Leaky Online Channels

Financial institutions are losing business as a result of sales leakage in their online channels, according to a new study from Aite Group that surveyed U.S. institutions' ability to respond to online inquiries from prospects. Of the 195 financial services organizations examined, Aite was able to contact only 145 via e-mail or through a Web form. Of those, only 77 percent offered responses. Retail brokerage houses accounted for 17 percent of overall participants, which also included property and casualty insurers, health insurers, credit card companies and retail banks.

Retail brokerages had mixed results in online inquiry response times -- 15 percent responded in less than one hour, second only to property and casualty insurers (39 percent). However, the retail brokerage sector had the highest percentage (33 percent) of responses that were received more than 31 hours after the initial inquiry. <<<