Trust as the world's best form of advertising: How the banking industry is taking new directions

Berlin, January, 31 2019. Financial and monetary affairs require trust. It's even clear from the language we use. Not for nothing do people entrusta bank with their savings. The question any financial manager should ask themselves is: how can we ensure that our service is trustworthy? A study by the German Association for the Digital Economy (BVDW) shows that aside from personal, word-of-mouth recommendations, online customer feedback is viewed as the most trustworthy source of evaluation. That's reason enough for senior managers in the industry to consider new ways of advertising to customers. The example of Hanseatic Bank shows how financial service providers can take advantage of genuine customer feedback.

Authenticity – Enhanced trust through enhanced transparency

Hamburg-based Hanseatic Bank has been active in using ratings management for some time. Even negative feedback is acknowledged and responded to. The occasional negative feedback is importantaccording to Remo Fyda, CEO of review platform ProvenExpert.com. It highlights for service providers areas where they can improve things, and it also enhances their credibility. How does it work? Remo has a suggestion. Offer tangible, customized solutions. You can then recognise any shortcomings in your own time. With the specialist tool from ratings platform ProvenExpert, the bank combines all customer evaluations from all online rating portals. The combined average of 4.26 out of 5 stars gives the overall score good. According to Remo, this score is often preferable for a firm than very good with 5 out of 5 stars. This might seem like a paradox, initially. But it's because, as our ratings expert says, Anyone who wants to create trust doesn't want to be seen as 100% perfect. According to another study, 95% of Internet users suspect a business of manipulation if they don't have any negative ratings.

Measurable effects – For every branch

A professional ratings management system can really help a company simplify and optimize quality management. Companies with several locations then also have the chance to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of individual branches. All ten of Hanseatic Bank's branches across Germany can be rated separately, for instance, meaning that employees can clearly identify areas where there's room for improvement. Customer opinions online are an incorruptible barometer of our work,, says Michel Billon, managing director of Hanseatic Bank. We can gain valuable insights on-site and can optimize our customer experience in a targeted way for each location.

Clear overview – All reviews in one place

A decisive aspect of the bank's referral marketing is that it combines its reviews, from other portals too. This allows for a holistic overview and a better point of comparison. Interestingly, aggregated feedback from a total of seven external portals ranks worse (4.18) than ratings on ProvenExpert (4.42). Active management is the reason for this: To actively collect feedback, the bank sends customized customer surveys via their ratings profile. Statistics show that the link between positive and negative ratings is affected by the way in which feedback is requested. 94 percent of actively collected feedback is positive. Why is that? Satisfied customers simply need a little more encouragement to leave a review, whereas unsatisfied customers feel the need to communicate their experience, explains Remo.

Increased number of reviews – Increased credibility

Negative feedback increases the authenticity of a business, while positive feedback builds trust. Actively requesting customer evaluation marginalises negative feedback, and it can bring in a lot more positive feedback in a short space of time. Hanseatic Bank now has almost 4,000 online reviews. This boosts overall confidence in the quality of a company's statements, says Remo. The conclusion is that when a high number of evaluations lead to a good overall score, the service provider is more credible. And where the currency is trust , the number of ratings is the hard cash.

About ProvenExpert

Together with Remo Fyda as CEO, ProvenExpert.com has become one of the best-known online platforms for qualified customer feedback and review aggregation in the region of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Since 2011, the referral marketing platform offers targeted industry surveys that companies can customize and use in a matter of minutes to start collecting feedback from customers. The surveys provide detailed insight into the needs of customers and their satisfaction levels, as well as helping to uncover new business potential. The resulting feedback can be easily used for online marketing purposes with ProvenExpert's rating seal and profile and combined with customer reviews from over 380 websites like Facebook, Google, and other platforms. Over 55,000 freelancers, entrepreneurs and large companies use ProvenExpert.com's online surveys to collect customer feedback.