In New Zealand, the banking world is clearly dominated by the 5 key players, the usual suspects if you will: ANZ, ASB, Westpac, Kiwibank and BNZ.
And while all are doing the usual social thing, lately there has been a rise in banking blogs, or micro-sites, that offer customers extra content and advice. They are seemingly going that extra step to give customers more than just money advice or usual banking spiel.
So who is in the game?
BNZ have just launched BNZ Community, a “place that looks to connect and talk about all things money-related,” after not too long ago also starting BNZ GoodHome, their online space that centres on property and your home.
Westpac have also not long launched their site REDnews, where their content centres on property, digital, business, women and community. And ASB have continued with their long standing blog, which like Westpac, is a mix of all things banking, technology and community.
ANZ also somewhat enters this space with The Small Business Hub, which is centred on exactly that, small businesses.
Kiwibank seem out in the blog wilderness. Maybe I just missed it?
And who’s leading the way?
It’s hard to say who is winning exactly, as each one focusses on different aspects (although some slightly overlap), and each takes a different approach.
In saying that, BNZ are doing a great job with design. Their GoodHome site, which mirrors the look and feel of their website, takes a modern, sleek approach with Pinterest-esque styling. It is highly visual, pretty easy to follow and the tone is very approachable and easy going.
They also leverage on some well-known figures and experts to create content for them.
Their new community site will prove interesting in terms of content, as while it has a blog area it relies on user engagement for its main premise. Whether they will be able to convince users to not just read the content but also interact with it and create more discussion may prove a sticking point.
ASB’s blog is a tad more traditional and can probably do with a bit of a makeover design wise – although it is one of the oldest of the bunch so no surprise really. However, they are putting out some great extra content in terms of infographics and video. This no doubt makes it easy for readers to digest the information without spending too much precious time scrolling through an abundance of copy.
They could look to leverage this a little more, especially video, with their case studies. They could really get out there and show off the people and businesses they are interviewing through video, making it a lot more approachable to the everyday viewer.
Westpac REDnews’ approach is a tad more interesting, as their design isn’t overly modern yet was launched this year. Their large carousel gives a big imagery hit, but the rest of the homepage is quite traditional in that it outlays normal sized thumbnails and copy intros. For me, it’s a little bit cluttered and I prefer the simpler design of their sub-section landing pages like Property. Also, due to the design I get the impression that the feel and tone is more serious, but the content actually contradicts this.
Lastly, ANZ are probably also in need of a bit of a design change. A key sticking point for me is the lack of imagery both on the homepage and within the blog posts themselves. It makes it a tad dry and hard to read when you are confronted with scrolls of copy.
I guess overall, without knowing how successful each blog is, there are some like Westpac and ASB where they may be spreading themselves too thin on topics, trying to cover everything and be everything to everyone. Perhaps taking it back, evaluating what their audience is enjoying the most and really focussing in on those topics may prove more fruitful.
