Net Metrics: Consumer Usage of On-Line Aggregators, Brokers and Other Intermediaries in UK Banking

Table of Contents

0.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• Banks and building societies offering current accounts generate the highest volumes of web traffic
• Social networking and video sharing provider sites are very widely used by younger consumers
• Utilisation of the Internet as a distribution option for banking products may have reached a plateau
• Longevity of Internet usage is an important factor driving on-line acquisition of banking products
• Consumers focus on a more limited number of sites to research and take out banking products
• Most consumers understand the difference between on-line aggregators and on-line brokers
• Usage of on-line aggregators and brokers of banking products peaks in the 25-44 age bracket
• Users of on-line aggregators and brokers are motivated primarily by finding the best interest rate
• Only a minority of consumers state that they are loyal to their main on-line aggregator or broker
• A significant proportion of users of on-line aggregators and brokers question their accuracy
• … and over 10% express dissatisfaction with a range of aspects of the service that they receive
• Over two thirds of respondents claim to be either very aware or quite aware of uSwitch.com
• Only a minority of aggregators and brokers are definitely trusted by more than 5% of consumers
• moneysupermarket.com achieves the highest ratings in terms of actual usage to purchase
• On-line aggregation and broking of banking products may be subject to significant consolidation

1.0 INTRODUCTION

• Research rationale
• The updated Net Metrics research incorporates a variety of new analyses of consumer behaviour
• Research sample
• Web-based aggregators and brokers of banking products
• On-line aggregators and brokers of banking products can use a variety of operating models
• … although some of the most successful protagonists possess differentiated approaches
• … and provision of white-labelled searching facilities between competitors is also commonplace
• Who owns whom in on-line aggregation and broking of banking products?
• Strengths and weaknesses
• Finaccord
• Other UK consumer research publications
• UK affinity and partnership marketing publications
• IPT / Tpoll

2.0 MARKET ANALYSIS

• Introduction
• Consumer propensity to visit different types of web site
• Frequency of visits is a key metric in the emerging environment for on-line financial services
• … with banking institutions offering current accounts being well-positioned in this respect
• … and both social networking providers and video sharing providers also scoring highly
• Insurance companies and some traditional affinity partners generate relatively little web traffic
• Over 80% of individuals aged between 16 and 24 visit the sites of social networking providers
• The gap in usage by age group for the web sites of video sharing providers is slightly less acute
• Consumer propensity to purchase via the Internet
• Consumers are most likely to have made on-line acquisitions of books or music
• … with well 40% of respondents having acquired banking products via the Internet at least once
• On-line sales of computers and associated peripherals appear to be subject to a decline
• … and a slowdown may also be occurring for certain categories of retail banking product
• Propensity to research and take out banking products over the Internet
• Over a half of consumers use the Internet to research and / or take out banking products
• There is a clear link between longevity of Internet use and acquisition of bank. products on-line
• Number of details solicited prior taking out on-line banking products
• On-line customers are most likely to solicit details for banking products on three occasions
• Likelihood to research or take out banking products by type of web site
• Consumer propensity to research or take out banking products varies greatly by type of web site
• Banking entities offering current accounts should make the most of high volumes of web traffic
• Awareness and influence of the on-line insurance banking concept
• Most consumers are aware of the difference between on-line aggregation and on-line broking
• … although a surprisingly high proportion assert that they are not influenced by this awareness
• Consumer usage of aggregators or brokers of banking products
• On-line banking aggregators and brokers achieve highest utilisation in the 25-44 age group
• Characteristics of effective insurance aggregator and broker web sites
• Over 75% of respondents consider eight characteristics to be either very or quite important
• Personalisation, exclusive products and user reviews are the least valued characteristics
• Banking aggregator or broker web sites used most frequently
• Two competitors are subject to the most frequent usage by over a half of respondents
• … with Confused.com likely to become an increasingly serious challenger in this space
• Loyalty towards insurance aggregators and brokers used most frequently
• … although the research is indicative of low rates of loyalty towards even the leading players
• A key challenge for aggregators and brokers will be to maximise the loyalty of their customers
• Accuracy of banking aggregators and brokers used most frequently
• Over one in ten consumers have concerns over the accuracy of product information provided
• … although moneysupermarket.com scores accuracy ratings in excess of the market average
• Satisfaction with banking aggregators used most frequently
• Finaccord' s research facilitates the measurement of consumer satisfaction levels
• … and indicates that the majority are satisfied by the service offered by banking aggregators

3.0 COMPETITOR ANALYSIS

• Introduction
• Consumer awareness of aggregation and broking web sites
• uSwitch.com achieves the highest rating for recognition among on-line aggregators and brokers
• 17 competitors in this field are recognised to some extent by over 25% of survey respondents
• … although almost a half of the 70 web brands are not recognised by over 85% of consumers
• Consumer trust of aggregation and broking web sites
• In spite of its recent difficulties, simplyswitch is ranked highly in terms of consumer trust
• … and only 11 of its competitors are definitely trusted by more than 5% of respondents
• Consumer usage of aggregation and broking web sites
• moneysupermarket.com has achieved a surge in actual utilisation during the last 12 months
• 20 aggregators or brokers of banking products have been used by at least 1% of consumers
• There continues to be a reasonable if not perfect correlation between awareness and trust
• Five banking aggregators appear to be out-performing their rivals in the on-line market
• … helped by the degree to which they are trusted rather than merely known by consumers
• moneysupermarket.com and MoneySavingExpert.com appear to have grown most rapidly
• Conditions for market participants outside of the top ten seem destined to become tougher
• … as the evidence of the research is that smaller players are being squeezed out of the picture

4.0 AGGREGATOR AND BROKER PROFILES

• Introduction
• 4.1 24 Hour loan
• 4.2 accepted.co.uk
• 4.3 AdviceOnline
• 4.4 AWD Moneyextra
• 4.5 BeatThatQuote
• 4.6 Bullhorn.co.uk
• 4.7 buy.co.uk
• 4.8 Charcol
• 4.9 Click 4 A Loan
• 4.10 Compare & Save
• 4.11 Compare Loan UK
• 4.12 Creditcards.co.uk
• 4.13 Easy Quote
• 4.14 Elephant Loans
• 4.15 e-loan.co.uk
• 4.16 E-loanshop.com
• 4.17 Endsleigh Financial
• 4.18 Fair Investment Company
• 4.19 FinanceDaily.co.uk
• 4.20 Find.co.uk
• 4.21 First Line Loans
• 4.22 Fool.co.uk
• 4.23 Freedom Finance
• 4.24 Goodinvestor.com
• 4.25 Guardian Credit
• 4.26 Help My Money
• 4.27 Home Loans Direct
• 4.28 Interactive Investor
• 4.29 Kelkoo
• 4.30 Know Your Money
• 4.31 Loan Arrangers UK
• 4.32 loan.co.uk
• 4.33 loangenie
• 4.34 Loans UK
• 4.35 Loans.co.uk
• 4.36 Loantime.co.uk
• 4.37 MoneyExpert
• 4.38 Moneyfacts
• 4.39 moneygem.com
• 4.40 Moneymatchmaker.com
• 4.41 MoneyMonkey.co.uk
• 4.42 Moneynet
• 4.43 Moneyquest
• 4.44 MoneySavingExpert
• 4.45 moneysupermarket.com
• 4.46 Moneyway
• 4.47 Moneywise
• 4.48 Mortgages.co.uk
• 4.49 NationalPrice.com
• 4.50 NationsFinance.co.uk
• 4.51 Norton Finance
• 4.52 Ocean Finance
• 4.53 OnlineLoans.co.uk
• 4.54 Only Finance
• 4.55 Pacific Home Loans
• 4.56 Pay day UK
• 4.57 pinkfish loans
• 4.58 Precision Loans
• 4.59 PriceRunner
• 4.60 Shakespeare Finance
• 4.61 simplyswitch
• 4.62 Smarter Money
• 4.63 The Thrifty Scot
• 4.64 theidol.com
• 4.65 thisismoney.co.uk
• 4.66 Unravelit
• 4.67 uSwitch
• 4.68 Wider Choice
• 4.69 Your Money
• 4.70 Zopa

GRAPHICS / TABLES

• Sample breakdown by age group, household income band and geographical location - entire survey
• Sample breakdown by longevity of Internet usage - entire survey
• Aggregators and brokers of banking products covered for the first time in the 2008 research
• Who owns whom in web-based aggregation and broking of banking products in the UK?
• Who owns whom in web-based aggregation and broking of banking products in the UK? (continued)
• Consumer propensity to visit different types of web site, 2008
• Consumer propensity to visit different types of web site, 2008 (data)
• Consumer propensity to visit the web sites of social networking providers, 2008: detailed segmentation (data)
• Consumer propensity to visit the web sites of video sharing providers, 2008: detailed segmentation (data)
• Consumer propensity to purchase assorted goods and services via the Internet, 2008
• Comparison of consumer propensity to purchase assorted goods and services via the Internet, 2006-8 (data)
• % of custs. acquiring different bank. prods. through the Internet - 2007, 2005 and all previous years comp. (data)
• Consumer propensity to research and take out banking products over the Internet, 2008
• Consumer propensity to research and take out bank. products over the Internet, 2008: detailed segment. (data)
• Number of quotes solicited by consumers prior to taking out bank. products over the Internet, 2006-8 compared
• Number of quotes solicited by cons. prior to taking out bank. products over the Internet, 2006-8 compared (data)
• Consumer likelihood to research or take out banking products from different types of web site, 2008
• Consumer likelihood to research or take out banking products from different types of web site, 2008 (data)
• Comparison of consumer propensity to visit and cons. likelihood to search for or take out bank. products, 2008
• Awareness of the difference between on-line banking aggs. and on-line brokers of banking products, 2008
• Consumer usage of web sites of aggregators or brokers of banking products, 2008 (data)
• Importance of agg. and broker web site characteristics in persuading custs. to take out bank. products, 2008
• Imp. of agg. and broker web site characteristics in persuading custs. to take out bank. products, 2008 (data)
• Banking agg. or broker web sites used most frequently by cons. to research or take out bank. products, 2008
• Degree of loyalty engendered by banking aggregators and brokers used most frequently, 2008
• Degree of loyalty engendered by banking aggregators and brokers used most frequently, 2008 (data)
• Perceived accuracy of banking aggregators and brokers used most frequently, 2008
• Perceived accuracy of banking aggregators and brokers used most frequently, 2008 (data)
• Cons. satisfaction with agg. web site used most freq. when searching for and / or taking out bank. prods., 2008
• Cons. satisfaction with agg. used most freq. when searching for and / or taking out bank. prods., 2008 (data)
• Ranking of web sites of aggregators and brokers of banking products by overall consumer awareness, 2008
• Ranking of web sites of aggs. and brokers of bank. products by overall consumer awareness, 2008 (cont.)
• Ranking of web sites of aggregators and brokers of banking products by consumer trust, 2008
• Ranking of web sites of aggregators and brokers of banking products by consumer trust, 2008 (continued)
• Ranking of web sites of aggregators and brokers of banking products by consumer usage to purchase, 2008
• Ranking of web sites of aggs. and brokers of bank. products by consumer usage to purchase, 2008 (cont.)
• Correlation between cons. awareness and cons. trust of web sites of aggs. and brokers of bank. products
• Correlation between awareness and usage to take out bank. products of aggs. and brokers of bank. products
• Correl. between trust and usage to take out bank. prods. of web sites of aggs. and brokers of bank. prods
• Comparison of recent and historic usage to take out bank. products of aggs. and brokers of bank. products (1)
• Comparison of recent and historic usage to take out bank. products of aggs. and brokers of bank. products (2)