We just completed a project for a financial services client that involved competitive research for investment firm branches in New York City. My team and I conducted an audit of the retail locations for five firms to assess how they use their branches to cater to prospects and existing customers.
While we observed a wide variety of interior and exterior design styles, incorporation of brand identity and product information, there was something notably absent from all locations: social and mobile marketing integration.
It’s not that these companies lack social media or mobile marketing channels…almost all these of them offer a mobile application for account management. And of the five brands we reviewed, four have fairly active Facebook pages that occasionally even mention the branches in the form of new location or event highlights. But in the branch – in an environment where I was captive and immersed in the brand experience – I saw no promotion of the social or mobile channels or anything that encouraged customers’ social engagement with the brand or its products.
More and more retailers across sectors are focusing their in-store experiences on conversation and social interaction, yet in retail investment firms – where some people have no doubt come seeking advice about their money – the stimuli for sparking continued conversation is lacking. So even though these FIs are doing a good job of promoting a wide variety of products and services in-store, they are failing to create a space that supports an ongoing brand dialogue – one that highlights ways to connect via social and mobile platforms or provides relevant offers for proactive visits to their branch locations… And missing a big opportunity to deepen their relationship with core customers.