New Financial Services Online Index

Jupiter Media Metrix last week introduced what is purported to be the financial services industry's first index based entirely on online consumer behaviour and performance metrics.

The Jupiter CORE (Composite Rating of Online Effectiveness) Index - designed to help financial services firms assess their competitive strengths and areas of exposure online - will be published quarterly and is made up of individual scores relating to unique visitors, usage intensity (time), usage frequency (number of visits per month), customer loyalty or transition (the ability to migrate off-line customers online).

Financial institutions that achieve the highest combination of consumer attention, unique visitor traffic and online transition of their total customer base will perform the highest in the Jupiter CORE ranking system. BankofAmerica.com, WellsFargo.com and KeyBank.com lead the Jupiter Banking CORE, while E*Trade Financial Network, TDWaterhouse.com and Sharebuilder.com top the Jupiter Brokerage CORE.

'The Jupiter CORE represents the best banks and brokerages in the U.S. who are online,' said James Van Dyke, Jupiter research director and senior analyst. 'Jupiter created the CORE to help banks and brokerages set specific online goals in comparison to their competitors. For the first time, financial services companies will be able to expand benchmarks outside their own firm in order to keep pace with a dynamic industry.'

Because the CORE is designed as an interactive tool for internal planning, Jupiter analysts encourage financial institutions to modify the standard weighting used in the indices to see results based on measures that are most important to them. Jupiter is evaluating the potential release of future versions of the CORE for insurance, online payments and lending.

The Intensity Index reflects the number of minutes per day that secure visitors spend on a specific site, based on Media Metrix data. The Jupiter Banking CORE reveals that KeyBank.com, BankOne.com and Fleet.com have the most intense online visitors, while the Brokerage CORE indicates that customers of TDWaterhouse.com, PutnamInvestments.com and AmericanCentury.com are the most intense online users. According to Jupiter analysts, intensity shows how effectively financial institutions get customers to use their respective websites longer and treat their sites as indispensable.

The Loyalty Index measures how often secure visitors to a given website also visit at least one other site in the same industry category, whether it be in secure or non-secure modes. According to Jupiter analysts, if customers often go to websites of other financial institutions, a respective brokerage or bank may not be offering all of the services or utility that the consumer is seeking. Banks with the most loyal online users include KeyBank.com, PNCBank.com and AmSouth.com, while online brokerages include Merrill Lynch, ShareBuilder.com, and CSFBDirect.com.

'Having loyal customers will become increasingly critical to financial institutions' survival as players converge their offerings and there is less differentiation in the marketplace. Beyond looking at ranking, financial institutions in the CORE can now better identify their strengths and vulnerabilities as they continue to migrate their customers online,' added Van Dyke.

For further information, visit www.jmm.com.

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

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