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April 30, 2012: Good news, bad news in annual banking satisfaction survey

J.D. Power and Associates just released its 7th annual U.S. Retail Banking Satisfaction Study, and the headlines show a mixed-bag of good news/bad news:  While consumers are still very dissatisfied with fees, banks generally are offsetting that by reducing the number of problems experienced and making improvements in problem resolution.

March 30, 2012: Goodbye coupons, hello hashtags

Would you Tweet to save money? American Express is betting its customers will do just that. As part of a broader Membership Effect strategy, Amex is using social media platforms to add value to its cardmembers by allowing easy redemption of merchant offers without the need for coupons or special codes.

February 29, 2012: Bank defections rise as consumers say “no” to fees and poor service

2011 saw bank customers voting with their feet and deposits as they switched banks in search of lower fees and better service.  Confirming that, J.D. Powers and Associates this week released its U.S. Bank Customer Switching and Acquisition Study, and the results are not pretty for many large, regional and midsize banks.

January 30, 2012: Bankers, don’t get your Facebook page shut down

Pity a bank marketing staff. Already saddled with restrictions, disclosures and regulations, marketers now need to pay very close attention to Facebook’s rules when running an online bank promotion, lest it run afoul of Facebook’s terms of service.

December 29, 2011: GE poised for entrée into retail banking

This week’s announcement by General Electric’s finance operation to acquire $7.5 billion in retail deposits from MetLife is significant on a number of fronts, most notably that the competitive threat from GE, a “non-bank bank,” is very much alive going into the new year.

November 30, 2011: Bankers, just how good are your online marketing efforts?

Banking consultant Ron Shevlin has a hunch: Banks and credit unions need a better way to assess their online marketing capabilities, to know how they are doing, and to create an investment and priority roadmap to improve online marketing capabilities. Find out how Shevlin developed a two-part assessment model to do just that.

October 31, 2011: Debit Card Fees Translating to Consumer Backlash

“A checking relationship with rewards – and no monthly debit card fee.” That’s the online promotion Citi is running right now. No doubt other financial institutions soon will be spinning similar themes, as big banks rush to abandon planned debit card fees in response to growing and vocal consumer frustration, much of it playing out via social media.

September 29, 2011: Bankers Better Embrace the Social Enterprise

“It’s time for banking to completely embrace social technology. We need to move beyond paper, phone, and email folks.” This plea was not from an industry consultant, but from banker Bradley Leimer. He manages the online services group for Mechanics Bank in California. Leimer recently expressed his views in an industry blog Bank Think.

August 31, 2011: Texas Bank SWARMs over Customers

In this time of intense competition, earnings pressure, customer attrition and declining branch traffic, how can banks truly reengineer the customer experience? $1.2 billion Extraco Banks, Temple, Texas, is a great example of how a financial institution can transform its retail operations and culture from top to bottom.

July 30, 2011: Startup WePay sets sights on competing with PayPal

Flush with venture capital, payment site WePay in late July launched its new WePay Stores. In doing so, it is setting its sites on competing with giants PayPal, Yahoo Merchant Solutions and eBay for a piece of the online payments and e-commerce pie.

June 27, 2011: Online application process scaring off bank customers

When it comes to pressing the proverbial “easy button” to complete a bank’s online account application, a majority of customers are saying “see ya later” to the sometimes 15 or more screens required to complete the online app process.

For those already using an online channel, tasks such as making payments, transferring funds and looking at account balances are working just fine. But, as reviewed by consultant Adam Bookman for an article in BAI Banking Strategies (Losing customers at “NEXT,” June 21, 2011), research by Javelin cited fewer than half of people who tried to open an account online were able to do so, while the majority actually abandoned the effort.

May 31, 2011: Bank Reputation Scores on the Rise

Having been thoroughly bashed last year, bank brand reputations appear to be showing signs of recovery. In American Banker’s second annual survey, administered by the Reputation Institute, 30 banks showed, on average, positive increases in a range of categories as scored by consumers. While not out of the “reputation woods” yet, banks appear to be paying extra attention to key areas outside of products and services, and that intense focus is equating to higher scores.