The BBC reported on 30 September that TSB will be closing 164 branches because of a significant shift in customer behaviour. And TSB is not alone – both Natwest and the Co-operative Bank announced cuts back in August. On the face of it, it makes perfect sense – when the government was encouraging us to go back to the office, less than 40 per cent did. Now we’re being encouraged to stay home if we can, so unless someone opens a bank in our living rooms, it’s just not convenient to stop by the bank on our lunch break!
The truth is that branches cost money. In fact, over the last 50 years, branches have cost more money than they make. Since the first hole in the wall, banks have been trying to justify every new channel by closing branches. With ATMs, telephone payments, and online banking, customers will not need to go into the branch as often. All of these are very plausible arguments, and all of them have proven pretty much false, or at least not as strong as the business cases for each channel assumed.
These new channels did change our behaviour, but not necessarily away from the branch. Rather, we now interact with our bank much more than we ever have before. In our Financial Services Spotlight Webinar on 1 October, our speakers gave us some tips on how to navigate these changes. Read on for a summary of the presentations.
Unspaghetti: How Do We Save Our Company’s Web Presence Before It Gets Out of Control?
With 15 years’ experience in digital strategy, Codehouse have seen numerous ways that organisations have “spaghettified” their web presences and, in this webinar, their Digital Strategy & UX Consultant Shaun Miller gives a quick snapshot of some of the lessons they’ve learned. He covers three main points, including “sub” websites, jumbled tech platforms, and inconsistent branding.
Building and Maintaining Consumer Trust with Video
A lot has changed in video marketing over the last six months – 80 per cent of consumers now watch more videos than they did before coronavirus. Unfortunately, having people locked up at home is a many-edged sword – it’s easier to get people to watch, but it’s harder to make things. How do you film with actors when they’re not allowed to sit next to each other? How would you film on location when every private property in the country has closed their doors to the public? Jon Mowat, Managing Director at Hurricane, explains how.
Applying Data Modelling Techniques to Produce Actionable Insights on Your Customers. Case-study: Tesco Bank
Marc Dallimore, Director of Data Science at Edit, explains what attribution is to them, and gives us an insight to their work with Tesco Bank. He also discusses the process they go through, and the benefits of doing so.
Twenty Top Tips Challenger Brands Use in Marketing
If you’re a new brand on the scene, how do you go about creating a challenger brand? If you see yourself as a challenger brand right now, are you doing all you can to prove that you have what it takes to earn that title? And finally, if you are a well-established brand, but you’d like to have more of a challenger brand mentality, how can you achieve this? Brad Smith, Digital Strategist at Illustrate, gives us some tips challenger brands use in marketing.
How the Lockdown Affected Financial Services Brands, and How It Made Us Better Advertisers
Gareth Morgan, Managing Director at Liberty Marketing, talks about what they learned during the national lockdown, and looks at ways some financial services brands did well out of the situation, so that you can consider preparing similar things for the next crisis, and ensure that you aren’t caught out next time.