NetBanker 2.0

Why growth in mobile search is good for online banking

Today, The Wall Street Journal looks at Yahoo's latest efforts in mobile search where it holds a substantial lead over its online nemesis Google. According to figures from Telephia, Yahoo has a 7% penetration of U.S. mobile subscribers vs. 3% for Google. In addition, MSN has a 4% penetration and AOL 3% (see article here).

Yahoo will be encouraging users to download a search application to their phones, see  <mobile.yahoo.com/search>. Advertising revenues will be shared with wireless carriers. Mobile search results are more "managed" than website results and attempt to better display a single answer to the search so phone users can avoid surfing to other websites for answers.

Why is this important for online banking? Most consumers, especially the 35-and-older crowd, will get their first taste of a mobile phone app through search. Once users get comfortable Googling or Yahooing from their mobiles, it won't be long before other ecommerce apps become popular, and mobile banking will be at the front of the next wave.

Furthermore, early mobile banking users are likely to share one key attribute that sets them apart from online banking users, a willingness to pay fees for service. Most mobile applications such as sports scores, mapping services, or games currently carry small monthly fees. Whether or not banks choose to charge directly for mobile banking is yet to be seen, but we believe excellent potential exists for profitable fees from at least a portion of the mobile user base (see previous post here).

Remote deposit capture is virtually invisible at Google

Remote deposit capture is one of the most significant new technologies to hit online business banking since, well, online banking. According to Celent, 60 of the largest 100 banks, including 20 of the top 25, now offer it. In addition, hundreds of smaller community banks now offer it.

So why can't I find it through Google? (see note 1)

For two years I've been coveting the service and waiting for my bank to offer it to small businesses such as ours. I'm still waiting.

Today, I happened to see it mentioned on the homepage of a local community bank here, First Mutual Bank (see screenshot below).

Not wanting the hassle of moving my account relationship, especially to a bank on the other side of Lake Washington (a major traffic hassle), I tried a little Googling to see what other banks in the area might have it. 

It fails to show up in the organic results, and only two banks, Wells Fargo and Main Street Bank <mstreetbank.com> are advertising on "remote deposit capture" and the shorter "remote deposits." Main Street Bank is located out of state and Wells Fargo, while just up the street from my office, appears to target its remote capture to larger businesses. I'd be willing to pay $20 to $30 a month for it, but I'm guessing that's not even close to the Wells Fargo commercial customer price.   

Action items (see note 2)

1. If you offer remote deposit capture, make sure you have a dedicated page touting the features and benefits.
2. On the dedicated page, make sure you use the term "remote deposit capture" in addition to any cute name you've branded it with. That will help users find it on search results.
3. Market it through Google and other search engines. At this point, it doesn't appear that there's much competition for ads, meaning your cost per click should be low.
4. Create a landing page that captures leads for your business banking officers. Check out Wells Fargo's approach at https://www.wellsfargo.com/com/boc_campaign
   (see screenshot below)

Notes:

1. I am searching from a Seattle IP address. In other markets, there may be financial institutions using Google to market remote deposit services.
2. We will post an additional article on remote deposit marketing later today

E*Trade Bank and Flushing's iGoBanking join the 5% online savings account club

<Updated 12/1/06 with more details>

Two new entrants in the so-called high-yield savings market launched this week:

• E*Trade Bank <etradebank.com>: Its new 5.05% Complete Savings Account was advertised in the Wall Street Journal today and took next-to-top honors in Google search results for "best savings accounts" (see end note 1, screenshot below).
• iGoBanking <igobanking.com>: The new online brand from Flushing Financial launched Monday with a 5.3% rate on an online savings account (see end note 2, screenshot below).

iGoBanking (click to enlarge)

As previously reported, Flushing Financial launched its entry into the online savings market. The 5.3% APY no-minimum account ranks as the fourth highest in the nation according to the Bank Deals blog (see list here). The rate leader continues to be E-Loan's at 5.5% (see our coverage here).

However, iGo can claim the highest no-minimum rate in the nation since E-Loan and the others require at least $5,000 to qualify for the higher rate.   

The bank will focus on deposits, CDs, and savings in 2007 and may expand to home equity and mortgage lending in the future.

Analysis
The website is attractive and relatively well designed. The online application is hosted by CashEdge (see related post here). Unfortunately, the outsourced application fails to maintain the look and feel of the main website and may cause a few applicants to second guess their decision to sign up (click here for a more thorough analysis of its application design). 

E*Trade Bank (click to enlarge)

E*Trade's Complete Savings account builds on the direct bank's lineup of award-winning products (see previous coverage here). The bank flat-out understands the market and the medium.

The landing page for the new savings offering is brilliantly laid out with Google-like simplicity using just 25 words of copy (other than the table and the below-the-fold fine print). Notice how they show specific competitive prices, including high-yield market leader ING Direct. But what most consumers will remember from the chart is the "6X national average" rate.

Finally, the "Open an Account in Minutes" and "Free, one-click transfers to and from any institution" address user concerns on both those issues. And the small padlock with E*Trade's protection guarantee helps users understand security issues.

End notes:

1. Search conducted at noon PST, Nov. 29 from Seattle IP address (see screenshot below).
2. Source: American Banker, 29 Nov. 2006 (article here)

Google search results for "best savings account"

Bank of America uses radio to drive website credit card applications

At 8:30 AM today, we heard an unusual advertisement on classic rock radio for the Bank of America Alaska Airlines affinity card.

It wasn't the ad itself that was so spectacular, although it's not every day that you hear credit cards being pitched on radio. And it wasn't the offer that made the ad stand out, although 20,000 bonus miles is a pretty good perk.

What made it memorable was the call to action, "visit myalaskacard.com." They didn't even bother to throw an 800 number into the spot.

It's hard to say whether a radio spot will prove cost effective, but using a memorable URL should help. It's far easier to remember than a telephone number, and prospective applicants can be immediately greeted with an effective sales pitch reinforcing the product benefits and bonus offer.

Analysis
However, once again BofA stumbles with its search engine support (see previous article). Searching on Google for "my Alaska card" brings up a single ad for a Web-based portal site, CreditStep.com (click on inset for closeup).

In fact, we tested every variation of "my" + "alaska" + "airlines" + "credit" + "card" and BofA was nowhere to be seen UNLESS we dropped "my" from the search query. Interestingly, Chase was an aggressive advertiser on several of the search terms offering a competing airline card with 15,000 bonus miles. BofA showed up as an advertiser only when we dropped the "my" from the search query.

The lack of advertising against "my alaska card" is especially damaging because the first few organic search results do not link to BofA or Alaska Airlines. Also, if you type a similar URL, such as www.alaskacard.com or www.alaskaairlinescard.com you either end up at a generic link site or an error page. At this point, potential prospects will either apply at the wrong place or give up on the search. 

If you correctly input the exact URL, you end up at the following landing page. It's OK, but should reinforce the impressive benefits of applying now, a free ticket right away and a $50 companion ticket every year on renewal (see screenshot below).

Action Items
Here's what you should do to ensure better search-engine support for your offline advertising:

1. Advertise at search engines on likely search terms that would be used by consumers responding to your advertising
2. Create a memorable URL that is not easily mistyped
3. Register or purchase domains similar to the advertised URL (including common misspellings), or pay the owner to refer traffic to your landing page
4. Design a landing page that boldly supports the benefits in your advertising and includes a prominent "Apply" button

Prosper markets to savers at Google

If you thought it was tough competing with the direct banks and their 5% savings products, now you have a legitimate company advertising rates of 8% or more. Of course, this is no FDIC-insured product; it's the interest rate paid to lenders at Prosper's person-to-person loan marketplace (see previous coverage here).

The person-to-person lender was bidding aggressively today at Google on both "high yield savings" and "online banking." The ads typically made the fourth position in the right-hand column, putting them "above the fold" (see inset).

The company is testing three different ads, all focused on rate levels substantially higher than the 5% to 5.5% advertised by the competition. Prosper is testing a straight up "8%" ad, an "8% to 12%" ad, and an "8% to 29%" one (see below). 

The ads lead to one of two landing pages. Here's the slick one that looks more "bankerish": 

Or the more "Web 2.0" version that no one will confuse with a bank ad. There is even a small eBay logo visible in the screenshot (used by one of the participants seeking to bankroll an eBay store), a smart touch for a company that is positioning itself as "the eBay of lending." 

All-in-all, it's a good effort put forth by Prosper, which can only succeed if it attracts enough money into the marketplace. 

For more information on Prosper, Zopa, and the entire person-to-person market, see Online Banking Report #127.

Bank of America's multimedia no-fee mortgage promo omits key search term

When Bank of America launches a new product, you might as well try to ride on their coattails rather than fight it. One obscure loan-referral website is doing just that.

Bank of America's product-du-jour, at least in our Seattle market (UPDATE 10 Jan 2007: Confirmed as a market test in this article here), is a unique no-fee mortgage that comes with a built-in "refi" option. The refi feature allows users to lower their underlying mortgage annually if rates drop. It's a product that makes a ton of sense for today's savvy mortgage holders, who know when to hold 'em and also when to fold 'em into lower-rate loans.

The bank has been blitzing the market with branch, Web (see End Notes), and radio advertising for the product. Today's mid-day radio spot included a URL in the call to action, <bankofamerica.com/nofeemortgage>. Typing that URL directly into the browser leads to the correct Bank of America landing page (see screenshot in End Notes).

However, for a good portion of listeners that navigate with Google, typing "bank of america no fee mortgage" brought search results that did NOT include the bank as an advertiser although they were the second organic result listed (see screenshot below).

Google search results for "bank of america no fee mortgage"

Surprisingly, the top advertiser, YourQuoteOnline, was running an ad that was rather deceptive (see screenshot above). It fooled me into thinking it was a BofA ad.

A similar search for "Bank of America mortgage no fee" did bring up the bank's Google ad (see below), although it linked to a "$2,000 savings" landing page (see End Notes) instead of the no-fee promotional page. Evidently, Bank of America has not properly coded their search-word criteria to include the more obvious search term or to send searchers to the current no-fee campaign page. The bank is leaving money on the table by allowing some of the traffic generated by its advertising to be funneled off to other companies.

Google search results for "bank of america mortgage no fee"

End Notes (click continuation link for footnotes)

Keyword frequency from AOL

The privacy furor that erupted August 6 over the 20-million Web queries posted by AOL has distracted from the useful information contained in the database. While AOL removed it a week ago, numerous search-engine researchers had already downloaded the file and have reposted it with front-ends for research purposes.

SEO Sleuth <seosleuth.com> has posted the top-2000 search terms from the AOL sample. Click the continuation link below to see a list of all banking terms that made the top 2000 list. Here's the first 10 with their overall rank among all search terms:

40. bank of america
86. bankofamerica
114. fidelity
159. bankofamerica.com
170. paypal
174. www.bankofamerica.com
202. free credit report
215. american express
259. wachovia
264. wells fargo

What's striking about the AOL search data is the overwhelming preference to search on brand names rather than product categories. Also, that Bank of America has an extraordinary share of mind with searchers, with its various forms accounting for four of the top six most-searched financial services terms.

--JB

Tracking your competitors' search marketing efforts

Are you tracking the search marketing efforts of your competitors? If not, you should be. If you are, consider using KeyCompete <keycompete.com>, a $199/yr tool that identifies keywords used by your competition and the competition for your keywords.

Enter a URL and the Web-based service returns a list of keywords used by that company in its search engine marketing efforts. You can also do the opposite, enter a keyword or phrase, and see who's using it in their marketing efforts. Results are seen instantly on screen and can be downloaded into an Excel file.

It's a simple way to uncover new keyword opportunities. For example, we looked at Key Bank's current keyword buying (click on inset for details). The majority of their marketing is for boat loans and student loans. But without the KeyCompete tool we'd never know that the bank is advertising its K-12 private school tuition program, AchieverLoan, under obscure search terms such as "Massachusetts preparatory school" and "Addison private school" (see screenshot below).

Cost
The basic plan, which costs just $199/year, includes a personalized watchlist for URLs or keywords to make competitive monitoring that much easier. For an extra, undisclosed fee, the KeyCompete will provide more detailed reporting on your competition including:

• approximate clicks per competitor's keyword
• approximate cost per competitor's keyword
• estimated overall keyword marketing expense

Overall, some good information to have in your back pocket for next year's budget request.

--JB

Wachovia's "free checking" marketing

Everyone wants free checking. So it's no surprise to see Wachovia the top bidder on the term at Google (click on screenshot right). The bank also managed to snag the top organic listing (directly below the paid ads), a coup for its search-engine-optimization consultant.

As much as Internet users love a good deal, they are skeptical when they see "free," especially when a company is spending money to advertise on the term. Wachovia wisely meets the skepticism head-on with a landing page entitled (click on inset for closeup):

Free checking. No catch.

The page also includes six bullet points, three of which relate to online banking. And there are two "Apply Now" buttons, at the bottom of the bank and the upper right.

Analysis
While this landing page won't win any Webbys, it's fundamentally sound. The first three bullet points meet the likely customer objections by affirming that there is no minimum balance, no monthly fee, and no direct deposit requirement.

Clicking on the Apply Now button leads to a page explaining the process and what's needed to apply. Unfortunately, the user is forced through three screens of disclosures, the last one a record-setting 69-screen monster before the application begins. With such a tedious first phase, the bank is losing most of its prospects before they've even entered so much as an email address.

To avoid massive application abandonment, you must get customers engaged in the application before the trip down disclosure lane. Wachovia also stumbles by offering too much product choice. The customer that started at Google looking for free checking is forced to choose from 12 checking account options on that same 69-screen testament to the power of a large bank's compliance department.

Grades:
A for search-engine marketing
B for landing page design
C- for application design

--JB

Wasting your advertising budget on Google

We've been poking around on the search engines to see what banks are doing to attract new customers moving into their area. In a search today for "Seattle banks," we were impressed to see a local community bank, Viking Bank, with the top spot on Google AdWords (upper right in inset). Viking was the only area bank with a paid listing. The other seven listings making the first page of Google results were from various information aggregators, such as MapQuest, or lead generators such as 100BestLenders.com.

However, clicking on the ad sent us to one of the worst landing pages we've ever seen. For some reason, the bank is paying big money to drop Google searchers onto its log-in page, which has not a single benefit listed. In fact, the item that draws the most attention, especially since it loads first, is a warning about a service problem for Mac users (click on screenshot below for a closeup). To make matters worse, the Viking Bank logo isn't even clickable, so prospective customers have to search the navigation to find a way off the log-in page.

Analysis
Viking Bank's search-engine buy is smart. You want to be seen when users search on "yourcity" and "banks." But you must spend some time to build a landing page that quickly communicates user benefits (see FMW April 5).

--JB