Social Insights for the Financial Service Industry

2/23/2017 Consumer Insights for the Financial Service IndustryBrandwatch
https://www.brandwatch.com/reports/ﬁnancial-services/view/ 1/13
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Financial Services
SOCIAL INSIGHTS
Technology, digital transformation, and the industry’s evolution
towards the customer
7 Minute Read

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Financial service institutions facilitate billions of transactions each day. Here’s how
technology and younger consumers are molding the industry.
Executive Summary
As some of the least trusted organizations, and with customers increasingly in uenced by the
digital revolution of other sectors, nancial service institutions must build comprehensive
strategies that prepare them for the changing consumer universe.
Through the perspective of social data, Brandwatch looked at a few ways that technology and
changing consumer behaviors have affected three branches of nancial services: consumer
banking, card/payment, and insurance.
In the last section, we discuss how these societal changes will continue to affect the industry and
nancial consumers globally. Fintech will continue to transition from the tools utilized mostly by
Millennials to the main service touchpoint for most customers, and new monetary systems like
bitcoin will disrupt both consumer behavior and nancial regulations around the industry.
Financial service institutions will need to convert real-time data into immediate actions in order
to face the inevitable changes in their industry.
REPORT HIGHLIGHTS:
Introduction
How technology is shifting customers’ relationships with nancial services
When discussing nancial services, consumers mention ‘convenience’ 6X more often than
they do ‘security’
•
Digital banking experiences on mobile and web bank apps are more positively discussed
than non-digital banking experiences
•
Baby Boomers make up nearly three-fourths of insurance conversation online•

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Financial service institutions are charged with keeping our money, assets, and transactions
secure. Monetary and nancial institutions have been in existence for millennia, and many banks
still in operation can trace their origins—and their business structure—back several centuries.
While nancial institutions are among the most established companies of any industry, the
integral space they occupy in our society makes these institutions most threatened by changes in
consumer behavior and a progressively technological society.
Since the recession, nancial service institutions have experienced a lack of consumer trust and
lag in market growth, compared to other industries. In tandem with the growing distrust, the
changing market and consumer base are transforming how these institutions interact with their
customers.
A generation de ned by their relationship with the internet revolution of the 2000s, millennials are
emerging as important nancial decision-makers across the globe.This demographic is vital for
nancial institutions to consider, as their behaviors are currently informing decisions about
nancial technologies and in uencing the market at large.
Additionally, as consumers are increasing demand for convenient, on-demand services in every
industry, nancial institutions must be sure they’re acclimating to expectations. In an industry
once shackled by the goals of keeping company data secure and private, nancial institutions
now must also consider the ease and convenience of their services compared to their
competitors.
This trend among consumers is immediately apparent when looking at the conversations
surrounding 41 of the largest nancial institutions. When referencing these organizations,
‘convenience’ was discussed much more frequently than mentions related to security, with only
temporary bursts of conversations about security and safety occurring directly following security
breaches or data hacks.

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Consumer Priorities for Financial Institutions
Figure 1: Analyzed 15,491 conversations about 41 nancial services institutions on Twitter through
segmentation with Brandwatch's Rules and Categories features.
Does this trend show that customers today feel security is a given, and thus don’t discuss it as
much? Or is this trend indicative of the industry-agnostic , an artifact of an
industry shifting its priorities towards convenient, easy services?
Brandwatch was interested in diving deeper into the expectations and sentiment consumers had
around different nancial service institutions.
With , social data analyses revealed trends within three sectors of nancial
institutions: banks, payment/card companies, and insurance companies. Speci cally, we
examined important facets of the brand-customer relationship, and the role technology will play
in the future of nancial services.
Banking Institutions
age of the consumer
Brandwatch Analytics

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Consumer insights reveal the effects of nancial service digital transformation
Since the 2007 global nancial crisis, trust and loyalty for banks have been unstable at best.
Banks have experienced the over the last 10 years, and according to
Forbes, their banking services in the next few
years.
With diminished brand loyalty in banking institutions, banks must consider how they position
themselves with the changing times. Banking has typically been thought of as traditional and
inconvenient; however, technology—both customer-facing and within the organization— can help
these companies provide more positive experiences.
The effect of mobile and web banking on customer sentiment is apparent when looking at social
data. It’s expected that when consumers reference banking experiences of any kind, the
conversations would generally be more negative. We just typically don’t mention average or
pleasant banking experience on social media.
However, there is a stark difference between how customers discuss interacting with electronic
services using mobile and web apps and the conversations they have about human interactions.
The following data highlights key insights into what bank customers need and expect from
banking interactions.
least growth in brand value
nearly half of Millennials would consider switching

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Sentiment Around Banking Experiences
Figure 2: Analyzes 31,237 conversations around bank services on social media. Experiences were
segmentation using Brandwatch's Rules and Categories features.
Nearly 60% of complaints about banks online are about non-digital experiences like bank visits
and phone calls. Over three-fourths of all emotive conversation around non-digital are negative,
with customers frequently complaining about negative banker interactions and extremely long
waittimes.
According to Viacom Media, almost expect technology to “overhaul the way
banks work.” Social consumer data provides a window into any banking experience, revealing
Nearly 60% of online complaints about banks are about non-digital
experiences like visits and phone calls.
– Brandwatch
half of Millennials

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insights as speci c as the most common issues U.S. customers have with mobile check deposits.
In an industry notorious for inconvenient experiences, learning from audience pain points can
help banks comprehend their customers’ needs and expectations to better prioritize service
changes and technological developments.
Payment Card Companies
Using social insights to connect with the new customer
Payment systems, including credit/debit card companies and technology companies like Paypal,
are as integral in people’s personal nances as companies can be. Like banking institutions, the
interactions between payment systems and their customers are very intimate and very frequent,
with occurring each day.
These companies are charged with the task of transferring personal or corporate nancial
information to another trusted, speci c entity. Individuals and corporations, therefore, expect that
their transfer is safe, secure, accurate and convenient.Because of this intimate relationship, it is
important for these companies to stay mindful of the mood of their clientele, and identify where
their relationships are weakest.
Because of this intimate relationship, it is important for these companies to stay mindful of the
mood of their clientele, and identify where their relationships are weakest.
Twitter, Facebook and public forums are ripe with customer questions and grievances, providing
companies with insight into their experiences. Therefore, it’s imperative for companies to
maximize on social intelligence technologies to capture these customer-service conversations
and crises online.
An audit of the conversations highlights three levels of service-related instances when people
mention nancial institutions directly: when they request help, after they’ve had a bad customer
service experience, and before they cancel, suspend their account, or threaten to switch
providers.
hundreds of millions of debit and credit card transactions

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Themes of Different Customer Service Mentions
Figure 3: Analyzes 11,374 online conversations surrounding nancial service companies from April 1, 2016
to February 1, 2017.
The analysis of conversations about insurance companies demonstrates a healthy customer-
service relationship, with fewer than 15% of customer-service mentions any more severe than
requesting help or asking questions.
However, banking institutions and card companies have more people reporting they had negative
customer service experiences or threatening to leave. Being able to use an analysis like this to
deduce the exact touchpoints where brand-customer relationships breakdown is integral in
maintaining trust, building loyalty, and improving customer sentiment around your brand.
HOW DO FINANCIAL SERVICES BUILD CUSTOMER TRUST?
Read more in our recent blog post about how nancial service industry can use Brandwatch to build
stronger consumer relationships
READ NOW

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An interesting addition to this— conversations regarding the electronic payment company PayPal
resembled those of other payment services. However, Paypal did receive fewer severe customer
experience mentions, with only about 30% of the discussions regarding bad customer
experiences or threats of cancellation.
The customer-service issues Paypal did receive were more technical in nature, as expected when
their transactions occur with minimal interpersonal activity needed. It will be interesting to
measure how sentiment around traditional card companies changes as payments and purchases
continue to reduce human involvement.
Insurance Companies
Learning from audience decision-making to encouraging future-thinking
Insurance companies of all types are are ghting an uphill battle. Today, people are just less likely
to get insurance. One role of insurance companies now is to get people to think of the future.
People feel less secure in their positions, change jobs more frequently, and believe insurance isn’t
a nancial priority at the current time.
As easy as it is to silo this trend as a result of strange “Millennial” decision-making, data
suggests that many individuals younger than 60-years-old are saving and investing less, and
deferring purchasing insurance.
The following analysis overlays social data around insurance with savings data collected from a
. It’s clear that the “Baby Boomer” generation is more
likely to be making future-oriented decisions, like having signi cant savings and discussing
insurance.
survey of 5,000 adults of different ages

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How Age Relates to Financial Behaviour
Figure 4: Compares 5,583 authors of social mentions about insurance or insurance companies between April
1, 2016 and February 1, 2017 with data from a GoBankingRates survey to analyze how age relates to
nancial and economic decisions.
This trend doesn’t necessarily re ect a lack of concern for nancial decisions. Currently,
owe student debt, a nancial burden that is dictating most of the
generation’s important life decisions, from choice in one’s apartment to age to have children.
Not just a symptom of Millennials, comes from individuals over
40. Our current economy and society have drastically morphed how people are making present
vs. future nancial decisions.
Insurance customers are signi cantly happier when they can receive an
of information and solutions. So in order to get more people, especially younger people,
considering the future in their nancial decisions, insurance companies should clearly articulate
solutions that apply to both their current customers and the audiences they hope to attract.
To do this, it’s important to understand the aspects of insurance that often provoke confusion or
require clari cation. Social data provides one window into that information.
three-
fourths of Millennials
35% of all current education debt
“effective, single source”

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Topics of Online Insurance Conversations
Figure 5: Analyzes 324,116 social media conversations mentioning insurance companies on Twitter or
Facebook from April 1, 2016 to February 1, 2017.
On social media, people typically had the most questions about current claims they’ve made, or
the cost or pricing of services. Understanding what customers are currently using social media
for arms insurance companies and even individual agents with the power to ensure current
customers with the exact resources they want and need.
Even more importantly, younger generations—those least likely to have insurance—are
with their nancial decisions, choosing to collect nancial and investment
information themselves rather than deferring such decisions to an advisor. Learning how these
demographics understand insurance, and their gaps in knowledge, should be informing
messaging and marketing strategy for companies targeting these groups.
Looking forward
Despite its current effect on the industry, digital services and FinTech isn’t new. Companies
already know how vital an online presence is, and the impact of convenient web and mobile apps
are on customer satisfaction. Even the most steadfastly traditional nancial organizations know
that the future of banking, transactions, requires both exibility and an eye on technology.
more
autonomous

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So, why are many companies still resistant to change?
More and more consumers are taking digital currency seriously. Each day, generations of people
who don’t remember a time before internet services are becoming nancial consumers. How can
companies and entire nancial systems quickly and ef ciently respond to these changes?
It’s vital these institutions adopt and implement the right technology to stay up-to-date with
consumer trends. Additionally, monitoring the sentiment and opinions around current services
and products can inform every part of a business: from development learning how people interact
with mobile products to individual advisors being trained on the needs and expectations of
different groups of consumers.
Finally, ensuring that company insights are communicated quickly to the right stakeholders is
imperative. Having an easy, instantaneous data communication platform like is
uniquely valuable for companies needing to quickly turn data into action.
Social intelligence is incomparable in providing nancial businesses with the tools needed to
situate themselves in the changing market. For more information about the data in this report or
how Brandwatch provides for nancial services, explore more of our or request a of
our products.
Even the most steadfastly traditional nancial organizations know their
futures require both exibility and an eye on changing technology
– Brandwatch
Brandwatch Vizia
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Social Insights for the Financial Service Industry

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