How to build banking products consumers will love
Many elements go into designing banking products for today's consumers. Financial marketers must be sure they are relying on what they know about their area, not on their own preferences, before they begin promotion. And they need to tailor their messaging by market segment even when selling the same packages.
Designing banking products can be a bit like trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube, except at times there can be more than six “sides” to getting the puzzle of deposit or credit products solved. And, frustratingly, what solves the puzzle for one generation doesn’t necessarily solve it for every generation.
Beyond that, cool doesn’t necessarily sell. Much as many bankers and credit union executives, up on the latest technologies, like to add them to the mix, those digital wrinkles don’t always boost consumers’ response to account offerings.
“Some of the technology is a nice-to-have, but doesn’t really connect with consumers, doesn’t move the needle, to the degree that a significant difference in price or convenience might have,” says Andrew Vahrenkamp, Senior Research Analyst and Program Manager at Raddon Research. He produced the firm’s report, “Building a Better Product: Tradeoffs in Designing for Consumer Preferences.” (When Vahrenkamp refers to technology, he isn’t counting mobile banking, as that is more like a channel than a feature.)
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