Consumers Use Search Engines When Shopping Financial Services
Compete, Inc. and Yahoo Search Marketing have completed a new study that indicates the importance of a search marketing campaign, if you offer financial products.

Key findings from the study include:

* Consumers who search online for financial services are attractive targets. They are affluent, in the peak consumption stage of their financial services lifetime and more than half have ‘good’ to ‘excellent’ credit quality.

* Search drives offline account acquisition. Consumers may research their checking, savings and loan options online, but about half of those who open accounts end up doing so at ‘in-person’ channels such as local branch offices or call centers.

* Consumers searching online for deposit and loan products use a balanced set of terms in their search process. These searchers used a combination of general, specific and brand terms when researching new products.

"In financial services, marketers are already embracing search as a key way to attract in-market consumers. Quantifying the value of search, including whether searchers make desirable targets for financial services companies, is a critical next step in helping marketers refine their search marketing strategies," said Mike Bailey, managing director of Compete’s Financial Services practice.

The complete details of the study will be presented in a free web seminar on May 17th at 2pm EST.
Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |