Financial institutions should prioritize migrating customers systematically from banking online to paying bills online to receiving e-bills.

Boston, MA, June 18, 2008 – A new report from Aite Group, LLC examines key indicators of multichannel online banking performance at large U.S. financial institutions. Based on a survey of 23 of the top 80 U.S. financial institutions conducted by Aite Group in Q1 2008, the report looks at six indicators of online banking performance: benefits institutions receive from converting customers to online banking, bill pay and e-bills; online sales; channel integration, including mobile banking; consumers’ trust and level of comfort with online banking, mobile banking and e-mail; online fraud losses; and overall execution in key areas.

Most financial institutions experience at least some improvement in deposit balances, product ownership, retention and/or lower servicing costs as consumers move through the stages of becoming online banking users, then bill pay users, then e-bill users. A minority see no improvement at all. It is becoming more urgent than ever for these institutions to generate value elsewhere, such as by attracting new customers to the online channel online and cross-selling existing ones. Most financial institutions could significantly increase the value driven by their institution from online banking by seeking to systematically migrate customers from banking online to paying bills online to receiving e-bills.

"Financial services marketers often develop sophisticated models to determine how frequently, and through which channel(s), they should contact prospects to make sales offers," says Ron Shevlin, senior analyst with Aite Group and co-author of this report. "Even so, few — if any — large financial institutions do this to determine how frequently they should contact online banking customers to make offers to adopt online bill pay or e-bills. Banks should adopt more rigorous and sophisticated approaches for migrating customers through these stages."

This 33-page Impact Report contains 24 figures. Clients of Aite Group's Retail Banking service can download the report by clicking on the icon to the right.

Related Aite Group Research:

• The Hallmarks of High-Performing Integrated Marketers in Retail Financial Services
• Online and Mobile Banking Product Development Roadmap
• Fraud Management Strategies of U.S. Financial Institutions: The Drive Toward "Enterprise-Wide"
• Usage Trends in Online and Mobile Banking: Upping the Ante

To purchase this report or
for additional information,
please contact:
Aite Group Sales
Tel: +1.617.338.6050
sales@aitegroup.com