Wednesday, December 5, 2012

The 2012 Paperless Banking Challenge: Interim results

In June I asked which of three paper turn-off models would drive the greatest adoption. The answer should have been obvious in my book, but the numbers are interesting.

Here's a reminder of the three projects:


three-projects

The Interim results

Bank A:

This project was over before it began. The web portal team took over the project and didn’t want any interference with their current model – potentially due to personal incentives. Apparently, less than 5% of the one million customers have signed up over the past 5 months.

Comment:
  • Results are predictable as most of the customers wanting to use Internet Banking already are.
  • Each incremental percentage adoption is harder than the last.
Conclusion: In order to break through the adoption barrier, a new approach is necessary. Instead of the website-only paperless adoption project, they should include "Push" as an additional option..

Bank B:

Sign-ups are disappointing, with around 2% of the targeted customer base going through the three page registration process.

Comment:
  • Although there are consistently hundreds of customers opting-in each day, it falls far short of the thousands required to meet expectations.
  • It highlights how critical the on-boarding process is. If you have barriers to adoption at the beginning, then it doesn’t matter how compelling the offering is, customers will drop off in droves at each barrier.

Conclusion: Cut through the adoption barriers by offering a registration free paperless process - a simple opt-in via email.

Bank C:

The results are very impressive. Just under half of the initial on-boarding emails are opened and over 85% of customers choose eStatements. A simple YES and NO button has forced people to make a choice rather than just do nothing. Customers in month’s two and three are also opting for Push eStatements, driving the total to 53% of customers (with an email address) turning off paper.

Comment:
  • Fantastic results – more than expected and on track to convert 50% of their customer base to eStatements within 6 months.
  • This has the potential to be a world leading case study for paperless adoption of bank statements when it has run its course. And the long term prognosis is even better as the program keeps running for both old and new customers.


Conclusion: The moral of the story is simple – to move the paperless dial you need the right model – but even that can be negated by a bad customer journey.

The good news is that we have a case study for the perfect paperless adoption process – come chat to us about making it work for you .

Michael Wright
striata.com

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Paperless and simplified-simple for whom?

Ask yourself this question:


When it comes to simplification, who am I considering?

  1. The business
  2. The customer’s life
  3. Both?

Paperless success is measured by your answer

The success of your paperless campaign will be measured by your answer. No need to be cryptic here. The most triumphant campaigns producing the fastest return on investment will simplify both your customer’s life and your own business processes.

The buzz word is 'simplification', what are you doing to achieve it?

The mission statements and images of banks vary from black to white and every shade of grey. But the answer to the question of how to reduce paper and simplify the process ALWAYS, without fail, comes back to online banking, the portal and online, secure inboxes. Understandably so, financial institutions have invested buckets of time and money in this direction with the aim to maximise investment.

However the fact remains that a portal’s ability to convert people to paperless has already been tested for several years. I have yet to meet a financial institution that hasn’t attempted this process for at least a few years. And although there is a degree of success in migrating technophiles to online, the numbers seem to stagnate at around 20%.

The proof is in the pudding. Something isn’t working here.

Does a paradigm shift sound simple to you?

Keynes’ animal spirits have explained a lot in history. Markets have been like dinghies on a tsunami because of simple feelings. Human emotions have been proven throughout history and by the biggest thinkers in modern economics to be a measure of consumer confidence. So why are we asking our customers to accept such a huge paradigm shift as to go from push to pull?

Traditionally, your customers are used to being PUSHED all necessary and relevant information. They haven't had to proactively ask for the post to deliver statements or notifications. They did not have to dream up usernames and passwords and then remember them. There was not a single requirement of effort needed for them to receive important information from the institution they trusted to take care of their hard earned cash. So why do we now think they will be open to being PULLED?

A paradigm shift in customer behaviour is still a long time coming. Analyst reports indicate that:
  • 37% of people say they will never give up their paper statements according to Forrester
  • 61% say that remembering multiple use names and passwords is a barrier to paperless adoption
  • And more telling still...46% would like a statement emailed to them whilst only 14% want to fetch it on a biller’s website as covered in Seybold’s report

All they need is a PUSH

Reduce the number of clicks, passwords, time, effort, print and post by adopting a tried and tested push model in the digital space. To convince your customers to go paperless and simplify your business, all they need is a little PUSH. Send them their statements securely via email and make the process of switching easy and you’ll find that customers are willing to convert as they’re moving from the push of paper to the push over email.

Simplification is the buzz word, make it work for you AND your customers. We have some great success stories if you’re keen to hear more.

Sarah Appleby 
striata.com