On the Jupiter Research blog, Michael Gartenberg opined that “most conferences suck.” He said he goes to fewer and fewer conferences each year because “there’s so little to be gained as an attendee.” My take: He is so right. Gartenberg didn’t elaborate on why there’s so little to be gained, however, so I’ll add my […]
Swaminathan at Customer World recently blogged about enterprise feedback management vendor Allegiance’s Pulse of America survey which found four areas that retail banks should emphasize to increase customer loyalty and engagement: 1) Helpful service; 2) Clear communications; 3) Personal connection; and 4) Respect. In commenting on the survey, Swaminathan wrote: “I quite agree with personal […]
“Our new name reflects the mileposts that mark the progress of a journey toward a future destination, and our goal as a credit union is to help every member achieve financial freedom at each junction in life,” said Dan Fiorino, president/CEO of the credit union an article in the Credit Union Times. From the credit […]
As reported in Finextra, TowerGroup expects the number of mobile banking users in the US to increase four-fold in just one year, from 1.1 million in 2007 to 4.6 million users in 2008, and then up to nearly 29 million in 2011. The growth, according to the analyst firm “will be driven by major improvements […]
I’ve often referred to Boomers and Gen Yers in my blog posts without defining exactly who I’m talking about. I use the definitions that Forrester Research has used for the past few years: Gen Yers are born between 1975-1990, Gen Xers 1964-1974, Boomers 1946-1963, and Seniors pre-1946. And although I thought that the Millennials were […]
Overheard (inside my head) on the train from NY to Boston: ———————————————————————————————————————— Competing on service is a flawed strategy. It’s like saying “We’re really good at fixing our mistakes.” If you didn’t screw up so much in the first place, you wouldn’t have to be so good at service. ———————————————————————————————————————— A raft of studies have […]
A recent CIO magazine article listed five trends in BI (business intelligence). The article reports that Gartner found BI to be the “number one technology issue for 2007” (which I find incredibly hard to believe). Here’s my take on the trends: BI Trend #1: There’s so much data, but too little insight. My take: This […]
Competing on service is a flawed strategy. It’s like saying “We’re really good at fixing our mistakes.” If you didn’t screw up so much in the first place, you wouldn’t have to be so good at service. A raft of studies have come out showing that online user reviews are used by consumers researching products and […]
In a recent interview published in Time magazine, Tom Brokaw was asked why we constantly compare today’s youth and politics to those of the 60s. He said: We’re at war. It’s an unpopular and divisive war. Again, the elites have the privilege of avoiding military service because it’s an all-voluntary military. We have a much […]
Thought I’d share some of the stuff that went through my head (and in one case, out my mouth) during my trip to NY for the Ad:Tech conference. ———————————————————————————————————————— [On the subway to the hotel] “New Yorkers are freaking amazing. How the hell can they sleep on the subway, and wake up just in time […]
I had a conversation recently with some really smart people working in the credit union space. It was their opinion that, from a technology standpoint, credit unions were lagging banks. My take: I’m not so sure credit union members would agree. Research done by a couple of the leading analyst firms challenges my friends’ opinion […]
As we approach 2008, I thought it was high time that some financial firms updated their ad slogans. Here are my suggestions: Other suggestions welcome. (Click here for the source of the original slogans)
Tim McAlpine recently blogged about affinity positioning for credit unions, advocating for CUs to define their field of membership around affinities like, among others, women, golfers, blogger, and Emos (my favorite — I can’t help but imagine how pitiful waiting in line at a branch at that CU would be.) This concept shouldn’t be limited […]
I promised myself that I would lay low on anti-Net Promoter Score posts. But promises are made to be broken, right? A recent Forrester report titled Demystifying The WOM Consumer (pw req’d) is to blame for my broken promise. According to a survey it did of 5,000 US households, Forrester found that nearly half of […]
If he wasn’t the first to coin the term trust-based marketing, then Glen Urban of MIT was certainly one of the first to write about it and help marketers understand the importance of trust in a customer relationship. Today, financial firms are embracing this concept — it seems like just about every FI exhorts consumers […]
In response to my NetBank post (and to John Dawson’s comment), Chris Whalen commented: “The issue with Netbank is the cost of customer acquisition. Branches acquire customers. Neither of you addresses the high cost of advertising, marketing etc needed to replace the customer acquisition function of branches in an Internet model.” Mr. Whalen and I […]
No explanation was offered for this slight evolution from GE Federal Credit Union. But in CEO Patrick L. Taylor said in the credit union’s newsletter, “We feel it is necessary to ‘refresh’ and enhance our image as a leader among credit unions. It appears the name change was only a small part of an overall […]
In the October 2007 issue of Harvard Business Review, an article titled How Valuable Is Word Of Mouth discusses the distinction between customers’ lifetime value and referral value. The article say this about CLV: Estimating a CLV is relatively straightforward. The value to FirmCo of all that Mary will ever buy equals the amount that […]
Indiana state law requires members approve credit union name changes by a 75 percent margin, but a vote was probably not required when Professional Federal Credit Union shortened its name to ‘Pro Fed.’
From the bank’s website: “Prosperan is a form of the word ‘prosper.’ It means to be successful or fortunate, especially in financial respects, to thrive and flourish. In Spanish it means, ‘all of us prosper.’ It communicates prosperity, growth and security and has an open meaning that allows it to be equally effective, engaging and […]
In an editorial in American Banker titled NetBank Failure Kills One Web Bank Model (pw req’d), Christopher Whalen wrote: [NetBank] was dying — but it wasn’t dying from bad loans. An irrational growth strategy, supported by $1.2 billion in FHLB advances at the end of 2005, as actually killing it. Assets grew [from 2001 to […]
Three business professors did a formal experiment after reading an article about Net Promoter Scores (NPS). They did two separate studies: one involving 9,900 customers of a telecom company, and another involving 6,700 customers of a financial institution. Their conclusions were published in the Harvard Business Review (“How Valuable Is Word of Mouth?” October 2007). […]
Two New Jersey banks merge assets over $1 billion and become ‘Avidia.’ The bank says the name is a combination of the words “avid” and “idea.” It may not look like it means anything, but at least it doesn’t look like it will get them in trademark trouble.
Patelco CU announced a new savings rate promotion: 8% APY on balances up to $1000 for their members up to the age of 21. The CU blogosphere was all atwitter with talk of how this will teach today’s youth about thrift and build loyal, long-term members. I’m skeptical, however. I can’t help but wonder: How […]
Powell River Credit Union in Canada announces it is becoming First Credit Union in this press release. The release says that a new name was needed to overcome consumer confusion. Dave Craigen, CEO of the newly minted First Credit Union, says: “The name ‘First Credit Union’ was an easy and logical choice…It honours the dedicated […]
I’ve been trying to work an idea I’ve had for a while now into a blog post, and James Gardner’s post When Small Innovations Are Good finally gave me the launching pad. According to James, not all innovations must be game-changing and industry-disruptive: Do lots of incremental innovation, and you have a large portfolio of […]
The CU Realist, oops, I mean CU Skeptic, recently wrote: One idea mentioned (in this and other posts) is the thought that if credit unions refer to the people that consume their services as “members” or “owners” this will cause people choose credit unions over banks. While I understand both terms are correct references to […]
Brunswick Employees Federal Credit Union says it will become Port City Federal Credit Union in its monthly newsletter. The name ‘Port City’ is a common reference to the city of Muskegon on the eastern banks of Lake Michigan where the credit union is based. The $20 million credit union says it is changing its name […]
I’ve read the Harvard Business Review for 25 years now, and at no point during that time, has it been as good as it is now under Thomas Stewart’s editorship. The period before his reign produced a spate of annoying “no, no, no — let ME tell you what strategy is” type articles. Seemed like […]
Think about your favorite movie or book for a moment. Chances are you were deeply engrossed in it, and could have watched it, or read it, for twice as long as you did. And chances are it didn’t follow some pre-canned set of rules for what a movie or book should be. But, now, along […]