Why you really need a bank branch

I found this on a market stall the other day.  It's from Punch Magazine, 1921.

Times don't change.

This is why you need a bank branch.

 

The is part three of a five-part series:

• Part One: One banker knows his industry is trashed, and here's his plan
• Part Two: Do banks need branches?
• Part Three: Why you really need a bank branch
• Part Four: Building a customer advisory bank
• Part Five: A truly social bank advisor is key

 

Comments

[Jeffry Pilcher]

An excerpt from The Financial Brand:

The Emotional Comfort of Branch Proximity

Consumers possess an inconsistent psychology when it comes to branches. Study after study has shown that branch proximity is the number one factor driving most consumers’ selection of a banking provider — usually within five miles (or less) from home or work. Yet most consumers hardly ever step foot in a branch again. They say one thing — that branches are important — but do another.

Something John Stumpf, Chairman and CEO of Wells Fargo, said in the Economist article might shed light on this paradoxical psychology.

“You might not go back to visit that bank again,” Stumpf said. “But that location is where you think your money is.”

Think about it. Consumers like the reassurance of physical locations. Why? Because people are deeply attached to their money. They need the emotional security of a nearby branch so they can feel their money is being stored in an easily accessible location — a metaphorical extension of stashing cash in the mattress. They imagine bankers have stacked their physical dollars away in some part of the safe designated just for them.

Consumers probably don’t see banks for what they are — virtual warehouses of data and digital dollars distributed across a vast network. They probably think they can just pop down to their local branch and ask the bank to hand them over their stack of physical dollars anytime they want. Little do they know that if everyone went to the bank at once and all of them wanted their money back, most customers would go away empty handed. Nevertheless, consumers like the idea that their money is somewhere close, available and safe.

http://thefinancialbrand.com/24784/economist-retail-banking-special-report/