Financial firms accused of squandering £130bn over failure to connect with female customers
UK financial institutions are worse off to the tune of £130bn owing to their failure to connect with female customers, according to a new study compiled by Kantar.
Financial firms accused of squandering £130bn over failure to connect with female customers
Winning over Women found that a failure to engage through advertising was compounded by a failure to communicate ‘trustworthiness’, ‘understanding’, ‘dependability’, and ‘accessibility’ to potential female customers – with advertising instead geared toward soliciting positive responses from men.
Kantar came to its conclusions after employing facial recognition technology to view men and women when presented with advertisements. One effect of this is to depress saving rates for women – with 65% of women identifying as having low financial confidence versus just 55% for men.
It is estimated that if this gap were closed an additional £133bn could be directed toward savings and investments.
Bart Michels, UK country leader for Kantar commented: “Financial institutions are focusing their efforts on the confident, rather than the competent. In failing to develop client experiences rooted in men and women’s fundamentally different perspectives on finance, financial services institutions are missing a very significant business opportunity.”
Lead author Amy Cashman added, “Women’s lower engagement is also a major factor behind their concerns and shortfalls in retirement income. Average men’s retirement savings, at £73.6K, are three times greater than women’s, which average just £24.9K. This makes improved engagement of women in the financial sector a social imperative as well as commercial opportunity.”
In conclusion Kantar has called for investment in dedicated campaigns targeted at women.