Economic News and Strength Dominates
When financial services firms did communicate, three main messages appeared most often - general economy updates and statistics (up to 33% in February 2009 from 19% in mid-October 2008), company strength and longevity (25% from 19%) and, least frequently but arguably the most important during difficult times, direct efforts to reassure customers and other visitors about their personal financial security (12% from 15%).
"Since corporate home pages are a prime gateway to a company's positioning, messaging and reputation, we examined them to determine how an industry under intense scrutiny rises to the challenge of building trust in tough times," said Barb Iverson, president of Weber Shandwick's financial services industry practice group. "It is not enough for leading financial services companies to communicate only in good times. Our ongoing analysis leads us to recommend to financial services companies that they use their low-cost/high-impact home pages to communicate more directly and personally with their stakeholders by acknowledging and addressing customer and investor financial concerns."
European/EMEA Firms Slightly More Communicative Early On
Despite the smaller number of European/EMEA financial services firms examined, a greater percentage of them (38%) were early communicators on their Web site home pages compared to U.S. peers (30%). European/EMEA financial services firms may have reacted more quickly when their banks experienced capitalization crises in September and sought funding from the government and Middle Eastern investors. U.S. companies, however, caught up to and surpassed their European/EMEA peers in using home page communications over the five months of the analysis.
Securities Lead the Way
By far, securities firms are currently the most likely to communicate about the crisis on their home pages. All securities firms (100%) were doing so at the end of February. Commercial banks did not communicate via their home pages about the economic crisis as often as securities firms did in mid-October but began communicating more strongly in November.
Video Has a Way to Go
The most common messaging methods employed by the financial services firms examined are corporate statements, commentaries and reports (up to 34% in February 2009 from 19% in mid-October 2008) and videos, audio casts and Webcasts (up to 14% from 10%). The least frequently used type of home page communications formats are press releases, newsletters and executive speeches.
CEO/Chairmen Scarce
When financial services firms addressed the economic crisis on their home pages, they sometimes linked to a message from a company executive, most likely the CEO/Chairman (up to 24% in February 2009 from 13% in mid-October 2008) although sometimes other executives were utilized. CEOs/Chairmen may have been communicating in the media to articulate their messages about the challenging economic marketplace. However, when CEOs/Chairmen were used on company home pages, they helped to humanize the economic crisis and put a face on the company.
Weber Shandwick's Iverson concludes: "High anxiety undoubtedly causes many people to seek information about the health of the companies in which they entrust savings and investments or do business with on a regular basis. For many, the Web sites of these financial services companies are one of the first places that customers, investors and others go to in search of information and reassurance."
