The end is nigh

The age of the static display is over. James Bickers and David Drain explain that digital is future for financial institutions.

“Today, only 2 of 100 branch visitors make a purchase”
-Brian Douglas of ScreenRed

The bank branch, much like any other place of business, has undergone a radical shift in the past two decades. For financial institutions, this shift comes at a pivotal time. Many of the transactions that once required a trip to the branch are now done from the home computer, and online financial services providers are snapping at the heels of large banks, offering attractive rates and terms.

As it has done with retail, digital signage allows banks and financial institutions to hone the in-store experience with a level of precision and visual appeal that has never before been possible. It is an evolution that is in process, and one that will result in the total reinvention of the bank branch.

One of the immediate benefits a digital signage network brings to a business is the delivery of on-time content. Mike Abbott, vice president of ADFLOW Networks, says the typical compliance rate for the timely updating of in-branch POP materials is less than 50 percent. With digital in-branch media, that instantly becomes 100 percent.

That compliance matters more than ever, as financial institutions add more and more products and services to their menus. Plus, the intangible nature of financial products means customers will benefit from seeing their real-world value.

“The financial products provided by banks offer intangible benefits that many times are better illustrated with dynamic pictures and images than static numbers,” says David Little, director of marketing for Keywest Technology. “Digital signage can provide meaningful illustrations showing the results of intangible benefits, like the CD that was cashed in paying off a daughter’s wedding, or the second mortgage that just put the children through college. Digital signage can target rich media at the point patrons are thinking about financial decisions, and that may be just the ticket to arouse need recognition.”

Consumers evidently need all the prodding they can get – in 2005, the rate of personal savings in the United States was negative 0.5 percent. That’s only the second time in history that the savings rate was a red number. The other time? The Great Depression.

Clearly, consumers aren’t thinking enough about their financial futures. Banks have an opportunity to change this, to the benefit of both parties, but first they have to get their attention.

“Despite the advances in internet and phone banking, the branch remains the No. 1 channel for building sales,” says Brian Douglas, director of business development and marketing for ScreenRed. “And banks are far from fully exploiting the value of the physical channel. Today, only two of 100 branch visitors make a purchase. The remaining 98 percent represents an enormous prospect base that can be targeted through POS marketing.”

If all of this sounds a lot like the reasoning behind digital signage at retail, there’s good reason. Today’s financial institutions are becoming more and more like retail establishments with every progressive branch re-design and every new flight of product brochures.

“When it comes to in-branch POP, make no mistake – bankers are indeed retailers,” Abbott confirms. “Many of the same retail objectives exist for today’s bankers: basket size, conversion rate, cross-selling and up-selling.”

Building a positive in-branch experience
One of the major changes brought about by the growth of the internet in modern culture has been the shift in the nature of business value; specifically, there are many businesses that once differentiated themselves based on service or availability, and now do so chiefly on price instead.

Before the dawn of Amazon.com, a reader who wanted a specific book was likely to visit his local bookstore. If it wasn’t on the shelf, the bookseller would place a special order. The result was a full-price sale, and at least two separate visits to the store. But now that the shopper has literally thousands of different options for buying any given book, he can look strictly at hard numbers such as price and shipping date.

Financial institutions face the same dilemma. A passbook savings account used to be the only real place to stash some money that needed to stay liquid. But now, a few clicks of the mouse brings up an unlimited number of options, from hundreds of different providers. The only thing left to count on as a point of differentiation is the emotional and physical experience the customer has with his bank.

“The banking industry, like many others, is changing to adapt to customers who are more fickle, smarter about what they want and may not be as loyal,” says Abbott. “Banks have needed to respond by creating in-branch environments that attract customers and create a positive retail experience.”

A big part of that change is the physical environment. Douglas calls it a “period of metamorphosis,” as FIs move away from the traditional layout that employed a clear separation of staff and customer.

“The present and certainly the future have more open environments where clients are made to feel more comfortable in pleasant surroundings with soft colors, no barriers or partition walls and an environment conducive to encouraging a good relationship,” he said. “Technology is also a much more integrated part of a bank today, with ATMs, telephone banking, internet and even teller positions offering a more convenient multichannel experience.”

Even so, he said FIs still struggle with stimulating discussions with customers during their routine, errand-oriented visits. Digital signage breaks through that struggle by delivering the desired message in a very convenient, easy-to remember fashion.

“Effective digital signage is not CNN and a stock ticker running on a plasma TV,” says Brian Ardinger, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Nanonation. “Unfortunately, that’s what most banks are currently doing. Banks that are taking advantage of the technology are using it to change the customer experience – targeting information based on time of day, location and demographics. Utilizing multimedia to tell more effective stories, changing content more frequently with greater consistency of service.”

Entertainment and ‘wait-warping’
Fewer things are more frustrating than waiting in line – which is precisely why retailers have long stocked queuing areas with magazines and quick-read books. And if you take a moment to study the types of magazines placed there, you’ll see that the titles aren’t chosen at random; not only are they the most attractive titles visually, but they also cut across all demographics (men, women, children, etc.). It’s a simple fact of human nature that unpleasant tasks appear to go by more quickly when we are mentally engaged. This perceived decrease in the amount of time spent waiting, or “wait-warping,” can be exploited in the financial institution with the judicious use of digital signage content.

“Americans are big media consumers,” says Bill Collins of DecisionPoint Media. “One of the reasons that they pay attention to media is that it passes the time. Radio passes the time during a long automobile commute. Newspapers and books pass the time in airports and on airplanes, and chatting on a mobile phone passes the time when students walk across a campus. So, in a bank, viewing screen media passes the time as people stand in line.”

Just how much of an impact digital signage makes on perceived wait times is up for debate, and so far the numbers are anecdotal – but all have been positive. Douglas explains that ScreenRed’s research shows perceived wait time is reduced by half when the digital signs are on; Steve Harris of The Full Picture says that, in his experience, wait-warping is “the primary reason banks and credit unions are interested” in digital signage.

“Digital signage can have a big impact on reducing perceived wait times, but what is most important is that the content has to be effective,” says Michael Quartarone, director of business development for ADFLOW Networks. “If the content is repetitive and boring, then the customer will lose interest and may have a negative experience. Making sure the content loops are scheduled to play at the busy times with content tailored to the right audience demographic will not only reduce perceived wait times, it will have a positive impact on customer satisfaction.”

James Bickers is Editor of Retail Customer Experience Magazine, and David Drain is Executive Director of the Digital Signage Association.

Why go digital?

Brian Nutt, president of Captive Indoor Media, points to four specific reasons why FIs should consider using digital signage to communicate with both customers and employees.

1. TRAINING “This is a critical component for banks and credit unions. Most have several branches and many have dozens or even hundreds spread across large geographic areas. Banking is also one of the most heavily regulated industries and many of these complex regulations flow down to the teller level, where turnover can be as high as 50 percent per year.”
2. CROSS-SELLING “The cross-sell is at the core of a financial institution’s success story. There is substantial research that shows the more products a person purchases from a financial institution, the less likely that person will leave for another bank. This is a critical issue, because the ability for a bank or credit union to effectively execute the cross-sell often falls on the tellers. Yet the tellers are usually underpaid, understaffed and have not received an adequate amount of training.”
3. EXPERIENCE “Banking is a commoditized industry which has very few differentiators outside of the brand experience. That experience starts when the customer walks through the door and hopefully carries forward with that person even after they leave the branch. It involves interaction with the employees of the bank, traditional advertising outlets, the Internet and the interior and exterior of the branch. Digital signage offers the opportunity to enhance the brand experience that customers receive each time they enter the branch.”
4. DRIVE-THRU “The drive-thru is often the most overlooked part of the digital signage equation in a branch. Yet the statistics prove that it should be one of the most carefully planned and executed. Our customers tell me that between 40 and 60 percent of their customers use the drive-thru on a regular basis. That’s a staggering number, when you again consider the importance of the cross-sell.”

The Checklist

What to consider when implementing a digital signage solution

• Talk to the providers of your existing software. For every bit of mission-critical software in your organization, get somebody on the phone and ask them about whether it plays nice with digital signage. You may find that you’ve already got unused functionality that can power screens; you may find that code will have to be custom-written to make the connection. Create a list of all of these people and companies, and make it available to everyone on the digital signage team.
• Find a digital signage provider you trust and want to work with. Ask to see the provider’s existing work. Fly out to see what it has done for other banks. Talk to its existing customers. Ask questions, kick tires.
• Get the creative team up to speed. Whether they are employees of the FI or an outside agency, let the people responsible for your brand assets know about the upcoming digital screen rollout. Ask them what concerns and needs they have. Express to them two points that are paramount above all else: The digital signage content must look great, as it is going to be shown in hi-def. Also, the content must be 100 percent consistent with all other brand materials while not directly copying them. Digital signage needs its own content – under no circumstances can your creative team repurpose television ads.
• Schedule a meeting with four parties present: your team, your IT people, your creative people and your chosen digital signage provider. Rent a conference room for a day and have lunch delivered. Give everybody a turn, expressing what they need from everybody else to make this work. Consider what resources in-house can be used and what is best outsourced to industry leaders. Be realistic about your deployment plan. Consider a “walk-before-you-run” strategy.
• Start picking out displays and wall mounts and other needed technology. Please note that this is the last step in the process – not the first.