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Words Have Meaning…Names, Power

Words Have Meaning…Names, Power

The Patagonian Toothfish proved to be so popular that several years ago there was concern the species was on the verge of ecological collapse. How is it possible you’ve likely never heard of this fish, yet enough of it is sold and eaten each year to threaten its viability? The ugly creature was remarkably unpopular until it was marketed under the more attractive and exotic name, Chilean Sea Bass, by an enterprising fish wholesaler.


Everything from fish names to product and feature titles is responsible for creating powerful first impressions for consumers. Based on consumer impressions, products and features either experience widespread adoption or massive failure. Specific to financial services, here is a more concrete example: Mobile Remote Deposit Capture. If you’re a banker or commercial client, this is a great name for taking a picture of a check and depositing it remotely, versus driving to the local branch. However, if you’re a consumer, this is jargon. Taking high-value business-centric features like the remote capture of a check for deposit to consumers is a great way to create a high-value, self-service workflow. However, the packaging and naming must create logical connections and context associated with the features. Essentially, you have to create a brand around the feature for consumers to connect with and embrace.


The more complex the function, the more important it is to create an intuitive message about the what and why of a new feature. Without establishing a relatable name, value proposition and brand, consumer adoption and satisfaction of valuable workflows and features are likely to lag. Naming, branding, and complexity are key elements to consider when delivering business services to consumers in ways that delight, rather than frustrate them.


Products and services are named with the same goal in mind: to say something about the product that a lengthy explanation cannot. Easy Deposit is a tremendously popular name for Retail Mobile Remote Deposit Capture because it communicates the benefits of the feature. The emphasis is on the function (deposit) and the benefit (ease). The value proposition is built into a simple name that provides the context for use and a promise of why consumers should care.


The second key component of bringing a business-oriented service to the consumer space is to think about the complexity of the task required to achieve the result. Transfers from a locally held account to an account at another financial institution via online or mobile banking are typically fulfilled via the ACH network, but not presented this way to retail customers. Given the lack of familiarity with ACH processing, a feature called ACH payment would be confusing. Therefore, further exploration for a name that creates context for consumers is vital for success.


Beyond the naming, this feature’s adoption benefits by reducing the choices of how the transfer is made, as well as the complexity required to set it up. Rather than a model in which end users create a recipient and bind an account triplet (ABA, account number, type) for the external account, the workflow for identifying the target account is simplified and broken into multiple steps, each step with an explanation of the required data and how to obtain it. Addressing the how in this case will prove as valuable to consumer adoption as addressing the what,demonstrating the power of fusing naming conventions and technology.


Finally, in this particular example, careful consideration of the entry point for this feature, which is often the transfer menu item, should be considered. The typical distinction between an internal funds transfer and an external ACH-fulfilled transfer is likely hidden or invisible to consumer banking customers. After a self-service linking process (often involving micro deposits), the external accounts should be presented alongside the account holder’s internal accounts as options for transferring funds.


Packaging, including naming and reviewing workflows, will greatly influence how consumer banking customers will perceive the value of business features or services.  Creativity and workflow review will make the difference between success and failure.  Ensure the features and benefits are easy to discover, use, recall and share. Ultimately, a well-packaged feature may require significant effort to repackage and market, but without this effort, business features are likely to live in obscurity – like the nearly forgotten Patagonian Toothfish – rather than embraced and adopted by millions.


This article was originally printed in the September/October 2014 issue of Western Banker magazine.

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