Newton, MA June 26, 2001 There's a new application in town. According to a research report released today by Meridien Research, a financial technology firm, a new type of application is catching the eyes of financial institutions and customer relationship management (CRM) program providers: lead generation tools.
The Meridien report claims that more than US $4.6 billion will be spent this year by financial institutions gathering and analyzing data in order to understand customer behaviors and to develop more and better sales leads. But despite these efforts, direct marketing response rates are declining. Therefore, companies are turning to financial calculation and planning tools designed to help consumers achieve their personal financial goals and are providing institutions with sales leads that have closing rates that are running as high as 30 percent.
"Analyzers and financial planning modules are helping consumers to educate themselves, to make better choices, and to identify their needs for financial services," said Tom Richards, Research Director at Meridien Research. "A key benefit for the institutions that are providing these tools is their ability to gather information that supports business development and sales."
The report, entitled "Online Lead Generation: Converting Consumers into Prospects," examines two categories of online lead generation tools and the vendors supplying them to financial services institutions. An executive summary of the report is available at www.meridien-research.com. Information about purchasing the report can be obtained from [email protected].
