To best develop and nurture client relationships, banks should place greater emphasis on building market mix and contact cadence models than on figuring out who is buying what.

Boston, MA, November 19, 2008 – A new report from Aite Group, LLC examines the marketing analytics capabilities and plans of retail financial services firms, and specifically looks at model development, measurement, data and technology. Based on the results of a survey of 24 financial institutions conducted in Q2 and Q3 2008, the report provides insight into the marketing models retail financial services currently have in production, which models they plan to develop and enhance over the next three years, the marketing metrics they measure, and the effectiveness of those measures. It also sheds light on the data sources they currently use and plan to use to fuel their analytics efforts, and their spending plans regarding technologies that support the analytics function.

Financial firms recognize that their analytics capabilities are in need of improvement. Almost half of the survey respondents believe that their models are out-of-date, and nearly two-thirds said that the process for identifying and implementing models is either undefined, or, if defined, often a challenge. As a result, many firms find that their model development cycle is too long. While Aite Group's research indicates that that firms of all sizes plan to increase spending on analytics, spending is lackluster on building market mix and contact cadence models, which would carry the greatest impact.

"Database marketing and analytics has been a staple of many retail financial services firms, and some have developed sophisticated analytics capabilities to drive direct marketing efforts," says Ron Shevlin, senior analyst with Aite Group and author of this report. "However, improving the bank's ability to figure out who's most likely to buy the product-of-the-month - and raising campaign response rates by a fraction of a percentage point - shouldn't be marketing's highest priority. The main focus should be on figuring out how to best allocate marketing dollars between marketing channels, and how to integrate those channels within campaigns."

This 29-page Impact Report contains 21 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:

• Retail Banking: Why Online Marketing Matters
• Mobile Marketing: Reach Out and Touch Someone
• The Hallmarks of High-Performing Integrated Marketers in Retail Financial Services
• Online Banking Performance: Executing in a Multichannel World

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