Integration or isolation? The digital landscape for UK financial service companies

Adrian Porter, head of strategic research at Precedent, brings The Drum the latest insight into how financial companies are engaging and integrating online.

The plan was simple, the findings a little surprising. Survey 50 UK financial service companies and see what they are doing online. Find out who are most active: the banks, the building societies, the asset managers or the insurers, or perhaps one of the purely online financial product providers? Along the way, evaluate what they are using their various channels for, and how well they are integrating them with their websites. We took the view that irrespective of whether they were using their broader presence to raise brand awareness, promote a campaign, provide insight and thought leadership, or offer customer service, ultimately there should be a synergy between the channel and their website. After all, it is on their website where they are most likely to transact with existing customers, or formally acquire new ones. Of course, the customer journey doesn’t end on the website home page, so we also looked at the level of sophistication offered on the companies’ main UK consumer focused sites, to see if the ‘route to fulfilment’ was intuitive and if the tools on offer were useful and presented at relevant steps of the journey. The report’s title was intended to pose the question as to whether these companies’ digital channels were integrated and serving a common purpose or isolated in the digital noise. However, as our research progressed a bigger question emerged: we wondered whether internally these companies have an integrated model capable of making best use of the contemporary digital landscape as it is now, and as it evolves, or whether they are working in isolation towards independent departmental and potentially individual goals. Certainly we found only a few examples where companies clearly have the team, the expertise and the underpinning strategy in place to take coherent advantage of the opportunities that the digital landscape offers UK financial services.Here we have focused on some of the elements from the report that look at the overarching question of Integration or isolation? However, the report also reveals the degree to which UK financial service companies are using the contemporary digital landscape and what they are using it for. It contains examples of good and bad practice, strategic tips on the use of a variety of channels from Precedent’s resident experts, and highlights some of the opportunities that these channels offer. Even if you are not in the financial world, but are interested in social media, the user experience, mobile, governance or digital strategy there will be something of interest in it for you. Integration or isolation?Clearly some companies see the contemporary digital landscape as an enigma and continue to bury their heads in the sand by only using digital channels to reinforce traditional marketing and brand-building activities: they put their latest advert on YouTube, use Twitter to chuck out press releases and let their employees find new jobs on LinkedIn.However, the more enlightened are looking at the available channels holistically and from a strategic viewpoint. They have an integrated approach to their digital network. They do not necessarily look for ROI from individual channels such as ‘likes’ on Facebook, but rather look at the quality of their engagements and services they offer along with the levels of interaction. They are using these channels to engage with and retain customers and due to the open nature of the channels the ‘sell’ to prospects is implicit in the quality of the interaction and the depth and transparency of their insight - in essence their levels of customer service and attention to detail. This type of approach manifests itself further in the quality of their websites. They understand that if the experience of their broader digital presence doesn’t match the experience of their website where the ‘transaction’ takes place then the chances of conversion diminish, or their reputation is put in jeopardy. The question of teamsDuring the course of our research we were reminded of the early days of the internet when corporate websites were hijacked by the PR department and used almost exclusively to publish corporate press releases. Now it seems that early adopting internal departments have hijacked the digital channels that they feel suit their purposes best in the same way as the PR departments did previously. However, this does not mean that they necessarily understand the subtleties of the media, and in many instances the channels appear to have been established without recourse to a broader set of corporate objectives. A fresh approach to online communication activity needs to be adopted which recognises the need for an integrated and specialist team of experts who are all working towards clearly defined objectives across multiple channels. The members of this team will not all come from traditional sources such as the marketing department or the existing web team, which will mean improved internal communications and training, and potentially, change management.This team will need leadership and a set of objectives which are aligned to corporate goals, and not necessarily to the aims of individual departments. Therefore it is for the business to decide on the goals, which in turn will dictate the makeup of the team and the channels of engagement to be used. Simply put, strategic questions need to be asked, leadership employed and decisions made, which may go against the way that existing internal departments currently work together. Neil Davies, Precedent’s Managing Director encourages financial service companies to “Think SAS”. As he explains, “Rather than a general army that follows orders and marches in a straight line, a good social media team consists of an elite squad of highly trained and well equipped individuals who can be deployed in sensitive situations, trusted to make the right decisions and empowered to act on them in a timely manner. Social media is the new battlefield and it can’t be fought with a traditional media army”. Keeping the regulators happyOne of the major factors that make financial institutions hesitant to grasp the nettle of social media is the risk of upsetting the regulators. Not being able to openly promote a product, or to offer financial advice is seen as a stumbling block to engaging openly with existing and potential customers. Clearly the way that companies interpret the perceived restrictions is different, with some seeming to push the boundaries, and others not engaging on some channels at all. It is however, essential that companies are clear on how they expect their audiences to use their channels, how they will react to their use, expected or not, and that this is explained both internally and externally. It would seem that the companies that are saturating the social universe with campaign and sponsorship related content are missing the point. Since a more appropriate use of these channels is to build brand loyalty, and reputation through interaction, education and engagement – all of which, and more, can be monitored and proven with diligent tracking of analytics, sentiment and conversion rates.All of which brings us back to the title of this report, Integration, or Isolation? It will probably come as no surprise to readers that two of the companies who stand above the others we surveyed are Fidelity and First Direct, both of whom evidently have a clear set of integrated digital objectives and the team to deliver to them.

Fidelity: adding daily value and calls to action

A representation of Fidelity’s digital channelsEverything that Fidelity does online either adds value for its customers, or promotes its products and insight to existing, or potential customers. It also manages to service customers via its Twitter and Facebook accounts by addressing account related questions. They always endeavour to engage the audience, and make them aware of current offers, their expertise, or interesting developments in the financial world. To be this consistent and timely clearly has the backing of a well-resourced and diverse team of experts working together.

First Direct: keeping the conversation close

A representation of First Direct’s digital channelsFirst Direct seems to prefer to keep the conversation about its activities close and on its own web site in its interactive area. The company does have a ‘Social Media Newsroom’ which links to and integrates YouTube, Twitter and Flickr. Interestingly First Direct actively encourages users to re-use any of their videos, photographs, or content from news releases etc. Keeping the conversation close allows First Direct to test the water in its interactive area, where not only do they provide information and interaction on their business and broader activities and initiatives, but also extensively canvas the opinion of their customers on actual and potential products as well as their enhancements. First Direct historically has a customer base of early Internet adopters which is perhaps why they make little or no use of social networks having previously developed similar communities on their own site.

An idealised journey

Representation of an integrated digital channelThe diagram above represents an idealised view of a truly integrated digital landscape where appropriate channels are being used to offer content across the four broad themes we used in our assessment. Clearly decisions would need to be made as to whether all the channels should be used for all the themes. However, what is clear is that for a company to create their own customised view of this landscape would require a coherent and company-wide strategy. Most importantly this would necessitate the removal of proprietary internal ownership of the channels, or at least a mutual understanding of the predominant aims for each. Implicitly this means that marketing, communications, PR, customer service, R&D, IT and internal experts need to be aware of their responsibilities for each channel and their potential level of involvement with it. But this alone does not guarantee success, because unless the customer-facing website is considered as part of the user-journey, and appropriate calls to action are provided along the way, isolation will prevail. Notice that there is a two-way flow between the channels and the website, which is intended to indicate that companies do not need to be afraid to send customers away from their site, if they are sure that by doing so they will have a good experience and easily find their way back. Similarly, this approach ensures that customers who find a company in the social space are provided with a reason and a simple route to visit their website – Integration not Isolation!If you would like to read the full report to see further examples and conclusions, you can request a free copy from Precedent’s website, http://www.precedent.co.uk/our-reportsAdrian is the head of strategic research at Precedent. For further information, please contact Precedent on +44 (0) 207 426 8900, email adrian.porter@precedent.co.uk, visit www.precedent.co.uk or follow @Precedentcomms on twitter.