Comments for Snarketing 2.0

Comment on The Quantipulation Of Bank Transfer Day by Mike Lawson

Mike Lawson — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:34:13 +0000

Spot on post, Ron. It will be hard to top in regards to a reality check for credit unions. Instead of credit unions basking in the sunlight like that article excerpt alludes, credit unions are merely basking under a penlight. They have a long way to go, obviously.

I think BTD was definitely a good “push” for the industry — like those uber-burly strongmen competitors on ESPN pushing a locomotive 100 yards. But in this instance, the “credit union strongman” only pushed it a yard. The industry still has 99 yards to go before it can remotely claim any victory over its foes.

My hope is that credit unions can create one consistent marketing voice (a loud one) to target the nation — especially your “debanked” population — which will be much more effective than the industry’s splintered efforts right now. Perhaps this effort will capture the attention of that all-important group looking for alternatives to keep pushing that locomotive forward so the industry can genuinely bask in the sunlight.

Comment on The Quantipulation Of Bank Transfer Day by Serge Milman | OptiRate

Serge Milman | OptiRate — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:54:10 +0000

Ron – I agree 100%. 4Q 2011 call reports will confirm the degree to which BTD helped or not, but I am willing to wager that 90%+ of all Credit Unions saw little or no positive impact from the event. Perhaps more importantly, those consumers that did switch may have obtained a great deal, but the acquiring Credit Unions are unlikely to earn enough to cover operating costs.

Not surprisingly, winning business that adds to the bottom line, including valuable member relationships, requires doing something different than what your closest 15,000 or so competitors are doing.

Comment on Banking The DeBanked by Quantipulation: Bank Transfer Day « Snarketing 2.0

Quantipulation: Bank Transfer Day « Snarketing 2.0 — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:40:51 +0000

[...] report that I’ll be publishing next week, I’ll define a segment of consumers I call the Debanked: Mainstream consumers who willingly opt out of the traditional banking system, taking their $30-40 [...]

Comment on Comscore’s 2011 State of Online and Mobile Banking by Ron Shevlin

Ron Shevlin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:18:34 +0000

Mat: Good points. I think you’re spot on re: PFM. Today, a lot of what passes for “PFM” is budgeting and expense categorization. The former is a chore for most people, and the latter is helpful to just a minority of the population. There’s a lot more that should be happening under the PFM banner to drive adoption.

Comment on Comscore’s 2011 State of Online and Mobile Banking by Mat Cagney (@MathewCagney)

Mat Cagney (@MathewCagney) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:25:43 +0000

Great observations and commentary Ron.

In relation to PFM adoption, I believe this is more to do with relevance of the solution. PFM vendors and Banks need to ensure that PFM is relevant to key personas, as most institutions and vendors tend to focus on those consumers who are whiling to create a budget, while neglecting to the consumers who will not. However these segments could still benefit from key views, information and key alerts.

This leads me on to Mobile adoption, where according to the number my balance is still the largest offering used among smart phone owners at 32%, while 57% are aware of the feature. While 23% views transactions and 48% are aware of the feature.

What about the underlying drivers behind the key transactions, Checking my balance and viewing transactions? E.g., “What is my balance?”, “When does my monthly insurance payment get deducted from my account?”, “Will I have enough money at the end of the month to get by?” and many more. As technologists there are a number of simple solutions, to answer the underlying questions.

Focusing on answering the consumers underlying questions, will increase the relevance of the mobile channel and adoption rates. Without doing so, mobile banking will reach a natural resistance point in the market. (NFC banking excluded)

Comment on The Tooth Fairy Opportunity by Comscore’s 2011 State of Online and Mobile Banking « Snarketing 2.0

Comscore’s 2011 State of Online and Mobile Banking « Snarketing 2.0 — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:04:12 +0000

[...] 29% of smartphone owners are aware of the ability deposit checks remotely (I know of an 8 year-old who knows about this feature). This surprised me considering the importance so many bankers place [...]

Comment on The Cost Of Retention Versus Acquisition by Debunking Marketing Myths: The Cost Of Acquisition Versus The Cost Of Retention « Snarketing 2.0

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:44:09 +0000

[...] For more on this topic see The Cost Of Retention Versus Acquisition. [...]

Comment on Credit Unions’ Achilles Heel? by Fred

Fred — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:30:35 +0000

Ron,

I really like the guys at Mt. Lehman. Even though they’re in BC, they are well situated demographically…location, location, location helps in the real world and cyberspace.

The only thing I can’t do is build it and wait for folks to come.

Therefore I rely on our partners. For example eventually our P2P provider will offer a mobile platform one day.

Plus a lot of mobile devices handle web-based services well. Not perfect but pretty well.

Comment on The Fat Lady Ain’t Singing To The Banks by Paul Amisano

Paul Amisano — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:24:23 +0000

I’ve thought alot about the PayPal example, in Karen’s point. I see that, assuming thats the direction they plan to go (another conversation entirely) as just a new form of competition, not a disintermediation. To Ron’s point, the model, is still the same. Keep money somewhere, use that money to pay somewhere. I am getting sick of the word disintermediation coming up from banks, when what they are really talking about is just more competition, and more consumer choice.

Comment on The Fat Lady Ain’t Singing To The Banks by Ron Shevlin

Ron Shevlin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:27:35 +0000

Karen: Thanks for commenting. Great example. It should be noted, however, that after ~ten years of existence, PayPal recently made a push to sell INTO banks, not disintermediate them. There will be examples of innovative approaches that offer true alternatives to the mainstream, but it isn’t until those new business models become the predominant ones that we can say the legacy players have been disintermediated. My point here was to challenge the notion that the banking industry is analogous to the music industry.