Financial Services Organizations are Driving 10 Percent Revenue Growth Using Experimentation, According to New Optimizely Report

SAN FRANCISCO, November 6, 2019 — New research from Optimizely, the world's leader in digital experience optimization, indicates that half (51%) of Financial Services organizations report a revenue increase of 10 percent or more from using digital experimentation; seventy-nine percent report revenue increases of five percent or more. The new report, "Don’t Forget the Customer — The Digital Challenge for Financial Services," features insights from 800 business decision-makers worldwide, including the opportunities and best practices that sector organizations are leveraging to drive business growth and compete in today’s Digital Economy.

Digital disruption has drastically changed how Financial Services organizations compete to attract and grow customers, and impacts internal teams across product and marketing including development across web, mobile, and physical channels. While FinTech startups have had an advantage over older, traditional organizations delivering digital customer experiences, 68 percent of all Financial Services organizations still report feeling vulnerable to digital disruption. A top concern shared among organizations is that customer experience is critical to remaining competitive, but not prioritized enough in their company (62%).

Experimentation is helping sector businesses address common concerns, including how to improve customer experience. The overwhelming majority (92%) of Financial Services organizations view experimentation as critical to transforming the digital customer experience. In addition, 90 percent consider experimentation key to keeping their business competitive in the next three years.

Those who have not embraced experimentation cite a common issue of needing to first evolve their legacy technology infrastructure. Fifty-seven percent of respondents say most of their products and services were developed in the pre-Internet era. Thirty-four percent indicate the biggest challenge they face enhancing their digital customer experience is integrating new technology into their legacy infrastructure. Without a solid foundation, these organizations are challenged to deliver an enhanced digital experience.

Despite adoption challenges for some sector organizations, the survey findings also indicate those adopting experimentation are beginning to finetune best practices to maximize the impact of their programs. Additional insights from the report, include:

• 64% of respondents with experimentation programs say their investment in experimentation will increase in the next 12 months.
• 62% of Financial Services companies plan to invest in both better technology and skilled workers for experimentation.
• 92% of respondents say that since they have introduced a digital champion for experimentation, they are conducting even more experiments that support their business.

“Financial Services organizations like Betterment, Earnest, Monzo, and Visa are shining examples of how all brands can take control of their competitiveness in today’s Digital Economy using experimentation,” said Carl Tsukahara, CMO, Optimizely. “By leveraging a test-and-learn approach, they are best positioned to deliver great digital experiences throughout the customer lifecycle to fuel new customer acquisition and maintain long-term loyalty."