketing consultancy Compete <compete.com> released interesting results today about the popularity and effectiveness of the DING!, the innovative desktop application that Southwest Airlines released earlier this year (see NetBanker 4 March 2005).

According to the Boston-based firm, the Southwest application has been downloaded almost 1 million times this year (click on inset for closer view). More importantly, DING! users are 45% more likely to book through Southwest than non-DING users leading to more than $60 million in incremental bookings this year.

These 1 million DING users join the nearly 20 million using similar toolbar-based programs from Google, Ebay, and many others.

In related research, Compete’s recent study of online banking users found widespread interest among consumers in receiving MORE information from their financial services providers:

• 73% indicated a desire for more information on new offerings and services
• 69% would download a desktop app (such as DING!) to receive useful info on a regular basis; 78% would do so if the application helped protect against fraud
• Only 5% indicated an unwillingness to use the online channel for information

Analysis
The next two years are an ideal window to launch a direct-to-the-desktop application like DING or a toolbar-based interface such as Google Toolbar or Billeo. A significant number of users have grown accustomed to the technology, while at the same time, due to widespread phishing and spam, email has become less effective for online marketing.

Going direct to the desktop provides a secure, trusted pipe directly to the user where you can deliver account-related info, triggered messaging, service announcements, and the occasional sales message.

For more information, see Online Banking Report #85, Grabbing Desktop Mindshare, published in 2002.

—JB