Bigmouthmedia Sector Experience - Chris Cathcart, Senior Finance Stragteist

Chris Cathcart, Senior Strategist, Finance

Chris Catchart

About Chris

Chris Cathcart has spent almost a decade working to bring the often conflicting finance and online worlds together. Able to define strategies that deliver results while satisfying the industry’s various regulatory confines, he has a track record for identifying unique marketing opportunities in an extremely competitive sector.

Chris is is the recipient of multiple industry awards and works hard to keep a step ahead in the digital finance world.

Read on for Chris's take on the state of the online finance market as he voices his opinions on some of the key issues facing brands right now.

1) This is one of the hardest times for the finance sector in recent years. How would you describe the current state of the online financial market and what are the main challenges at the moment?

The market has been depressed, but it’s starting to show signs of recovery which is great. In fact, according to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales the current recession is "at an end". That’s a bold statement but it’s backed up by figures from the Q3 Business Confidence Monitor which shows Q3 2009 confidence recovering to levels we've not seen since Q3 2007. As business confidence improves we can expect to see things get better across the board.

The economic downturn was felt online. There was a drop in the overall traffic volumes, however more importantly, it also had a huge impact on user behaviour. Traffic for some key terms dropped significantly, but it went elsewhere, into more specific, longer tail terms. A lot of companies have had to think on their feet and react quickly to this change.

There has been a lot to learn this year, but that’s why we spend so much time working with our finance clients and advising them how to keep abreast of changing market conditions in order to stay one step ahead of the game.

2) What trends are you seeing from users in the way they interact with online finance sites?

What has been clear recently is that people have become more value focused in their searches. Long tail, specific searches concentrating on best value have become increasingly common, for example ‘best rate credit cards’ and ‘cheap loans’, as people placed more importance on getting the best deal. There has also been a huge increase in the amount of searches for discounts and vouchers. People are definitely more determined to get value for money.

3) How difficult is it for the online finance sector to take advantage of opportunities in the realm of social media?

By their very nature finance companies are cautious. This is mainly down to the amount of rules and regulations they have to adhere to. Because of this engagement across some of the web 2.0 technologies has been slow. Most companies want to properly understand the value of it, but as there are very few finance companies who are actually fully engaged with sites such as Twitter, it’s very difficult for them to see the benefit.

There is room for improvement but other sectors can move quicker due to less regulation, so it’s only to be expected that it will take a little longer, but it is starting to happen. Again it’s down to us to lead them and deliver clear benefits for investment.

4) Can you give us some examples of good and bad practice when it comes to use of the online channel?

The first step in good practice online marketing is all about defining your demographics properly and ensuring that your site has the relevant tracking and reporting tools in place to allow for advanced interpretation of user behaviour. This allows campaigns to be constantly refined and improved.

Cross channel integration is also vital. Ensuring that you have a clear, consistent voice and message across all consumer communications is key to presenting a strong brand message.

If you don’t understand who your users are, how they behave and don’t understand how to effectively target and talk to them online you are wasting your budget. Bad practice is blindly stumbling into an online campaign – target and track well, use the information to refine your campaigns and you will get a much better ROI.

5) What are your top tips for tips on improving customer experience?

To improve customer experience you need to really understand what they want and deliver it as quickly and efficiently as possible. For example, don’t make it difficult for customers to reach an important part of your website, make it easy. Ask for and listen to customer feedback and ensure that a consistent tone of voice and message is there.

6) What do you see as the biggest upcoming opportunity for the online finance sector?

One of the biggest opportunities is in the tracking department – it’s not very sexy, but the integration of next generation reporting is vital in enabling complete understanding of user behaviour and allows for advanced campaign optimisation which would otherwise be almost impossible.

Massive opportunities also still exist in cross channel integration and cracking the social media nut will also be important. Learning how to use social channels and being able to fully engage with consumers in locations they gravitate to represents a massive opportunity, albeit a tricky one.

Click here to return to the main sector experience page, or here to check out what Andrew Girdwood, Head of Search, has to say about the current state of the digital industry.