Googling for money

My good mate Brett King has just posted some really interesting analysis and stats from Google about how we find out about loans and finances, and the search behaviours therein.

The headline data came from Google Australia, with the key trends showing a move away from branch towards search for financial news.  For example, when looking for deposit accounts and credit cards:

• 88% of customers are very likely to use online when researching and 78% of their overall research will be done online
• They will research an average of six days before they apply, although people are spending less time than they were, with the percentage of people spending a week or less at 76%, up from 58% in 2008
• They will spend 3 hours 20 minutes on average
• 59% start the task with a blank screen search
• Although 51% had a preferred brand when they started, 47% started the task with search & 58% do not search for their preferred brand
• 31% of people with a preferred brand ended up choosing a different brand after the task
• If people have issues finding what they're after on a website, they're more likely to abandon the site than to phone up or go into a branch to get clarification
• 77% didn't know about the product they chose when they started the task
• 68% prefer to apply online; 29% prefer branch; 3% prefer phone
• Particularly noteworthy is that 82% of higher income earners (US$100,000 per annum) research online and 74% would prefer to apply online for deposits & credit cards

For more insights, checkout Brett's Blog.