Price comparison websites and other online resources have had a huge impact in changing the way people interact with financial services firms and in how they engage with financial services products. At the same time, banks have continued to close branches, directing their customers, where possible, to use phone, internet or mobile services.
These factors have changed the way in which people research and arrange products. This report examines how people now go about doing this. Mintel’s exclusive consumer research looks at what products people have arranged in the last three years, based on six example products: current accounts, savings accounts, credit cards, mortgages, car insurance and home insurance. The report then investigates what prompted people to research and buy these new products, and how people researched them, looking both at the first source of information that people turned to, and at the secondary sources that people used to help make their decision.
The report examines the ways consumers finally arranged their new products, and pieces together the typical customer journeys for each example product. Finally, general attitudes towards financial services product research and purchases are investigated.
