The Website Blind Spot Benchmark Study: Results and Insights | Ep. 436

The Website Blind Spot Benchmark Study: Results and Insights | Ep. 436

Let’s face it, a lot of financial institutions are really struggling to position themselves online and make the most of their digital channels. Many banks and credit unions sound more like robots with their scripted value propositions and fail to address the real issues their account holders have. This leads to a ton of missed opportunities and a lot of money left on the table. Despite digital channels having the potential to outshine physical branches, they’re often underperforming due to poor optimization practices.?

In this episode of the Practical Perspectives series, James Robert Lay and Audrey Cannata discuss insights from a recent Website Blind Spot Benchmark they conducted. The big takeaway? Regular website assessments can help pinpoint problem areas and unlock some serious financial gains. By properly mapping out customer journeys, banks can create a clear path that guides customers from the first click all the way to a completed transaction, reducing confusion and boosting confidence.

Key Insights and Takeaways

  • Understanding Positioning and Customer Journeys (02:38)
  • The Importance of Ongoing Optimization (18:12)
  • Human Connection in Digital Experiences (28:37)

The key moments in this episode are:

00:00 Uncovering digital blind spots in financial brands.

06:22 Google search crucial for home buyers' journey.

10:32 Positioning through expertise and addressing clients' pain.

11:48 Conflict drives change and transformation, unlike others.

16:38 He influenced the organization's digital positioning change.

20:44 Feasibility study reveals $1.82M annual blind spot loss.

21:41 Recognizing problem's worth; solving it offers value.

25:42 Digital channels seen as future banking growth.

28:29 Human experience critical in digital financial product conversions.

33:14 Website blind spot assessment; financial improvement guidance.


Secret Shop Your Financial Brand's Website
Stop losing loans and deposits because of unseen blind spots in your customer journeys.

The expanded summary of this episode:

Positioning of Financial Brands

  • Overlap in value propositions among financial brands.
  • The importance of differentiation.
  • Emphasis on addressing pain points and questions of account holders.

Conflict as a Catalyst for Change

  • Necessity of conflict for organizational transformation.
  • Importance of addressing challenging topics.

Cultural Shift and Leadership

  • Role of leaders in breaking rote value propositions.
  • Example of a Chief Experience Officer driving transformation.

Effective Website Positioning

  • Moving beyond an online brochure to a website that actively sells.
  • Influence of positioning beliefs on website design.
  • Importance of financial empowerment in branding.

Website Blind Spots and Secret Shopping

  • Discussion on unaddressed digital blind spots.
  • Significance of secret shopping in identifying website issues.

Studies and Purpose

  • Conducting studies to identify overlooked patterns and blind spots.
  • Acknowledgement of common website issues.

Importance of Human Interaction

  • Emphasizing human experience in digital financial product shopping.
  • Conversion statistics improved by human interaction.

Speed of Trust and Connection

  • Reference to Jay Bear’s research and "Time to Win: Why Speed Matters."
  • Importance of fast follow-up for higher conversion rates.

Optimization of Financial Institution Websites

  • Current State
  • Issues
  • Analytic Tools

Branch vs. Digital Performance

  • Comparison between physical branch profitability and digital channels.
  • Operational costs of physical branches.
  • Shift towards digital growth due to profitability concerns.

Financial Implications of Blind Spots

  • Examples and case studies:

Call to Action and Conclusion

  • Invitation for listeners to benchmark their websites.
  • Contact details for personalized assessment.
  • Encouragement to address digital blind spots proactively.


Join the Digital Growth Community to connect with 350+ financial brand marketing and sales leaders.

Full transcription of episode:

Audrey Cannata [00:00:06]:

Do you know where blind spots in your customer journeys are costing you millions in loans and deposits? We recently examined twelve leading financial brands as part of part of our website blind spot benchmark study to uncover hidden gaps and growth opportunities that will make or break their success. Stick around as we explore the biggest blind spots in their digital presence, what these brands can do to turn them into strengths, and how you can avoid falling into the same traps. You're listening to the banking on digital growth podcast welcome back to the banking on digital Growth podcast. I'm Audrey Kanata, operations lead here at the Digital Growth Institute, and today we are going to uncover key insights from a recent website blind spot benchmark study. Joining me for today's conversation is founder and CEO of the Digital Growth Institute, James Robert Lay.

James Robert Lay [00:01:28]:

Hey, Audrey.

Audrey Cannata [00:01:29]:

Hey, James Robert. Welcome.

James Robert Lay [00:01:31]:

Well, thank you for leading this conversation today because we've learned a lot from the study that is continuously in progress. And if you are watching or listening, you too can take part in this website blind spot benchmark study. Say that three times fast.

Audrey Cannata [00:01:49]:

It is a tongue twister.

James Robert Lay [00:01:51]:

It is a tongue twister. But there's a lot to learn. There's a lot for that. We have learned that we are still learning. There's a lot for you who are watching or listening. There's a lot for you to learn. And one of the things that I am doing is facilitating benchmark conversations. It's a 30 minutes conversation that we can take this data.

James Robert Lay [00:02:14]:

How do you compare? Where are the blind spots on your website that are costing you millions and loans and deposits? And if you want to schedule one of those with me, you can text me directly, 832-549-5792 and would really enjoy guiding you so that you can see where you have those blind spots in your website, your customer journeys that you just, you just don't know. And we, we actually talked about that recently in a podcast, Audrey, that we're doing that ourselves on our own website. So there's obviously a lot to learn and I know you're wanting to dive into that here together today.

Audrey Cannata [00:02:49]:

Yeah, let's unpack this blind spot benchmark survey. What exactly it is for our listeners who haven't seen it before, haven't taken part in it before, spell it out for us. Simple terms, what is this?

James Robert Lay [00:03:05]:

It is a study, like many of the studies that we do, that are looking for gaps, that are looking for blind spots. And I think what is unique specifically about this study here is it is a derivative of a study that we facilitated all the way back in 2019 when I was writing banking on digital growth. So we have some historical context into where things were 2019 going into 2020 to where things are five years later.

Audrey Cannata [00:03:35]:

When you say we're looking for blind spots, where are we looking specifically?

James Robert Lay [00:03:41]:

Number one is positioning. Number two is positioning on the website. Exactly. How are you positioning your bank? How are you positioning your credit union? Because how you position your organization is going to directly influence the perception that others have of your organization. And that positioning is not just on the website, although that's. We'll call that the diagnostic approach, as we are finding the beliefs that drive that positioning go much deeper within the organization itself.

Audrey Cannata [00:04:19]:

So we're looking at positioning first and first and foremost.

James Robert Lay [00:04:22]:

Yep.

Audrey Cannata [00:04:23]:

What else we looking at?

James Robert Lay [00:04:24]:

The customer journey. The member journey, are organizations mapping out these journeys. And 86% to date are not mapping out their digital customer journeys, their digital member journeys. And the way that we're looking at that is through the lens of awareness, consideration, purchase, adoption, and then advocacy. We see there's a dabbling in the digital journey mapping experience, but there's not a definitive path. There's not clarity into how the awareness flows into the consideration or the consideration flows into the purchase. And obviously, we continuously are finding that more deeply within the website, secret shopping studies that we're facilitating and then providing recommendations on how to eliminate the blind spots. But the fact that 86% of financial brands are not mapping out these journeys, full funnel, if you will, from awareness all the way down to the purchase, down to the onboarding, down to the activation and really turning the advocacy piece of this, it's ripe for opportunity.

Audrey Cannata [00:05:47]:

And why is this dangerous? Why should a listener be alarmed or ask themselves, wait a minute, we done this. Do we need to?

James Robert Lay [00:05:56]:

Yeah.

Audrey Cannata [00:05:56]:

What are we missing out on?

James Robert Lay [00:05:57]:

That's a. It's a great question. What are the dangers? Um, it's a lack of clarity that is. That can create confusion. Uh, confusion for a prospective account holder, confusion even for an account holder who's looking for another product. Say they have checking, but then they might have a need or they might have a pain. Uh, they need a car. Their pain is their car has broken down.

James Robert Lay [00:06:22]:

Their need is they have a home, but they're outgrowing that home, or they're wanting to become a first time home buyer, they don't know where to start. So from our studies, our website, secret shopping studies, specifically, we know that 92% of people in the market for a financial product, they go to Google. That's the first place that they're going to go. They may or may not end up on your site. They may or may not see the email that you send. They may or may not see the ad that you're placing, but eventually they could end up on your website. And what they see on your website is going to directly influence how they proceed going forward. And so by not mapping out these different experiences, because if you think about the buying journey, those five stages of awareness, consideration, purchase, adoption, advocacy, within each one of those stages are actually very specific micro journeys that would then influence the perception of what's the next step forward.

James Robert Lay [00:07:31]:

Because the buying journey is not a logical journey, it is an emotional journey. And people enter into a buying journey feeling some level of negative emotion. 60, 65% feel confusion, doubt, uncertainty. Am I going to get approved? Do I have the credit for this? And so knowing that there's some level of negative emotion or confusion, the very first step, specifically in the awareness stage, as they're coming to the site, is do they feel some level of clarity? And if they don't, we know that there's probably not a path forward. Because the emotive buying journey is confusion, goes to clarity. Clarity then gives way to courage. Courage is the path to commitment. And commitment is simply just clicking the commitment to click the apply button.

James Robert Lay [00:08:32]:

And that commitment, just because they click the apply button, doesn't mean that they're going to complete. To complete the application requires confidence to make it all the way through to the other side.

Audrey Cannata [00:08:45]:

I think what I, what I've noticed in all of the secret shopping studies that I've helped facilitate, it's really that consideration piece that a majority of financial brands are not thinking about, are not mapping out. You know, they do great. As far as throwing all the information at him, I mean, arguably too much. They give him a call to action. But what about in the middle, you know, what about someone who has a question or needs to learn a bit more? Who needs that confidence built to be able to move forward? That's where I see a big gap.

James Robert Lay [00:09:24]:

That's a, that's a fantastic point. And that's where I think positioning comes back into play. One of the insights that we have found through the website blind spot benchmark is 93% of financial brands are positioning around a value proposition of, well, we have great rates and we have amazing service. And we have these lookalike laundry list of product features. And I saw your hand. If you're not watching, Audrey's giving the talking hand. And it reminds me of a scene from Moneyball when Brad Pitt's character is sitting around the table with all of the scouts, and the scouts are saying, well, we need to do this and we need to do that. And Brad Pitt's character, Billy Bean and moneyball, he goes, he's using the talking hand.

James Robert Lay [00:10:11]:

He's la la la la la. You guys are just talking, talking the same old thing that you've always been saying before.

Audrey Cannata [00:10:19]:

Yeah, it so often is all talk. And that's the frustrating part. Number one, you're saying the same thing everybody else is saying, but two, you're just saying it. Show me. You know, I.

James Robert Lay [00:10:32]:

Not even that, because I know people are watching and listening. They're like, okay, great, I agree with you, because we've been saying the same thing over and over and over again. What can we say different? James Robert? How can we truly be different? One word. Where does expertise fall in your positioning? Where do the hopes and dreams of your account holders or prospective account holders fall within your positioning? Where do the questions and concerns of your account holders fall within your positioning? Because the positioning should be around their pain, and you're there just as a helpful guy to facilitate and resolve that pain through your expertise. Now, there is a little bit of good news here, because one of the things that we did find in the website blind spot benchmark study is, as a positioning, 17% mentioned. And the question is this, and I love this question when we work with an organization, because it's very telling to their belief. It's very telling to what they believe about themselves. And the question is, why should I open an account or apply for a loan at your bank or at your credit union? It's open ended.

James Robert Lay [00:11:48]:

It's open response. And then the follow up to that question is, how are you any different from other organizations? How are you different from another bank? How are you different from another credit union? And that's where the real conflict begins. And I like the conflict, because the conflict is what inspires change. It's like, it's like in any hero narrative, like the hero has to have some sort of conflict to have some sort of transformation. Because if there's no conflict and there's no story, there's no change, there's no transformation. Everything stays the same. And maybe that's the problem. Like, like we keep seeing, like no one wants to address the elephant in the room.

James Robert Lay [00:12:29]:

No one wants to have conflict. No one wants to have the hard conversation. Let's have hard conversations. Let's do hard things, because that's how change happens.

Audrey Cannata [00:12:40]:

Yes. I mean, I. So many times we're sitting on calls or we're in person, and you ask this question and they go down the same, you know, amazing or great rates, amazing service. Many times they're really just reciting, like, their, like, their value proposition. I mean, and it's just, they can they can they say it, you know, word for word, where you can tell it's just been, like, ingrained in them over and over.

James Robert Lay [00:13:07]:

It's rote.

Audrey Cannata [00:13:07]:

And you kind of first do what it's wrote. It's like, it's wrote, yes. Yes. They've been trained to say that answer, and you burst their bubble a little bit. And the first few times I listened, or I was there, it was a little awkward just because I wasn't used to that. But then it was like, you know what? Those who embraced it, and it just really separates two different types of people, and I love to see the separation. You're either here for it or you're scared, defensive, and you want to go back home.

James Robert Lay [00:13:42]:

Yeah. And there, there are. There's one individual specifically that's coming to the top of my mind who has had the courage to lean into this. He's a chief experience officer that we have recently led their team through the digital growth strategy process. This was a big part of the discussion specifically, because I think they philosophically knew they had a problem here, but it was the elephant in the room. They didn't know how to address it. Everyone was kind of, like, walking around it, looking at it. It's like, if you think about, like, there's the old.

James Robert Lay [00:14:20]:

There's the old tell of you've got these individuals who are blind, or they have their eyes closed, and one is touching the leg of the elephant and like, oh, that's a tree. One's touching the tail of the elephant, the fur. Oh, that's a bush. One's touching the tusk and like, oh, that's a spear. They're all touching the elephant. They just can't see the whole elephant.

Audrey Cannata [00:14:45]:

Yeah. It's almost like they're waiting for somebody to step up and say something. But that's where you come in and you play that role time and time again. And you're happy to.

James Robert Lay [00:14:58]:

Yeah. And, you know, sometimes I upset people along the way, and that's. That's okay, too. And it's done. It's done out of it's. I'm ruthlessly kind when it, when it comes to this. But the reason that this is so important, and I think there's, there is some confusion as to, like, why is this a website blind spot? Well, once again, the belief that you have as to why someone should open an account or apply for a loan at your organization is going to directly influence the behavior. And the behavior in this case is building and optimizing, hopefully a website that sells, because otherwise you just end up with a glorified online brochure like you've had for the last 20 years.

James Robert Lay [00:15:35]:

And it's the same exact thing over and over and over again. And I think the good news of all of this coming, looping this all back around is there was about 17% that did mention some sort of financial empowerment or providing financial well being in their positioning, belief. And that's coming even with the. I'm thinking about the CXO who I mentioned before that we recently have been working with. I can't share what he has shared because of an NDA, but the clarity that they now have into why they're doing what they're doing beyond the commoditized rate and service. Number one, it's the clarity. Number two, it's the commitment. But I think the most important element of all, it's the.

James Robert Lay [00:16:26]:

It's the communal aspect that this chief experience officer has inspired within the organization.

Audrey Cannata [00:16:35]:

Because they re energized. You could see it.

James Robert Lay [00:16:38]:

And on top of that, he even said to me on a call the other day, he was like, yeah, well, the one. The positioning statement that I was really thinking about, it didn't make it, but this was the thinking of the other. And he goes, I'm happy with that. Like, I was able to help influence the thinking to where everyone else was able to become part of this internal collaborative initiative to rethink positioning of the organization because the repositioning is now going to effectively drive positive change when it comes to digital positioning on the website, which is going to help bridge a major, major blind spot that they knew they had, but they just weren't able to articulate the problem, you know, and I love.

Audrey Cannata [00:17:23]:

I love seeing such a major transformation or change or shift come out of something that seems so simple. It's a simple question, simple question. They probably didn't think much of it when they were answering it, but I think that goes to show how just being a little bit intentional and setting some time to sit down and think about where you're at, where you want to go. It does take courage to put yourself out there. That idea of just to take this assessment alone.

James Robert Lay [00:18:01]:

Yes. And once again, I want to put the invite out there. If you're watching or listening and you want to benchmark your website, blind spots, you can take the same assessment. I'll walk you through it myself. Just send me a text. It's 832-549-5792 text me, I'll walk you through this. It takes about half an hour. Could even do it in 15 minutes.

James Robert Lay [00:18:27]:

It's a little rushed at that point, but you're going to walk away with some clarity into where you have blind spots within your website. And we've talked about Audrey, we've talked about the positioning, we've talked about the journey side. There was another big blind spot, and this actually came up in a blind spot benchmark call that I did this morning with the chief marketing officer. One of the things that we were talking about was the idea of optimization. Are you optimizing, are you optimizing your site ongoing for leads, for loans, for deposits, for, basically for sales, for that matter?

Audrey Cannata [00:19:07]:

And how are you doing it? Or, like, what's driving the change? Optimizations.

James Robert Lay [00:19:11]:

Yeah. And it's the lack of optimization. Those committing to optim continuously ongoing optimize, which is concerning because it's around, I think, at this point. And these numbers are changing. The more that people take the assessment, the more that we're learning. But it's about a. 52% are not actively optimizing their site. So what does that mean? One out of every two financial brands are not doing some sort of optimization.

James Robert Lay [00:19:42]:

Those that are optimizing report that they are optimizing. 66% report that they are optimizing on a monthly basis. But even in today's conversations, she was like, well, what do you mean by optimization? Because I don't.

Audrey Cannata [00:19:54]:

It's not so vague.

James Robert Lay [00:19:56]:

I don't really know if we're optimizing.

Audrey Cannata [00:19:58]:

Our site and with purpose and intention, probably not.

James Robert Lay [00:20:03]:

And just like the data that we're getting from the website blind spot benchmark study, the majority are just using GA four, Google Analytics four. And I know that you know that Google Analytics four is very confusing. You heard that on a call that we were facilitating earlier today with a VP of marketing. Cause I. I asked a very blunt and pointed question. I was like, listen, I need to know how many visits your checking account page is getting each month. He was like, well, can we do that later? I was like, no. I was like, I need that information now because we were doing a feasibility study to like is what he's looking to do.

James Robert Lay [00:20:44]:

Is it feasible to solve the problems that he's looking to solve? Because we have a formula that we can guide in a team through or marketing leader through or a CEO through. How much might you be losing on your website because of the blind spots that you have? And when we were going through this feasibility study, it was very clear and we agreed upon the number. They're losing about $1.82 million a year because of a particular blind spot. And he was committed to fixing it. And so whenever I told him, how much is it? He asked me, he goes, how much is it going to cost to fix it? I said, well, you get about a $1.8 million problem, $2 million problem. I was like, I'll take $180,000 of that. And you saw, and you saw his face. I go, I go, listen, I said, I'm just kidding you.

James Robert Lay [00:21:41]:

I just know how much we are worth to help you fix and solve that problem, but it's not going to be $180,000. And so we laughed. And we chuckled. But once again, if you don't know what you're losing, you just don't know. And we even found the other day, for someone that we are doing a bespoke website secret shopping study for it's personal loans. They are using a very, and I'm not going to name names and drop the platform that they're using, but there's a tremendous amount of complexity in this application experience for a personal loan. And when we ran the number numbers, it's, it's a hundred million dollar a year problem. And once again, I'm like, can we just get 10% of that? Because if we can help, I mean, then they're getting a massive ten x return on the problem.

James Robert Lay [00:22:32]:

You know, I will happily take $10 million to solve a hundred million dollar problem. That's, that's my philosophy. Because, like, there, there's a lot of value to co create. A lot of value to co create.

Audrey Cannata [00:22:49]:

Yeah. It's crazy to see just this disconnect and level. Like, why is the website not seen as valuable as it is?

James Robert Lay [00:23:00]:

Well, this, I mean, I love how you and I have pivoted this podcast slightly to have real conversations from real time discussions. I mean, you think about the SVP that we were talking to right before we hit record. A lack of alignment. A lack of alignment specifically with the CEO for this one particular organization.

Audrey Cannata [00:23:26]:

Yeah.

James Robert Lay [00:23:27]:

And let's go back.

Audrey Cannata [00:23:28]:

Yep.

James Robert Lay [00:23:29]:

And that's just a friction that's a pain point. What do you want to go back to?

Audrey Cannata [00:23:33]:

I'm just curious and this just popped in my head. Go back to the $100 million problem for that, that bank you're referencing. How many branches do you think they have?

James Robert Lay [00:23:43]:

You know what, that's a fantastic question. And because we are recording dying, Tony, I'm actually going to google it right now. Let's just see what we can find. And I'm curious too. They're in five states, I believe.

Audrey Cannata [00:24:03]:

Yeah.

James Robert Lay [00:24:04]:

Hmm. The 35 billion in assets.

Audrey Cannata [00:24:13]:

That is. I mean, that is fine.

James Robert Lay [00:24:15]:

I can find their branch, that can find their locations.

Audrey Cannata [00:24:18]:

But the point is it's, it's a crap ton. Yeah, certainly.

James Robert Lay [00:24:24]:

Yeah.

Audrey Cannata [00:24:25]:

And it's a, it's a beautiful brand. It's a beautiful financial brand.

James Robert Lay [00:24:31]:

But yet data. We have the data. We do know we do numbers, but, but, but specifically because you're bringing up the point of the branches, they have a one to three conversion rate. So for every digital application they get, they're converting three in the branch. So to them, and I think this is important to note, to them, they're like, our branches are still outperforming our digital channel. Your branches are outperforming your digital channels because you have so much friction in your digital channel. And, and we know because we have helped other organizations optimize the buying experience to where the digital channels then outperform all of the physical branches.

Audrey Cannata [00:25:13]:

And there's a matter of efficiency at this point. And why would you want the physical brick and mortar and all that comes with it?

James Robert Lay [00:25:23]:

What's that like?

Audrey Cannata [00:25:23]:

Everything.

James Robert Lay [00:25:24]:

I'm not, I'm not anti branch. I love the branches.

Audrey Cannata [00:25:28]:

It's just painting a picture of how much goes into running a brick and mortar. You're talking not just the building of it, the staffing of it, just the running of it from utilities. I mean, everything that goes into it.

James Robert Lay [00:25:42]:

We'Re talking about $750,000 a year operational costs, more or less. And, and on top of that, I think there was a study that was done a few years ago. I remember coming across it when writing banking on digital growth, that there's a prediction that like 52% of physical branches will never see profitability. Even another someone I was, I had a lot of conversations today, obviously, another senior vice president of marketing was telling me this morning that their bank is closing four branches because of this very subject, profitability. They're like, we're not really talking about it right now. We're not letting people know because it's going to make people feel uncomfortable because it's change, and change is hard. Then my question was, okay, great. Where's your growth going to come from? They perceive that their growth is going to come primarily from the digital channel.

James Robert Lay [00:26:48]:

Okay. The follow up question to that was, well, have you ever secret shopped your website? Nope. So this particular organization is betting on digital growth, but they've never secret shopped their website. They're closing branches because of profitability. And very quickly, I looked at a few things. I was like, there's a blind spot. There's a blind spot. There's a blind spot.

James Robert Lay [00:27:13]:

She goes, I've never thought like that before.

Audrey Cannata [00:27:17]:

Yeah.

James Robert Lay [00:27:17]:

And that's the whole point of why we do these studies, because we're looking for patterns that it's easy to miss.

Audrey Cannata [00:27:30]:

Certainly we've missed them on our own website.

James Robert Lay [00:27:34]:

Exactly. And we just talked about that on a previous episode because it's like, we get it. We get it.

Audrey Cannata [00:27:42]:

We empathize a hundred percent, and we're.

James Robert Lay [00:27:45]:

Not immune to making mistakes either ourselves, which is what the whole point of the previous episode was, for that matter.

Audrey Cannata [00:27:52]:

Yeah, I think. I think for us, you know, that I hear just the passion in your voice and trying to, and it's probably because you've had so many conversations and you just run into the same thing time after time, just this lack of awareness of the opportunity, not even looking at, like, what are you missing? Like, what's the opportunity? Instead of what are you missing out on? And it does get frustrating, I know, because you want to help. You want to help people see differently.

James Robert Lay [00:28:29]:

And this, yeah, this was not in, in the study per se, but it can be attributed to it. And then we cross referenced that with the website secret shopping studies that we facilitate. And we know that, you know, around 86% or so of financial brands have mapped out their customer journeys through all the stages for all their key product lines. The biggest blind spot is the role, and I want to connect this back to the branch point. The biggest blind spot is the role that the human experience plays in a digital shopping experience for a financial product. That cannot be overstated enough, because buying a financial product is an emotional journey. As we were talking about before, the human experience is an emotional experience. And the faster that we can connect a digital prospect, a lead at various stages of the journey, whether than the consideration or even closer towards purchase with another human being, has a higher propensity for conversion because it is a human connection that leads to a conversation and is the conversation that's path to conversion.

Audrey Cannata [00:29:51]:

What was that statistic that was it Jay Bear had in terms of whoever connect, like whoever reaches out to them first? Do you remember what I'm talking about?

James Robert Lay [00:30:08]:

I know, exactly. I do recall and it's from Jay Bears latest research. And he wrote a book about this on the speed of trust.

Audrey Cannata [00:30:16]:

Oh, yes, yes.

James Robert Lay [00:30:18]:

And it's in regards to connection and follow up and master the connection. The brands that follow the book is, I think it's called time to win. Yeah, it's called the time to win. Why speed matters. And the, the organizations that follow up the fastest tend to win the conversion on speed alone.

Audrey Cannata [00:30:50]:

Especially with financial products. I mean, I hear over and over and over again when we're doing these studies and I reference the studies a lot because that's where I get, that's where I get my, you know, my data. My experience is by watching people go through the shopping experience and more often than not, people will not click apply unless they have had some human interaction call. Just make sure I'm doing the right thing. They're looking for that click, you know, call back, request a callback. Major people are looking for someone to talk to. That's the level of reassurance. Like Joey Coleman.

Audrey Cannata [00:31:30]:

You know, you want to help reassure people and then affirm them of their decision and give them that opportunity. They want to feel safe. You know, I can, I can connect with somebody if I need to.

James Robert Lay [00:31:40]:

Yes.

Audrey Cannata [00:31:41]:

Even just having it there. Provide safety or safety and trust.

James Robert Lay [00:31:45]:

I want to come back to the point of speed. One of the things that, this was the actual number, this was the data. Two thirds of customers will say speed is now as important as price.

Audrey Cannata [00:32:00]:

Yep.

James Robert Lay [00:32:01]:

And where do we see that every single day? When you buy from who on the roll of speed? It's Amazon. Amazon. And I think that's an important context of where secret, you know, secret shopping and website blind spots come into play. Our experiences with other digital experiences directly impact the experiences that we have with a financial brands shopping experience. I mean, Amazon, you know, prime two day, next day delivery, same day delivery, you click.

Audrey Cannata [00:32:41]:

Sometimes they deliver it within 12 hours.

James Robert Lay [00:32:44]:

Exactly, exactly. So there's an expectation of, I have a digital experience, but then it's some type of physical manifestation of the digital.

Audrey Cannata [00:32:56]:

Yeah. James Robert, as we start to wrap up here, thinking about the results and a lot of the conversations you've had, what's something that somebody listening can do, you know, quick, easy, actionable step taking this information and taking a step in the right direction.

James Robert Lay [00:33:14]:

Text me 832-549-5792 yeah. And because I will guide you through a website blind spot benchmark assessment for your unique situation. So you're gonna be able to see how you compare to other financial brands, how your website compares to other financial brands, and you're gonna walk away with some specific actions that you can take and go forward and do great stuff with. And if there's one thing that you take and you know can help you make or, or stop losing, prevent you from losing or recapture gain, depending on how you frame it, a million dollars. Well, 30 minutes is definitely worth, worth that for sure.

Audrey Cannata [00:33:53]:

Absolutely. Thank you, James Robert, for all of the insights you shared and the breakdown of the website blind spot benchmark.

James Robert Lay [00:34:01]:

Thank you, Audrey. This has been a lot of fun. I really appreciate you facilitating this today.

Audrey Cannata [00:34:06]:

Absolutely.

Shelley Regin, CFMP

Chief Marketing & Community Relations Officer, Country Bank | Advisory Board & Faculty Member - American Bankers Association | Past-President & Board Member, New England Financial Marketing Association

2 个月

#facts Thanks for your feedback on our new site!

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