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Online Listings Management for the Retail Banking Industry

Adding online listings management into a digital marketing plan for banks is an important component of a program. Why? Because managing your branch listings allows you to have control over the information getting pushed out on the internet, whether it is in search engine results, online directories or GPS devices. Online listings management programs provide a vital way to ensure your branches’ business information is accurate in the search results. Name, address, phone number, hours of operation, services, etc. need to get served up correctly to consumers when they’re searching; otherwise, they may find one of your competitors.

Last year, Google rolled out the Pigeon update, which had an effect on the search results for Google Maps and Google Search. This led to an increase in the rankings for online directories like YP.com and Yelp, so the businesses that were not listed in these types of directories are finding it much harder to appear on the first page of the results.

According to Moz, people in the United States perform over 6.2 billion local searches every year. 61% of those users will call a business after searching, and 59% will actually visit the location. 90% of those searching will take an action within 24 hours of finding a business online. You can see how vital it is that your local listings are properly managed and displayed in the search results!

The types of specific errors found within the online listings for the retail banking industry include:

• Missing locations
• Different/incorrect company names
• Missing hours of operation
• Incorrect listings of products or services
• Missing contact information
• Incorrect website address associated with a banks’ local branch listings (this is really prevalent in retail banking due to commonality of name similar names and recent acquisitions).

A good example of a common error is when a branch location that has been closed for several months is still appearing as a valid location in the online listings results.  Another big issue regarding online listings in the retail banking industry is incorrect phone numbers appearing.  An incorrect phone number can lead to frustration for you and your customers.  After all, you want your customers, especially potential customers, to be able to contact you with questions they may have, and if they are unable to connect with you they may take their business to a different local bank altogether.

Some of the benefits of adding an online listings management program to digital marketing for banks include:

• Branches or corporate office can control the accuracy of the information listed, including name, address and phone number
• The ability to add relevant information that may not otherwise appear, like products, services, hours of operation, brand affiliation, contact email, website URL, any 800 numbers, fax number, languages spoken, etc.
• Correcting the information currently appearing in the branch listing and profile and ensures it will appear accurately on search engine results pages, online directories and GPS devices
• Ensuring the correct name/brand appears when acquisitions occur
• Driving ATM transactions and fees
• Correcting mobile listings and profiles

Don’t let out of date or inaccurate data inconvenience your potential customers! Come see Linkmedia 360 in booth 623 at the upcoming BAI Retail Delivery 2015!