Our client, a financial services provider, sought to establish an on-line savings product to compete with a well established online saver product offered by a competitor. Given that this competing provider had established a strong market position, our client sought to understand the size of the existing opportunity within the market and to identify the best product positioning to compete with the established product.

The overall objective of this research was to identify the following:

Segmentation analysis revealed four segments within the savers market. From this a target market was identified consisting of consumers who had a very similar profile to those whom had already adopted the competitor’s product but had not yet established an on-line savings account. Key attitudinal and behavioural variables further differentiated this target segment from the remaining three segments of savers. In addition, the target segment was the largest of the four segments and represented the greatest opportunity for savings deposits for our client. 

Choice-based modelling then identified the key product attributes that would lead to the greatest share of preference amongst the target market.  Attributes such as a low interest rate, channel and reward features were identified as crucial elements of the product offering.

Further analysis identified key attitudinal differences that separated early adopters of an on-line savings product and the identified target segment. These differences were combined with demographic and media usage data of the target segment to help develop a tailored communications strategy for our client. In addition, Customer Value Analysis (CVA) identified that in order for our client to establish a share gaining position within the market, a key challenge was to communicate the competitiveness of its proposition against the established and competing offers within the on-line savings market.

This research enabled our client to develop a successful entry strategy shaped by a solid understanding of attitudes, usage, optimised media, positioning, product design and addressable market information.