Pay-per-click clicktrough rate benchmark

• The average CTR across the financial services industry is 1.91% (for search engine networks).

• Click-through rate is of great value to advertisers. In most PPC platforms, the CTR aids in determining the ranking of an ad and the cost per click.

• Higher CTR in Google ads means a greater ranking and reduced costs.

• A good click-through rate for Google Ads usually depends on the objectives of the business, the business type and the industry.
• Most online customer journeys start with searching the web. In this regard, PPC advertising is a cost effective way of adjusting the search engine results in a way that is favorable for the business.

• To get high returns, the company in charge of PPC should continually optimize business campaigns, convert visits into sales and make data-driven decisions.

Banner ad clickthrough rate benchmark

• In the financial industry, the average website CTR is 0.35% per display advertisement. A good website CTR for a financial services company should be above 0.5%.

• When it comes to search engine optimization, the CTR is usually greater than the display network CTR. This is due to the fact that, when it comes to search engine optimization, ads directly target customers' search query. When it comes to display advertisements, the ads come in form of banner advertisements which are not as  precisely targeted.

• If banner advertisements are utilized to promote services of a financial company, they should contain images that easily grab visitors' attention. When used on a financial services company website, banner ads increase visibility, provide useful data and support re-targeting.

• The best practice to increase the CTR is to monitor usage data and evaluate the results in-depth.

Page conversion rate benchmark

• The average page conversion rate in the financial service industry is 4.02%.

• The page conversion rates vary greatly across industries. This is due to large differentiations in decision-making processes and commitment levels across specific business lines.

• Page conversion rates can be boosted by improving user experience, using a wizard to personalize user experience, eliminating standard landing page copies and reducing unnecessary information.

Frequency by which active users visit a website

•  Five percent of users per month accessing financial services via desktop return. The percentage means that the average user visits the website 1.5 days over one month.
• About 4.8% of users per month return via the mobile web; which means that on the average, users visit the website 1.44 days over one month through this channel.
•  Ten percent of users per month return via mobile app. The percentage means that on average, users visit the website three days over one month.

Conversion Benchmarks

• Conversion entails the completion of an action by the user that generates revenue.
• Desktop web converts 25% of its users.
• Mobile web converts 24% of its users.
• Mobile app converts 37% of its users.

Additional Information

• Desktop web retains 30% of its users after one month.
• Mobile web retains 20% of its users after one month.
• Mobile app retains 43% of its users after one month.

• The average time spent on financial websites via desktop is 6.85 minutes.
• The average time spent on financial websites via mobile is 3.31 minutes.

• Average page views on desktop is 8.66.
• Average page views on mobile is 5.20.

• Desktop: 17.6% 
• Mobile platform: 32.6%

• Desktop: 44.6% 
• Mobile: 51.65% 
• Tablet: 3.75% 

Research Strategy:

CASE 1: HONDA

• Honda Motor Company Ltd. was founded in 1948. It is a Japanese ‘public multinational conglomerate’. The company manufactures motorcycles, automobiles, and power supplies.
• In 2019, Honda got a score of 49 on Net Promoter. This is considered very good, as the industry average for Car Manufactures and Consume Brands is 39. This means that Honda would have had a high number of promoters who ranked them 9 or higher, and a high number of passives who ranked them 7 or higher.
• On Consumer Affairs, 841 customers overall gave Honda a 4.1-star rating. On another customer metric system, Dealer Rater, 238 customers gave Honda an overall 4.9-star rating.
• Honda takes pride in delivering delightful customer service at all times. Their customer service starts when they are developing new cars, as they ensure that each design is based on their customer's wants and needs. They continue that level of service even after the car is purchased.
• They offer product updates to their customers, and even the Honda Extended Guarantee provides customers with reassurance against unexpected electrical and repair costs. This even covers the UK and European breakdowns.
• Honda even offers complimentary safety checks. They check windscreen wipers, fluid levels, brakes, clutch, exposed belts, external lights, engine noise, battery condition, and lots of other things.
• If customers have an issue with any of the company’s products or services, they can choose from a variety of ways to get in touch with the company. They can call the contact center or write them a letter.
• Honda also offers 24/7, 365 days a year, break down and accident assistance.
• Honda’s customer service is even extended to its own employees. The company willingly accepts new ideas that their employees may have as it relates to care designs and anything else that will lead to the company’s advancement.

• Honda stands out from its competitors because it does not globalize its customer service. Each Honda location operates as autonomous companies.
• They adapt customer service and design based on consumer behavior and local conditions. This makes it a top brand in each country it operates.

CASE 2: SPEC SAVERS

• Specsavers is a British ‘multinational optical retail chain’. The company has been in operation for over 30 years and operates in 10 different countries.
• In 2019, Specsavers had a score of 29 on Net Promoter. This is considered a good score as they passed the average score of other companies in the same market. This means that Specsavers would have had a reasonably high number of promoters who ranked them 9 or higher, and a high number of passives who ranked them 7 or higher.
• On Trust Pilot, 25,030 customers gave spec savers an overall rating of 4.0.
• Specsavers offers exceptional customer service to everyone who enters its stores. The company’s customer service starts from their product designs as they match each design to their customers’ needs and wants.
• At Specsavers, they keep their customers happy by fixing any problems with their products, free of cost, within 3 months of purchase.
• To ensure that their customers’ complaints are dealt with quickly, they advise them to make complaints to their local store. This ensures that their issue is dealt with in the fastest possible time.
• They also ensure that they listen to the concerns of their customers. For this, company gives questionnaires to customers where they can provide their feedback on their experiences. They assure customers what they will follow up on each concern. They even offer prizes for customers who fill out the questionnaires.
• For customers who are unable to visit the store due to physical or mental disability, the company offers a free at-home visit to test both eyes and hearing.
• A customer posted an article that followed the entire customer service process at Specsavers. He arrived 10:25 am for his 10:35 am appointment and the office was packed with customers. He was booked in and immediately shown to a waiting area. Within moments, he was then brought to do his visual health checks.
• This customer was offered the opportunity to book a hearing test. The attendant, he said, was extremely friendly and made him feel comfortable. As soon as he returned to the waiting area, he was called into the examination room where he spent 20 minutes and got his prescription, after which a call was made to the desk for a dispensing optician.
• The dispensing optician took him to the examination room. The optician followed the test and examination notes and delivered great service. In two weeks, he collected his glasses and was told of their 90 days 100% satisfaction guarantee.
• He was also given a 50% discount voucher to purchase more glasses. He was indeed delighted.

• Specsavers offers free-at-home testing to its customers who are not well enough to make it to the store. It offers both vision and hearing tests.
• This makes them stand out from their competitors as they show their customers that they care about them.

Research Strategy:

1) LLOYDS BANK

• The U.K.-based financial institution placed joint second in customer service by professional services firm, Engine's, survey of over 1,000 customers.
• The financial services company boasts a net promoter score (NPS) of 61.8, according to the institution's latest annual report.
• LLoyds Bank provides immediate customer service support in a variety of mediums including in-person at a branch, over the telephone, and online.
• As reported by the financial services institution, 85% of customers seeking support for a complaint receive a resolution to their problem during the same encounter.
• The company handles complaints by providing a response within five working days, either to provide an update or a resolution to the issue.
• If there is no resolution within five business days, Lloyds Bank provides a detailed response of the contact information of the person or specialized team assigned to the case and an expected date of response for customers to remain updated and once all details of the complaint have been investigated they will issue a formalized "final response." 
• The Bank operates by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) guidelines, which state that any complaints relating to payment services or e-money (e.g. Direct Debit, Online Transaction) will receive a final response within 15 business days after receipt of a complaint though if there are unforeseen outside circumstances causing a delay, a final response will be provided within a maximum of 35 business days. 
• For all other complaints, the FCA guidelines provide a maximum of eight weeks for a final response, though Lloyds Bank aims to have a final response well before this deadline.
• Lloyds Bank is a leader in customer experience, providing innovative services such as providing personalized services such as the Lend a Hand mortgage support to first time buyers, launching an API-enabled Open Banking aggregation capability to provide customers with more control over current accounts within Lloyds and outside institutions concurrently, and a Remote Advice video service to provide financial services virtually to over 38,000 customers.

2) NORDEA

• Nordea is a Scandinavian financial services company that leads with an NPS benchmark of 46.
• While lower than Lloyds Bank's NPS benchmark, Nordea's NPS of 46 is higher compared to its competitors (e.g., Danske Bank, SEB) due to the fact that several Nordic banks are struggling with money laundering concerns.
• Providing great customer service experience is Nordea's number one organizational priority and it has developed a strategic plan complete with analytics, skilled IT management, innovative partnerships, and effective risk management to accomplish excellent customer service for its clients.
• Nordea strives to provide great customer service by soliciting and processing customer feedback through its various feedback channels (e.g., Nordea customer service, online Feedback form, hard copy Feedback form available in-person at branches).
• In order to improve the quality of products and service delivery, Nordea implores its customers to fill out Feedback forms or to contact a Nordea customer service representative with any feedback, to which the Customer Service team will reply within a maximum of three working days.
• However, feedback that may require additional investigation will typically receive a final response in about 14 days.
• If customers are not satisfied with the Customer Service team's response, for any reason, they may contact a Nordea customer ombudsman, an advisory body independent of the bank, or the authorities for further assistance.
• For any cases of misconduct or irregularities (i.e., fraudulent, inappropriate, dishonest, illegal or negligent activity or behavior), Nordea has a whistle blowing policy in place for customers to appropriately report misconduct.
• Nordea's organization is divided into four components to optimize the customer service experience, Personal Banking, Commercial & Business Banking, Wholesale Banking, and Asset & Wealth Management by ensuring optimal delivery of specialized services while increasing time spent with customers and reducing time spent introducing new products to the market.
• The Core Banking program launched in 2018 by Nordea fully digitizes the customer experience and leverages data analytics for true digital end-to-end customer experiences and replacing multiple country-specific systems with a unified Nordic banking system for easier control across accounts.

RESEARCH STRATEGY

MOST TRUSTED

• According to the 2017 Global Trust Report by global researcher, the Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions, the three most trusted industries by European consumers are clothes and footwear manufacturers, trades (e.g., plumbers), and consumer electronics and household appliance manufacturers, with scores of 75, 74 and 71, respectively.
• On a global basis, marketing consultancy, Edelman, reported within its 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer that the three most trusted industries by consumers worldwide are the technology, automotive and entertainment industries, with scores of 78, 69 and 68, respectively.
• For clothes and footwear manufacturers, consumer trust is largely impacted by perceptions of the companies' labor practices, as well as how "environmentally-responsible" they are in managing their supply chains, with companies building trust by improving practices and transparency, according to market researcher Ipsos MORI and non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch.
• Trades and skilled workers, in contrast, build or lose trust through individual interactions, including the quality of work delivered and whether a tradesman is courteous and polite in dealings with the customer.
• Finally, for consumer electronics and household appliance manufacturers, consumer trust and purchasing behavior hinges on brand reliability, and trust is diminished when companies in the industry sell products that have "faulty and unreliable performance."

LEAST TRUSTED

• According to the 2017 Global Trust Report by global researcher, the Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions, the three least trusted industries by European consumers are telecommunications, toy manufacturers and airlines, with scores of 62, 65 and 65, respectively.
• On a global basis, marketing consultancy, Edelman, reported within its 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer that the three least trusted industries by consumers worldwide are the financial services, energy and consumer packaged goods industries, with scores of 57, 65 and 65, respectively.
• For telecommunications companies, consumer trust is largely impacted by perceptions of whether companies are "trusted protectors of data," with consumers losing or gaining trust for companies if they have control over and/or believe a telecommunications organization will protect their personal data, according to research by consultancy Oliver Wyman.
• Toy manufacturers build or lose trust with consumers both from how satisfied the customer is with the product, based on marketing commitments and actual results, as well as based on larger corporate actions or behaviors which demonstrated "integrity and benevolence."
• Finally, consumer trust in the airline industry is improved or undermined through a variety of factors, including how a customer relates to the airline's brand, a consumer's awareness of the brand, the airline's reputation in the media and even the transparency with which the airline prices and delivers service.

RESEARCH STRATEGY

CONSUMER TRUST — FINANCIAL SERVICES

• According to the Consumer International Organization, the global financial crisis prompted a collapse of consumer trust in the banking system. It also prompted regulatory responses that increased capital requirements and steps to reshape the structure of banks, to minimize the risk of a repeat crisis in years to come
• In Europe, financial service providers like banks and insurance companies are the least trusted industry with 57% UK's, 23% Spain, 35% Denmark, 37% France, 45% Poland, and 22% in Italy.
• Average consumer trust in the financial service industry in Europe countries was 35% in 2018.
• According to the report by Instantly Brand Monitor in 2015, consumer trust in bank brands relative to tech firms found that the financial services offered by PayPal, Google, and Apple enjoy high levels of trust comparable with the largest banks.
• According to 2017/19 report, Edelman Trust Barometer Financial services are the least trusted of all other industries but has continued to experience continued growth in the period 2012 – 2019.
• In 2019, consumer trust in financial services stood at 57% but still the least trusted industry that varies across the mass population and informed public.
• In 2017, consumer trust in financial services stood at 54% and grew by 11% in the global market; 35% in Germany and the UK 45% trust remains a minority sentiment.
•  Traditional banks remain the most trusted institution to create and maintain the best solution to financial onboarding woes because they utilize reusable digital identity schemes.
• According to Accenture report, trust in banks and insurers is high where 78% of respondents in their survey said they trust their bank to look after their long-term financial well-being, while 68% trust their insurer to do the same.
• According to a survey carried out by Significant on adults from Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, the UK, and Sweden about their digital on-boarding experience with retail bank accounts, credit cards, and insurance — 44% of consumers trust banks to manage their digital identity, 25% stands at Government schemes, while retailers and social media platforms aren’t trusted as at all, only chosen by 3% and 2% of respondents respectively.
•  Consumers do not trust banks for financial services offered by fin-tech companies.
• According to Bain company’s survey of 151,894 consumers in 29 countries; 54% of respondents trust at least one tech company more than banks in general and 29% trust at least one tech company more than their primary bank.
• According to a research survey by Brand Finance, NG-DiBa is Germany’s most trusted bank with customer consent for trustworthiness standing at 80.8% and 75.0% of the market because they offer direct banking without branches and with a limited number of consumer offer.
• ING-Diba has approximately 9 million customers in Germany.
• Deutsche Bank is the least trusted major bank with only 46.8% customer rating on integrity and trustworthiness.
• Volksbank and Sparkasse, Commerzbank stand at 67.8%, 63.9%, and 53.8% respectively.
• According to Brand Finance, public banks are less trusted than private banks because they are more localized and have more cooperate complexity to attend to their customer's needs.
• Europe Assistance is the most trusted brand in the finance service industry in France, with a rating of 71%.
• Europe Assistance is most trusted for the way they assist and support over 300 million customers in times of stress, responding to their need on time, and support during their daily lives achieved with the commitment of their employees.
•  Europe Assistance also align technological advances with evolving customer expectation and generation of personalized and innovative services that meet the new needs and uses of customers.

BUILDING CUNSUMER TRUST AMONG FINANCIAL SERVICE PROVIDERS

• According to Elderman's trust survey 2019, tech-innovations are taking the lead to gain consumer trust.
•  Digital transformation aligned to protecting data and assets, fairer access to credit, financial inclusion for the bank, and digital gamification to advance financial literacy drive higher consumer trust.
• About 53% of consumers trust digital transformation that allows integration of access to financial services and aspects of a customer’s financial life.
• According to the manager, Santander Consumer Bank, it is significantly easier to win a client who uses BankID rather than other forms of ID. From our experience, 7 out of 10 car loan applicants complete their applications when using BankID, as opposed to 2 out of 10 normally.
•  Consumers no longer want to deal with application processes that are long and frustrating to complete. Digital identity is sure to play a critical role — but banks must implement changes more quickly than they have been.
•  East Africa Fintech apps like Mpesa and TIGO Insurance in conjunction with banking institutions are increasing consumer trust through effective supervision — digitally managed and enhancing financial inclusion.
•  Finance service providers build trust through internal innovation, self-disruption, and capitalizing on their advantages.

LOSING CONSUMER TRUST FINANCIAL SERVICE PROVIDERS

• Globally, the most important social issue influencing consumer trust is income inequality and financial security.
• However, digital innovation targeting trust amongst these issues are lagging far behind traditional products and services.
•  Financial service providers lose consumer because they ignore the risks of a breach of trust, increased cost, and lack of competitive prices or when the customer does not feel valued by not getting products that suit their needs or when they feel that they complaints are not taken seriously.
• According to Edelman 2019, 78% of consumers believe how a company treats its employees is one of the best indicators of its trustworthiness.
• The public relies on employer and employee relationship for guidance during turbulent times.
•  Employees of financial services companies trust their employer to do the right thing more than employees of other sectors.
•  Edelman concluded that financial service providers who trust their employees are far more likely to advocate on their behalf, stay loyal, be engaged and live your organization’s values, and be strongly committed to their job and the customers they serve which enhances consumer trust.
• Banks that were recorded to have lost their consumer trusts are Wells Fargo provided little transparency into what caused so many accounts to be opened without customer approval — ex-employees attributed many of the problems to a cutthroat culture.
•  Bank of England consumers lost trust in the banking entity and bankers after the crash of 2008.
•  Deutsche Bank demonstrated a good way of losing trust amongst its employees.

Research Strategy:

NET PROMOTER SCORE (NPS)

• A net promoter score is the likelihood of a consumer to recommend a product or service to another consumer.
• With NPS, the customer ranks a brand on a scale of 1 to 10 on how likely he/she can recommend it to a friend/family; 1 being the lowest customer satisfaction and 10 being the highest.
• Using this, the company can record negative, positive, and neutral responses pertaining to the various brands it offers. This helps it to gauge how much of its customer base has trust in a certain brand.
• Within the NPS scale, there are three different types of consumers: passives, detractors, and promoters.
• Those consumers who rank the brand at score lower or equal to 6 are known as detractors. Detractors are consumers who are not satisfied with the brand and are likely to choose a competitor for their next purchase because they lost trust in that brand.
• People who rank the brand with a 7 or 8 score are considered as passives. These won't spread negative word-of-mouth about the brand but will not promote it to other people.
• Those who give a score of 9 or 10 are considered as promoters. These are satisfied with the brand and will recommend it to other people because they trust it.
• The digital customer survey is the best way to collect data for NPS.
• The total Net Promoter Score is calculated by subtracting “Detractors” percentage from “Promoters” percentage.

REPURCHASE RATIO

• This measures the ratio of repeat purchasers over one-time purchasers. Purchasing is a fundamental element in a commercial relationship, which makes this metric a valid representation of customer trust.
• However, this metric can easily be distorted. This is, if a consumer sees it takes a lot of effort to switch to another brand provider, he/she will keep repurchasing at the same provider and would nevertheless switch if this effort would be mitigated.
• For example, at Userlike company, they kept renewing their contract with Help Desk software for a long time. They didn't think of switching because all of their customer data was locked in the tool. However, when Help Scout software was launched with an option to easily transfer all this data to their tool, they didn't hesitate to switch to other brands
• The calculation of this repurchase ratio differs per business model. Those who have a subscription-based model simply divide the number of customers that extend after their first contract period by the ones that cancel after their first contact period.
• For the transaction-based models, it's a bit challenging because the intervals between purchases are not fixed.
• For this model, to know the number of repeat buyers, first, someone calculates the average time between the first and second buys of repeat customers and its standard variation.
• Adding two times the standard variation to the average time will capture 95% of brand repeat customers, hence, dividing this by the number of non-repeat buyers will provide an estimated repurchase ratio.
• This is the tool used to calculate the standard deviation.
• The repurchasing ratio shows the number of customers trusting a certain brand.

UPSELLING RATIO

• This metric tracks the ratio of consumers who’ve bought more than one type of product divided by the consumers who’ve bought only one product.
• It's almost the same to the repurchase ratio, but the only difference is; It involves the purchasing of various products.
• When consumers start buying new products/brands of the company that provides their favorite brand/product, it shows a clear indication of customer loyalty. This is, the trust the company gained through its consumers' previous experience has reflected on its other product/brand offerings.
• The more different the added product is from the customer's favorite product/brand, the stronger the customer's loyalty is. For example, a consumer buying a kilo of apples at the grocery shop he/she knows to have great pears.
• The upselling ratio is calculated by dividing the number of customers with multiple products by the number of customers with a single product.

CUSTOMER LOYALTY INDEX (CLI)

• CLI is a tool used to track the customer's loyalty over time. It integrates the values of repurchasing, upselling, and net promoter score.
• With this tool, the company can identify how much its customer base has trust in their brands/products.
• It calculates all the three values with an NPS-like questionnaire on a 6-point scale; where 1 stands for “Definitely Yes”, while 6 stands for “Definitely No”.
• The questions asked on the questionnaire include how likely are you to recommend us to your friends or contacts?, how likely are you to buy from us again in the future, and how likely are you to try out other of our products/services?

• The total CLI is the average score of the 3 responses.
• The answer scores are: 1 = 100, 2 = 80, 3 = 60, 4 = 40, 5 = 20, 6 = 0.

• The disadvantage of this approach is that the questions are asked directly for the consumer's intention. This may provide false information compared to measuring the actual behavior of the consumer.
• However, by consistently sending this questionnaire to consumers over time allows the systematic tracking of trust changes among the consumers.
• The advantage of this approach is that it incorporates all consumer trust values.
• This is an example of CLI Questionnaire. By using Google Forms, it can be copied easily.