Trust Transaction - How Content Can Transform the Way Banks Connect With People
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Transcript of Trust Transaction - How Content Can Transform the Way Banks Connect With People
© 2014 NewsCred 1
The Trust Transaction
The Trust Transaction: How Content Can Transform the Way Banks Connect With People
© 2014 NewsCred / NewsCred.com / (212) 989-4100 / [email protected]
© 2014 NewsCred 2
The Trust Transaction
© 2014 NewsCred 3
The Trust Transaction
01 Introduction & Methodology
02 The Results:• Trust and Loyalty – How Content Can Transform Perceptions of Banks
• Consumers are Open to Content – When Done Right, it Drives Real Business Impact
• Socially Savvy – Who’s Engaging and on What Platforms?
• Building Trust – Who Consumers Depend on for Financial Advice
• Beyond Financial Services – How to Get Creative with Non-finance Content
• Millennials – The Most Highly Engaged Audience
• Fixing the Gaps – Where Financial Services May Be Missing Opportunities
05 About NewsCred
03 Case Studies
04 Conclusion
Table of Contents
© 2014 NewsCred 4
01 Introduction & MethodologyThe Trust Transaction
Introduction
Content marketing is no longer a buzzword -
instead firmly earning its place within the modern
marketer’s toolkit – but many are still puzzled by
how they can measure its value. NewsCred’s 2014
quantitative study, The Trust Transaction, offers
resounding support for the value of content, and
the tangible effect it can have on the financial
services industry.
NewsCred’s study reveals some important findings:
1/3 of people surveyed don’t trust their own bank,
yet half say they trust them more when they offer
helpful content.
50% of respondents also say offering helpful,
useful content delays their desire to switch banks,
demonstrating that the impact of content on
customer perceptions and behaviour should not be
underestimated.
Read on to dig into the full findings and learn about
the opportunities and gaps for content marketing in
the financial services industry...
© 2014 NewsCred 5
01 Introduction & MethodologyThe Trust Transaction
Methodology
NewsCred’s survey was conducted among 1,001 adults by Redshift Research in August 2014.
The sample was selected from Redshift’s Crowdology and Crowdology partner panels, which are
balanced across regional, age, and gender demographic factors. Each respondent completes 120
profiling questions before being accepted to join the panel. Panel quality management is carried
out frequently to ensure reliable surveys.
© 2014 NewsCred 6
02 ResultsThe Trust Transaction
Results
Trust and Loyalty How Content Can Transform Perceptions of Banks
Issues with trust and loyalty are pervasive across
the financial services industry, as confirmed in our
consumer survey, with a third of respondents not
trusting their own bank.
Yet our results show that content has a clear impact
on trust, loyalty and engagement and that there
is an opportunity for financial services to change
public perceptions through the strategic, targeted
use of content. More than half of respondents say
they trust a bank more when it offers them helpful,
useful content. Half also affirm that high quality
content makes them more likely to stay loyal to
their bank.
More than a third say they would spend longer on
their bank’s website if they provided interesting
articles – showing an opportunity to increase
dwell time and repeat visits through strategically
deployed content.
Despite this appetite for content, it appears
that financial services are largely not known for
producing it at a high level of quality – just 20%
of respondents agree that their bank writes and
posts interesting articles on financial matters and
products.
How easy content is to access also plays a strong
part in whether people find it useful or not. Email
newsletters fare reasonably well, with 42% saying
they think the emails sent by their bank are useful.
Apps resonate as useful with 32% of people,
and are considered more favourable than text
messages, with 28% agreeing these are helpful.
The difference between men and women is notable
here, with 32% of men saying text messages are
useful compared with 50% of women.
wre
would likely stay loyal to a bank that provided high
quality content
would trust a bank more if they received helpful,
unbiased content from them
55% 50% 46%
say they expect their bank to provide helpful personal
finance articles
© 2014 NewsCred 7
02 ResultsThe Trust Transaction
Consumers are Open to Content When Done Right, it Drives Real Business Impact
Banks that deliver excellent content are already
seeing a return on investment, with 31% of
respondents saying they have signed up to new
products and services based on useful content
from their bank.
People frequently look to content to understand
their finances and banks have a role to play in
guiding them in making important decisions.
Of the respondents, 58% say personal finance
content helps them make decisions and 57%
say communication from a bank can help them
understand which products are most beneficial.
But just how often are people looking for personal
finance content? The most common frequency
is a couple of times a week, as voted by 28% of
respondents. This indexes more highly for men,
34% of whom say they read personal finance
content a couple of times a week compared with
21% of women.
This is more common still among the over 66 age
group, 49% of whom read personal finance content
a couple of times a week. While 18 to 24 year olds
are the most digitally engaged, they read these
kinds of articles notably less often: a quarter say
they only read personal finance articles a few times
a year, and 24% say they never read them.
At least once a day (7%)
A couple of times a week (28%)
Monthly (20%)
Only a few times a year (19%)
Once a year or less (8%)
Never (18%)
© 2014 NewsCred 8
02 ResultsThe Trust Transaction
Socially Savvy Who’s Engaging and on What Platforms?
The survey results show the British public desires
financial content from banks, but this sentiment
does not convert when it comes to engagement on
social media. An overwhelming majority - 84% - say
they don’t engage with their bank on any social
media and just 9% say they like what their bank
posts on social media.
But, financial services could more than double their
social media engagement by boosting their content
efforts, as 19% of respondents say they’d share
interesting articles from their bank with family and
friends on social media if it was available.
For the majority of people (75%), primary digital
face time with their bank takes place through the
bank’s website. Interaction on other channels is
notably lower: apps 22%, email newsletter 15%, text
message 12%, articles about the bank on third party
sites 8%, social media 3%, corporate blogs 1%, or
none of the above 15%.
Of those that do interact with their bank on social
media, Facebook is the most common platform
(11%). This would suggest that banks are perhaps
largely still not comfortable with using a range of
social channels to drive engagement, as responses
to other platforms are very low (Twitter 5%, YouTube
3%, LinkedIn 2%, Instagram 2%, and Pinterest 1%).
19%of respondents say they’d share interesting articles from their bank with family and friends on social media if it was available.
© 2014 NewsCred 9
02 ResultsThe Trust Transaction
Building Trust Who Consumers Depend on for Financial Advice
If financial services are going to meet the demand
for content head-on, they need to develop and
carefully execute content marketing strategies, and
recruit a credible team of editorially skilled writers
and managers. Our results show there is little
interest in articles being written by representatives
of the bank – just 20% of respondents say they
would trust these, highlighting the need to invest in
editorial talent.
Despite not trusting authors who are bank
representatives, a bank’s own website is still
deemed an appropriate place for finance content
to be housed. Consumers trust articles on finance
that appear on a bank’s own website more than
those that appear in tabloid newspapers, with 43%
saying so compared with 27%. Interestingly, more
consumers (57%) trust finance articles that appear
on specific financial websites such as Money
Supermarket than those that appear in broadsheet
newspapers (48%).
Finance journalists and independent finance
experts are naturally more trusted as authors of
finance content than general journalists, with 53%
and 54% respectively saying so.
Working with bloggers has proven successful for
many brands. Our survey results indicate there is
a greater appetite for finance content produced by
independent bloggers (23%) than that featured on
popular blogs (19%) or even content produced by
bloggers directly working with financial services
(15%). However, banks can embrace working with
bloggers by harnessing their connection to lifestyle
topics outside banking - see First Direct’s case
study on page 14, as well as our stats on lifestyle
content the British public are interested in seeing
from their bank, on page 16.
trust articles on finance written by journalists who
are experts in finance
53%trust articles on finance that appear on a bank’s own website
43%
© 2014 NewsCred 10
02 ResultsThe Trust Transaction
Beyond Financial Services How to Get Creative with Non-Finance Content
Quality content will be the new beacon that helps
a bank stand out from the competition, and the test
for content marketers will be how creative they can
get. It may be tempting to stay within the comfort
zone of finance-related content – it is, of course,
the subject banks know best – but those who dare
to delve outside this realm are the ones that stand
the best chance of creating something unique and
memorable to consumers.
Indeed, our results show there’s no reason banks
need to focus solely on personal finance content
as there is a demand from consumers for quality
special-interest content from their banks. By
associating themselves with lifestyle topics - and
the money people spend on the things they love
- banks can build instant affinity and interest from
the beginning of their relationship with a consumer
and over the relationship’s lifetime.
According to our survey, the top five types of
non-finance content people would like to see from
their banks are: travel and holiday information
(28%), local area information (26%), retirement
guides (25%), tech and gadget guides (24%), and
life stage information (20%).
And banks don’t have to make a huge investment
to distribute this content – when asked about
preferred content formats, 25% say they’d most
welcome non-finance content on a bank’s website
and 23% say they’d most like to see it in an email.say they’d most welcome non-finance content on a
bank’s website
25%say they’d most like to see
it in an email
23%
© 2014 NewsCred 11
02 ResultsThe Trust Transaction
Millennials The Most Highly Engaged Audience
Millennials: is there a demographic that the media
loves to talk about more? Or one that stands to
have a more profound effect on brands, particularly
banks. Our survey reveals that 18 to 24 year olds
are the most trusting and loyal demographic
when it comes to attitudes towards banks and the
potential for engaging with content.
While many of the stats below have already been
explored in previous sections of this report,
zooming in specifically on Millennials’ attitudes to
banks and content provides some detailed insights
into how this demographic differs from the average
– and how banks can use these insights to get
closer to them.
Perhaps less surprising is the high level of digital
engagement that our 18 to 24 year old survey
respondents show; but this is more good news
for banks, as it shows that social opportunities are
there for the taking.
Eighteen to 24 year olds are the most likely of all
age groups to engage with their bank on Facebook
- 25% of them say they do this, compared with the
survey average of just 11%. Thirty-seven percent
say they’d be inclined to share interesting articles
from their bank on social media, nearly double the
survey average response. EIghteen to 24 year olds
are also the most likely to engage with their banks
via app (56%) or text message (50%).
But while 18 to 24 year olds are the most socially
engaged demographic, they read personal finance
articles notably less often than all others. A quarter
said they only read personal finance articles a few
times a year, and nearly as many said they never
read them at all.
Yet our results show that 18 to 24 year olds are the
demographic most interested in seeing non-finance
related content from their banks, specifically about
travel, careers, their local area, music, technology
and gadget guides, recipes, health, and fashion
and beauty:
66% of 18 to 24 year olds then say that they trust a bank more when it o�ers them helpful, useful content, significantly higher than the survey average of 56%
81% of 18 to 24 year olds in our survey say they trust their bank, compared
with the average response of 67%
81% 66% 59%
Over half of 18 to 24 year olds (59%) say they’d spend longer on their bank’s website if they provided interesting articles, compared with the average of
36%
© 2014 NewsCred 12
02 ResultsThe Trust Transaction
Millennials The Most Highly Engaged Audience
In Millennials, our study shows that financial services have a positive, eager audience, keen to interact, but
only if the content fits in with their lives. Whether it’s through a combination of creating original content,
licensing relevant content or working with an agency, thinking outside the box – and outside their industry
comfort zone – is evidently crucial for banks when it comes to reaching and retaining Millennials.
Travel & Holiday Information
Careers Information & Advice
Local Area Information
Music News & Articles
Tech & Gadget Guides
Recipes
Health
Fashion & Beauty
18 - 24
Average
© 2014 NewsCred 13
02 ResultsThe Trust Transaction
Fixing the Gaps Where Financial Services May Be Missing Opportunities
There are typical content traps that financial
services can fall into that cause consumers to
simply switch off. The top four as revealed by our
survey are: being too sales-oriented (19%), boring
(18%), long (12%), or hard to understand (11%).
Perhaps the biggest content faux pas of all is not
providing content. Forty-six percent of respondents
say they expect their bank to provide helpful
personal finance articles. Ten percent say they
don’t expect it, but wish their bank provided it.
19%TOO SALES-ORIENTED
18%TOO BORING
12%TOO LONG
19%HARD TO UNDERSTAND
© 2014 NewsCred 14
03 Case StudiesThe Trust Transaction
Santander
Branded content doesn’t necessarily have to mean
producing and distributing your own content from
scratch at great expense – many great content
marketing strategies depend just as much on
licensing content or working in partnership with
publishers to be successful without overburdening
your internal team.
Santander took the latter approach with the launch
of their ‘Successful Modern Entrepreneurship’
campaign last year, working with The Times to
reach small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in
the UK with helpful tips, news, and case studies,
as showcased on the SME Hub. Santander chose
one of the oldest and most prestigious newspaper
brands in England to partner with, reinforcing their
own expertise and authority when it comes to
helping SMEs with their financial demands.
The partnership kicked off with a four-page
supplement in the national newspaper last October,
and has continued with further supplements, all
featuring contributions from business experts
ranging from Dragon Den’s James Caan to Times
writers such as business features editor Carol Lewis.
Santander didn’t stop there, however: they brought
their print content to life with an online hub
(featuring blogs, videos, and live Q&As) as well as
a series of events, including The Times’ inaugural
SME Summit. This variety of channels not only
allowed Santander to stay front-of-mind with their
target audience, no matter where they might be, it
also provided the bank the opportunity to speak
in-depth about the wide array of issues affecting
SMEs.
The partnership has even benefited The Times,
who wanted to be seen as a go-to news resource
for small businesses and entrepreneurs, making it a
win all round.
Case Studies
© 2014 NewsCred 15
03 Case StudiesThe Trust Transaction
Barclays Digital Eagles
Queuing in line at the bank to make a payment is
increasingly being replaced by online transactions,
but these technological changes can be daunting
for some customers who are less familiar with the
digital world. Barclays decided to go the extra mile
to encourage their less Internet-savvy customers
to get online by providing them the tools – and the
confidence – to do so.
The Digital Eagles programme launched last year,
and has grown significantly as Barclays invested in
training thousands of its own employees with the
skills and knowledge to help customers – and the
general public – to get online and become digitally
active.
Aside from their free in-store ‘Tea & Teach’
sessions, Barclays also offers the same advice in a
variety of how-to videos and detailed guides that
range from general topics (eg: ‘How to keep your
computer free of viruses’) to Barclays-specific ones
(‘How to set up the Barclays Mobile App’).
But instead of just limiting themselves to these
straightforward guides, Barclays has also used a
human touch to get their message across. Their
YouTube channel features videos such as that of
the over-50 ‘Walking Football’ league that wanted
to learn how to promote their group online, and
senior citizens Kent and Val learning how to Skype,
which have both attracted thousands of views
and served as the foundation of the bank’s TV
campaign.
Digital Eagles is all part of a larger push by
the bank to provide better in-branch services-
including the roll-out of 10,000 iPads in stores, and
technology to allow deaf customers to video chat
through a sign language specialist.
By bringing this same focus on increased customer
service to their online content, Barclays has
ensured not only that their online banking services
are the best they can be, but are also actually
being used by the people they were designed for.
© 2014 NewsCred 16
03 Case StudiesThe Trust Transaction
Royal Bank of Scotland
Before content marketing became a buzzword,
many brands had already developed their own
magazines to promote sales and loyalty against
editorial articles. Royal Bank of Scotland honed in
on their strengths by developing ‘Business Sense’
in 2007, a magazine aimed at SMEs in the UK that
offered advice and insight – written by business
people, for business people.
While ‘Business Sense’ began as a print magazine,
RBS was quick to evolve this into a digital offering.
Working with John Brown Media, RBS successfully
transformed their print title into an online hub with
articles, videos, and briefings, all updated on a
daily basis in short doses of shareable content
designed with the busy start-up founder or small
business owner in mind.
The bank hasn’t abandoned print entirely, however:
RBS also runs a print title, ‘Business Agenda,’
aimed at the corporate world and sent directly
to CEOs, MDs, and board members. ‘Business
Agenda’ is only published three times a year, in a
clear move for quality over quantity – the glossy
mag highlights their profiles of leading industry
figures with covers worthy of Forbes or Time. These
interviews are also available online, but it’s clear
the main appeal of this award-winning magazine is
its high-quality print presentation.
Like most large banks, RBS caters to a wide array of
customers within the industry alone, and designed
their two titles with this in mind. ‘Business Sense’
and ‘Business Agenda’ prove that when it comes to
content, one size doesn’t necessarily fit all.
© 2014 NewsCred 17
03 Case StudiesThe Trust Transaction
First Direct
Buying your first home is as intimidating as it is
exciting for many people, especially when it comes
to the financial aspect. In true First Direct fashion,
however, this disruptive bank went in the complete
opposite direction with their own home ownership
campaign in 2013. First Direct’s #myfirsthome
campaign focussed on one of the best parts of
buying a new home: putting your own unique
stamp on it by decorating it in any way you like.
First Direct asked three interior design bloggers
- Dear Designer, Patchwork Harmony, and The
Treasure Hunter - for their tips on decorating your
first home, and then filmed them putting these tips
into action in a short, upbeat video.
The bloggers made sure to stick to the theme
of first homes by showcasing budget conscious
decorating tips like framing wallpaper for artwork
and spray-painting furniture bright colours. It
doesn’t hurt that these tips can be easily applied
to anyone on a budget, whether they actually own
their own home or are just hoping to one day.
First Direct partnered with blogger Dear Designer
again this year, launching a competition to uncover
an ‘Unexpected Interior Designer’ to design the
First Direct Arena Bar in Yorkshire. This campaign
continues with the same quirky, cheery tone,
emphasising just how different this bank is from the
old guard by living up to its core brand value of ‘the
unexpected bank.’
© 2014 NewsCred 18
03 Case StudiesThe Trust Transaction
HSBC
Each summer, every High Street bank competes
relentlessly to reach young students on their way to
university and provide their first bank account. This
is with good reason – research has shown that Brits
are more likely to get divorced than change their
bank accounts. Reaching these young consumers
early is the key to lifetime relationships and repeat
business, and from the amount of advertising and
marketing aimed at this demographic, it’s clear
every bank knows that.
HSBC, however, cut through the noise about
competitive interest rates and stalls at Fresher’s
Week this year with a series of compelling short
films. Produced in collaboration with We Are
Social, TMW, and Mindshare, these four short
documentaries focus on four unique individuals,
like Jethro Binns, a former pro squash player who
started an online squash training portal after an
injury ended his career.
Instead of talking about the benefits of an HSBC
account – or even mentioning the bank’s name
– Binns and the other young documentary stars
focus on the way their time at university shaped
their future careers and lives, often in unexpected
ways.
At less than two minutes each, they’re designed
to be shared across the social channels young
people already engage with every day, but HSBC
didn’t stop there. They also planned a competition
for students that asked them to upload their own
‘future selfies,’ coinciding with the release of
A-levels results. The most inspiring or enterprising
ideas and ambitions will win students a prize to
help them meet these goals. Across the whole
campaign, the key aim is for the bank to let
students know that no matter what their future
selves end up doing, HSBC can help them realise
these dreams.
© 2014 NewsCred 19
04 ConclusionThe Trust Transaction
Conclusion
Our survey results show an opportunity for financial
services to build trust and loyalty through content
marketing - if they make the right investments.
The public doesn’t trust just anyone when it
comes to financial content, so banks need to think
carefully about how they build their editorial and
content strategies, using the right teams, tools, and
insight to make an impact on their target audience.
The rewards are already starting to pay off for
banks that are investing in content through
increased conversion, retention, trust, and loyalty.
Banks play a major role in significant life milestones
for their customers and they can have a greater
impact by providing accessible, digestible content
in the right places.
As our results show, consumers don’t just rely on
this - they are demanding it - and banks are being
judged by the quality of content they deliver.
© 2014 NewsCred 20
05 About NewsCredThe Trust Transaction
About NewsCred
NewsCred is the leading content marketing
platform. Pairing cutting-edge software with world-
class content, NewsCred transforms brands into
storytellers.
NewsCred’s Content Marketing Cloud© provides
the easiest end-to-end solution for content
planning, creation, publishing, and analytics. In
one place, brands gain unprecedented access to
the world’s largest content marketplace, including
licensed content from over 4,000 publishers and
original content from NewsCred’s award-winning
journalist network.
Through NewsCred, global brands like Pepsi, P&G,
Dell, General Electric, and AIG have seen explosive
growth in social sharing, engagement, and lead
generation.
Founded in 2008 by Shafqat Islam, Iraj Islam, and
Asif Rahman, NewsCred has offices in New York,
London, and Dhaka and is backed by FirstMark
Capital, Mayfield Fund, IA Ventures, Greycroft
Partners, and others.
Learn more at newscred.com and follow us on
Twitter @newscred.
© 2014 NewsCred 21
05 About NewsCredThe Trust Transaction
© 2014 NewsCred / NewsCred.com / (212) 989-4100 / [email protected]