Knowledge Bank

In the retail banking industry, there is an assortment of factors that consumers consider when choosing one bank over another. While studies have been conducted regarding persuasive advertising elements, none of the studies has pertained to banks. American banks are spending millions of dollars on television advertisements, but the reality is that commercial views are on the decline with the growth of digital video recorders and online video streaming. This journal will uncover what advertising strategies are most effective for a variety of banking customer segments. The theory of consumer readiness involves consumer ability and motivation. It was hypothesized that high ability and high motivation individuals would respond more favorably to commercials with central cues compared to low ability and low motivation individuals. A 34-question survey was conducted to help identify which advertising types are most effective to each consumer segments. A series of Z-tests and confidence intervals were run to determine the statistical significance of the survey data. Results are directional, showing that the hypothesis was correct, but only for certain criteria. The hope is that with groups of consumers identified, consumer banks can develop more effective advertising strategies to appeal to each segment. This research opens the door to comparing television, mobile, online, and print advertising effectiveness. Additionally, this research could be replicated by combining research methods, such as EKG studies and focus group interviews, in order to decrease the biases of respondents that are commonly found in surveys.