In the industries where the importance of the connection between reputation and customer trust comes first, the financial market is taking one of the top places. People do not want to put their money in the hands-on firm they do not have trust towards. Unfortunately, one of the best examples in this regard is the 2008 financial crisis when the US real estate bubble burst and the financial services became the source of mistrust among existing clients.
The values of real estate plummeted, and the ratio of house mortgage debt to GDP in the United States jumped from 46% in the 1990s to 73% in 2008, hitting a high of $10.5 trillion. This resulted in a financial meltdown and a long-lasting bad public impression that has harmed consumers for many years. Consumers are no longer eager to gain from financial services. These challenges underscore the need for banks and financial advisers, brokers, and other financial service providers to distinguish themselves and manage their reputations.
Reputation Management
Today’s financial service providers must have a full understanding of reputation management and how they are seen on the internet. Millennials are the most populous adult generation in the United States and one of the richest. Online reviews may have an impact on how millennials spend their money in the future. 97% of millennials check internet reviews before doing business with a firm, and the majority of them trust this evaluation as much as they would have bigger trust towards the personal recommendation.
While the banking sector has profited from having clients from several generations in the past, today’s consumers are more inclined to look for financial service providers and investment possibilities online before approaching their parents. These patterns indicate that what people say about you online has a direct influence on whether or not potential consumers contact you. Furthermore, more than one-third of poll respondents indicated that their bank’s reputation along with the availability of online banking and services supplied, was one of the three most significant aspects of it, demonstrating that a bank’s reputation is vital to consumers of all ages.
How to manage online reputation
There are some of the well-tired practices that the company might try in order to manage the online reputation effectively.
- Promoting positive reviews – consumers’ sole story about a potential firm with which they want to do business is sometimes a negative one. People may be motivated to post a negative review about a firm after having a poor encounter with it. Actively promoting good evaluations for your organization is an excellent strategy to fight these infrequent concerns. This is especially true when it comes to brokerage companies that pay a lot of money to get a positive review and become upgraded to the list of top Forex brokers from where the possibility of getting new clients is utterly high. It is also crucial to respond to unfavorable evaluations in a professional manner. Because your services are confidential, you will want to move the conversation off of public internet platforms as soon as feasible. However, you may respond to a bad review by leaving a quick remark expressing your worry about the poor experience and requesting that someone contact you personally to give further information. While you are trying to find a solution to make the dissatisfied customer happy, your reply will demonstrate to future clients how professional you are and how focused on customer service.
- Monitoring business name – you may set up notifications to be alerted whenever your financial services company or you are referenced online. This helps you to be aware of what is said about you and your employees and respond properly. This is especially essential if you are acting in a fiduciary capacity and are being reviewed on an individual basis. If you work more to maintain your internet reputation, you will be able to attract more customers than a rival who does not. People are typically pickier about who they entrust with their money and they need to know they can trust you in order to feel safe.
- Social media manager – today’s social media evaluations may have a big influence on a company’s or financial advisor’s reputation, so it is critical to keep an eye on these sites for feedback. Due to the highly regulated nature of the financial business, these are particular restrictions that apply to the financial service providers and the information they can share online. This is why it is critical that anyone you designate to handle your social media interactions be able to walk this delicate line while also keeping track of everything.
Ensure the customers’ security – being the victim of a security breach that compromises your customer’s financial and private information is a guaranteed way to destroy their faith in you. If this happened, the expenses to your company would be enormous. However, the long-term consequences of the tarnished image might be far worse. Target, for example, was the aim of a cyberattack that resulted in the loss of about 40 million payment card information, resulting in $292 million in direct expenditures, including legal settlements with customers and attorneys general. However, the firm also saw a drop in sales and a drop in stock prices. The company’s consumer impression has dropped by 54.5%. It took quite a significant time for the company to recover afterward.
