PHISHING is Killing Your Portal

Not so long ago, I sat in a security meeting at a leading global bank and they told me that to combat phishing concerns and to protect customers, they quite simply do not email them. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Of course they email their customers, just nothing worth looking at. Phishing is killing your portal because it’s stopping you from sending functional and valuable email that engages your customers. And ultimately, it’s email that feeds your portal. There is no better, nor cost efficient and safer way of directing customers there.

Internet Banking and Portals were designed for two reasons:

1. to convert customers to online, paperless customer self service and
2. to do so within a secure environment.

I have engaged with the UK’s top banks and financial institutions and the real shocker is that most haven’t managed to do either of the above as effectively as they had hoped.

The fabulous exodus from paper to paperless never happened (only 24% of bank customers have completely abandoned paper) and money is still heading out the window with fraud attacks. Just because your organization ‘does not send email’, doesn’t mean that phishers aren’t still sending attacks with your name on them. 

Whilst my bank thinks they are protecting me, they also continue to lose my engagement, interest and eyeballs to othermore digitally savvy organizations using 'Push' technology - I am click happy for anything to do with travel and deals on home furnishings. Can’t remember the last time I properly logged on to online banking and thus, recently received this message:

I found it utterly fascinating that forgotten log in details and not needing a security device are the two main things my bank mentioned in order to woo me. Well, at least they hit the nail on the head as to why I haven’t logged on recently. But, knowing that in order to log on I had a 10 minute call (minimum) to India ... stopped me from doing so. 

Email gets customers attention & increases portal traffic, while maintaining a high level of security

How can banks compete with inboxes that are filling up with beautiful fun emails promising exotic locations on a shoestring and 50% off plasma TVs? What can both grab attention and push folks to your portal while maintaining the high level of security needed? 

The answer is PUSH. 

• PUSH your customers’ correspondence directly to their inboxes
• PUSH technology attaches sensitive information to an email in the form of 256 BIT encrypted PDF that can be opened with a default password
• The document is uncrackable in a fraudster’s lifetime and is virtually impossible to copycat
• More importantly, consumers really do want to see their statements and bills - so, your willing audience awaits. This is the great advantage that banks have over many other digital organizations.

Once the customer is within the secure PDF environment, you can direct them anywhere… including your portal.Companies using PUSH technology to deliver eStatements and eBills tend to see up to *30% more portal traffic than ones using simple, traditional cover emails with no call to action.

Don’t let fears of phishing stop you from using email, educate your customers instead. 

Augment your paperless processes with email and stop asking your customers to come to you without giving them a carrot. 

Keen to find out more about the advantages of 'Push' eStatements and eBilling? Get in touch 

*Based on Striata client results

Sarah Appleby
striata.com