This document discusses the concept of developing a financial service product using Apple's approach of focusing on the customer experience rather than technology. It suggests starting by understanding customers' concerns, hopes and expectations regarding money. The document introduces the idea of "connectors" - short phrases that can generate interest and relevance for a product by relating to customers' real needs. It advocates using online advertising research tools to efficiently test different connector concepts.

1. What
if
Apple®
Created
a
Financial
Service?
Leveraging
Google
and
Facebook
Advertising
to
Design
Consumer
Innovation
Dr.
Dirk
Lorré
Consumer
psychologist
Dirk.lorre@brandstrategists.net
Benoit
Gaillard
Digital
Marketing
Entrepreneur
wsibusinessperformance.com
Abstract:
In
this
whitepaper
we
present
an
efficient
way
to
research
what
consumers
really
want
for
their
money.
We
have
learnt
from
consumers
that
“The
Number"
is
the
most
engaging
way
to
talk
about
financial
services.
“The
Number”
is
the
amount
of
resources
(financial
and
other)
that
people
think
they
need
to
feel
safe
for
the
rest
of
their
life.
Understanding
how
people
see
"their
Number"
brings
a
fresh
and
actionable
way
to
design
and
communicate
financial
services.
We
developed
our
own
proprietary
connector
research
tool,
eConceptLab.com,
making
use
of
simple
Google
and
Facebook
ads.
Connectors
are
small
sentences/visuals
like
the
ones
used
in
Google
or
Facebook
ads
that
generate
interest
and
create
a
mental
frame
of
expectations
about
a
product
or
service.
They
are,
in
this
sense,
a
great
door-­‐opener
to
help
sell
in
a
relevant
way.
Keywords:
Concept
Lab,
online
advertising,
Google
and
Facebook,
Internet
consumer
research,
Address
stated
behaviour
1

2. What
if
Apple®
Created
a
Financial
Service?
Yes,
what
if
Apple
really
did
this?
Without
a
doubt,
consumers
would
love
it!
They
would
most
likely
stand
in
queue
for
hours
to
be
the
first
to
participate.
The
reason?
Apple
has
a
track
record
of
inspiring
innovations
that
really
touch
the
hearts
of
people.
What
would
be
the
Apple
way
to
approach
such
an
innovation?
We
know
that
they
would
start
with
the
customer
and
not
with
the
technology.
Despite
the
repeated
use
of
this
sentence,
it
is
still
valid.
In
the
time
that
companies
used
new
data
storage
techniques
to
make
MP3
players,
Apple
invented
iPod
and
iTunes.
And
the
reason
they
were
so
successful
is
that
they
connected
to
music
lovers,
to
people
who
buy
a
lot
of
music.
Knowing
that
music
lovers
cherish
their
collection
of
records
and
CDs,
they
offered
the
iTunes
service
(which
lets
you
transfer
your
CD
collection
into
a
database,
offering
playlists
and
also
coupling
the
visuals
of
the
covers
to
match
the
songs).
Making
Connections
From
what
we
have
seen
as
consultants
and
as
customers,
the
financial
services
industry
is
still
far
away
from
this
type
thinking.
Yes,
more
consumer
research
is
being
used
now
than
it
was
before,
but
companies
still
talk
use
the
approach
of
asking
consumers
“What
do
you
think
about
the
benefits
of
this
product?”
The
real
question,
however,
is
what
are
the
customers’
concerns,
hopes
and
expectations
about
money?
We
need
to
ask
“Why
do
people
need
financial
planning?”
And
we
are
referring
here
to
the
real
consumer
need,
not
the
need
of
the
financial
institution.
If
you
are
a
bank,
you
would
like
to
know
everything
about
your
customers
(especially
the
money
they
have
in
other
banks.)
But
that
is
your
need
as
a
financial
institution,
not
the
need
of
your
customer.
You
need
to
“connect”
to
what
the
customer
needs.
As
a
concept
development
company,
here’s
what
we
would
do
−
If
you
ask
us
to
design
a
financial
planning
concept,
we
will
not
start
with
the
benefits
you
want
to
sell
or
the
“offer”
you
want
to
promote.
Instead,
we
will
start
by
asking
“How
do
you
connect
to
customers
about
financial
planning?”
2

3.
The
approach
of
“connection”
is
a
very
simple
one:
a
connector
is
the
most
simple,
short
and
efficient
stimulus
that
triggers
the
relevance
of
what
you
are
trying
to
sell
in
the
life
of
the
customer.
Or,
in
the
context
of
financial
planning,
it
is
what
you
can
say
to
make
people
consider
a
financial
planning
product.
What’s
a
Connector?
Let’s
explain
the
“connector”
concept
with
the
example
of
a
door-­‐to-­‐door
salesman.
You
ring
the
doorbell,
someone
opens,
and
you
can
say
only
one
thing…what
you
say
then
will
either
catch
this
person’s
interest
or
result
in
a
door
slam.
This
is
how
we
begin
a
concept
co-­‐creation
workshop.
You
can
do
the
test
for
yourself
to
confirm
that
it
is
not
by
promoting
a
benefit
(or
worse,
an
offer)
that
you
connect
with
people.
In
order
to
connect,
you
have
to
be
relevant.
What
you
say
must
be
something
your
audience
can
immediately
relate
to
and
it
must
offer
a
solution
to
a
strong
need.
In
the
research
industry,
we
often
talk
about
“insight”.
Now
how
do
you
check
if
an
insight
is
indeed
an
insight?
For
instance,
“People
want
the
highest
possible
yield
on
their
investment”.
Is
this
truly
an
insight?
Just
because
you
put
this
question
in
a
poll
or
survey
and
the
majority
of
respondents
said
“Yes”
does
not
make
it
a
good
insight.
Think
about
it,
why
would
anyone
say
“No”
in
response
to
your
question?
Why
would
anybody
want
to
appear
stupid?
That’s
why
we
talk
about
connectors
rather
than
insights.
A
connector
is
operational
−
if
people
show
interest,
they
are
connected.
In
a
qualitative
group
discussion
session,
you
can
judge
the
interest
level
by
the
energy
displayed
in
response
to
a
statement.
Though
they
are
very
interesting,
organizing
group
discussions
is
expensive
and
time
consuming.
eConceptLab.com
−
how
to
sift
what
works
from
what
doesn’t
work

4. Let
us
demonstrate
how
we
can
screen
good
connectors
via
Google
and
Facebook
ads:
we
call
this
our
eConceptLab.com.
If
a
connector
connects
your
product
in
a
relevant
way
to
your
customer,
it
is
similar
to
a
surfer
clicking
an
online
ad.
This
is
the
beauty
of
modern
technology.
A
simple
Click-­‐Through
-­‐Rate
(CTR)
is
a
perfect
indication
of
whether
or
not
people
are
connected.
If
I
click
on
an
ad,
it
is
because
I’m
interested
and
I
want
to
know
more
about
the
offer.
People
giving
you
time
is
one
of
the
best
measures
of
the
level
of
interest.
And
because
surfing
is
not
an
experimental
situation
(like
filling
in
a
questionnaire
or
attending
a
group
discussion),
CTR
is
very
reliable
and
valid.
This
makes
CTR
a
perfect
measure
for
connection.
So
the
first
step
of
the
process
is
very
simple:
We
make
a
long
list
of
potential
connections:
“How
do
you
make
someone
consider
a
financial
planning
service?”
-­‐ Maybe
we
have
to
refer
to
the
stock
market
going
down
(and
your
savings
evaporating)
-­‐ Maybe
we
have
to
dwell
on
the
idea
of
outliving
your
savings
-­‐ Maybe
we
have
to
consider
the
cost
of
retirement
-­‐ Maybe….
We
do
this
brainstorming
about
potential
ways
to
connect
together
with
our
client.
It
is
a
foundational
step
and
the
one
where
we
become
aware
that
we
do
not
really
know
a
lot
about
what
keeps
our
customers
busy,
or
the
way
they
think.
It
is
also
a
moment
of
humility,
of
recognition
and
realization.
You
may
work
for
a
big
company
and
a
well
known
brand,
but
in
the
life
of
your
customer,
you
and
your
category
represent
only
a
tiny
part.
When
looking
for
connectors,
it
is
interesting
to
use
some
simple
consumer
psychology.
You
can
connect
to
problems
(or
fears),
solutions,
opportunity;
and
you
can
connect
to
the
person
as
an
individual
or
as
a
member
of
the
group. We
often
use
the
Censydiam
model
to
look
for
different
connections
in
different
need
state
area’s.
4

5. Normally
we
check
connectors
qualitatively,
with
our
bulls
eye
customers.
The
nice
thing
about
this
new
method
is
that
we
can
do
it
online,
with
ads.
So
each
connection
idea
is
translated
into
a
Google
Search
ad.
To
determine
who
will
see
the
ads,
we
selected
a
set
of
keywords
related
to
our
field
of
research:
financial
planning,
retirement,
saving
money,
investing,
etc.
Whenever
a
consumer
searched
for
such
a
keyword,
our
ads
were
validated
as
“connecting
statements”.
All
the
ads
were
launched
via
Google
Adwords.
Fig
1:
shows
how
an
ad
might
look
to
a
surfer….
As
soon
as
the
advertising
campaign
is
rolled
out,
you
can
immediately
see
the
clicks
coming
in;
thousands
of
consumers
get
to
see
your
ad
from
as
many
countries
as
you
wish
to
target.
The
Google
way
to
promote
relevant
ads
(i.e.
the
ones
that
people
click
through)
is
actually
supporting
our
methodology
quickly
separating
the
statements
that
connect
from
those
that
don’t.
Table
1:
List
of
connecting
statements
and
their
CTR,
and
number
of
impressions.
Connector Connector CRT Imprs
What is your How much do you need to live
number? comfortably the rest of your life? 1,40% 45353
Learn about your How much do you need to live 1,05% 3232

6. number comfortably the rest of your life?
Calculate your How much do you need to live
number comfortably the rest of your life? 1,02% 2741
Stock market is Impact on the rest of your life?
down Learn about your Number 0,89% 12592
Stock market is Does it impact your plans? Learn
down about your Number 0,89% 27863
Is money enough to stop working?
Planning retirement Downshift for better lifestyle 0,74% 945
Stock market is Are you doing better than the
down market? Learn about your Number 0,72% 8595
Stock market is What are your friends advising?
down Learn about your Number 0,63% 2878
Lucky are those
who inherit Plan for the rest of your life. 0,59% 3713
How much is my Calculate your Number to safely
net worth? plan the rest of your life 0,57% 7740
Do you expect Family is always here to support.
inheritance? Plan the rest of your life 0,56% 6473
Planning retirement beyond
Downshift for better money? Time for you? Time to do
life what? 0,55% 542
How much is my I count my friends, not my money.
net worth? Plan for the rest of your life 0,53% 1522
Calculate how much you need to
live comfortably the rest of your
How much is rich? life 0,50% 801
How much is my Who cares? Focus on what you
net worth? earn and spend 0,49% 4089
Do you expect Pass it on to your kids. Plan the
inheritance? rest of your life 0,48% 2717
Your parents helped you, help
Cost of elderly them. How much do you need for
care? the rest of your life? 0,48% 2936
Cost of elderly Who will take care of you if you
care? have to take care of your parents? 0,48% 2078
You may grow older than you
Outlive your expect to live. Plan the rest of your
savings? life. 0,47% 6114
Do you expect Don't plan on it. Finance the rest
inheritance? of your life safely. 0,36% 4753
6

7. Planning retirement is all about
me. How much do you need for
Me, me, me ... the rest of your life? 0,33% 600
How much to How much do you need to live
retire? comfortably the rest of your life? 0,32% 634
In your roaring thirties? How
Save for golden much do you need for the rest of
years your life? 0,32% 316
I know I will have to take care of
Cost of elderly my parents. Plan the rest of your
care? life 0,27% 1130
Beyond financial planning. What
Can money buy do you need for the rest of your
happiness? life? 0,26% 387
Outlive your Lifestyle defines life expectancy.
savings? Learn about your Number 0,24% 1667
Outlive your I don't worry about how long I
savings? may live. Plan the rest of your life. 0,17% 1179
How much is my
net worth? Benchmark it with peers 0,12% 849
This
exercise
clearly
shows
winning
connecting
statements.
In
this
case
it
is
“What
is
your
number?
How
much
do
you
need
to
live
comfortably
for
the
rest
of
your
life?“
With
a
CTR
of
1,4%
this
is
a
very
strong
connecting
phrase.
We
got
the
idea
for
this
connecting
statement
from
a
book
by
Lee
Eisenberg
called
“The
Number”i.
If
you
are
work
in
the
financial
sector
and
you
are
interested
in
the
psychology
of
your
customers,
we
definitely
recommend
you
read
this
book.
Drawing
Insights
The
next
step
after
finding
a
good
connection
is
finding
insights.
We
have
to
understand
why
a
phrase
is
connecting
well.
For
the
details,
I
would
refer
you
again
to
Eisenberg’s
book.
But
in
short,
the
big
issue
with
financial
planning
is
to
know
if
you
have
saved
enough
to
stay
dry
the
rest
of
your
life.
It
is
the
dilemma
between
saving
and
spending.
If
you
are

8. sure
you
have
enough,
you
can
spend
(or
donate
to
your
children),
but
if
you
feel
insecure,
you
will
tend
to
save.
This
balance
between
saving
and
spending
is
very
well
known
on
a
macro-­‐economic
level.
For
example,
China
wants
to
install
social
security
to
fight
the
high
saving
rate
of
its
middle
class
and
thus
stimulate
the
internal
economy.
But
we
do
not
know
a
lot
of
financial
services
that
try
to
seek
clarity
about
“the
individual
number”.
We
immediately
see
a
lot
of
opportunities
though,
such
as:
• giving
people
an
overview
of
what
they
have
(financial
wealth
and
real
estate
together)
• proposing
benchmarks
of
other
people’s
number
• assuring
big
but
rare
risks
• helping
customers
estimate
how
much
they
will
need
to
live
comfortably
as
they
downshift
• suggesting
ways
to
estimate
how
much
people
will
need
to
live
well
through
their
senior
years
when
they
become
dependent
• helping
to
calculate
how
much
you
need
to
take
care
of
your
parents
or
if
your
kids
come
back
home
You
see,
it
is
not
so
much
about
making
consumers
experts
in
building
the
most
efficient
portfolio
but
rather
a
holistic
understanding
of
financial
planning
and
related
life
choices.
And
overall,
what
people
want
is
simplicity,
a
keen
overview
and
personal
relevance.
The
question
is,
is
this
what
the
financial
sector
has
been
selling?
It’s
never
too
late
to
start.
Once
a
good
connection
is
found,
we
can
start
digging
deeper.
One
aspect
is
tweaking
the
connector
and
finding
the
right
language.
Should
we
say
“what
is
your
number”
or
“calculate
your
number”?
Google
ads
give
the
answer.
“Calculate”
is
slightly
less
effective,
perhaps
because
it
sounds
more
complicated.
Remember,
our
insight
is
that
people
are
looking
for
a
simple
answer…
Targeted
Connections
8

9. For
the
development
of
concepts,
we
can
isolate
specific
target
groups.
For
financial
planning
you
may
find
that
professionals
in
the
55+
age
group
are
very
important.
Selecting
this
target
group
with
Google
search
is
not
possible
(here
the
selection
goes
via
the
search
items.)
But
on
social
networks
it
is
perfectly
possible
to
select
using
basic
demographics
like
age.
So
we
did
run
an
experimental
campaign
on
LinkedIn,
focusing
on
55+
professionals.
This
helped
us
to
tweak
the
connector
and
to
better
study
the
psychology
behind
it.
If
we
add
“Me,
me,
me”
(a
sort
of
outcry
of
individuality),
our
number
campaign
works
better.
For
us
this
was
a
reinforcement
of
what
we
suspected.
The
concept
of
“the
number”
is
a
very
individual,
even
egoistic
given.
People
want
to
know
their
number,
not
the
number
in
general.
They
want
to
know
where
they
are
and
about
their
individual
situation.
Visuals
as
connectors!
Another
advantage
of
the
eConceptLab
technique
is
the
opportunity
to
research
visuals.
We
know
that
visuals
connect
effectively,
but
it
is
much
more
difficult
to
research
their
impact.
Consumers
don’t
see
our
strategy,
they
see
execution.
So
researching
the
actual
execution
is
very
critical
to
ensure
it
connects.
When
it
comes
to
complex
products
and
services
(like
financial
services)
it
becomes
very
difficult
to
understand
the
visual
language.
That’s
probably
why
the
financial
sector
is
known
to
use
dull
and
very
flat
pictures
in
their
communication.
Here
too,
Google
offers
some
help.
Google
Images
is
like
an
instant
tool
to
conduct
visual
semiotic
analysis.
If
you
type
the
word
“retirement”
into
the
Google
Image
search
window,
immediately
you
get
an
overview
of
the
visual
language
that
is
currently
used.
You
will
find
typical
images
like
feet
up
on
a
beach
chair
in
front
of
the
ocean,
the
nest
with
401K
eggs,
a
smiling
elderly
couple
enjoying
a
candlelit
dinner,
etc.
This
can
be
instantly
researched
too
as
shown
in
table
2
below.
Table
2:
CTR
for
the
same
connector
with
different
visuals

10.
VISUAL
ADS
CTR
CTR
GOOGLE
FACEBOOK
SEARCH
PLACEMENT
0.61%
0.049%
0.39%
0.022%
0.93%
0.061%
1.01%
0,03%
0.61%
0.061%
0.21%
0.052%
10

11. Apparently
the
famous
“feet
up
in
the
air”
does
not
work
with
our
number
concept.
While
the
beautiful
lady
(almost
like
a
photo
you
find
on
dating
sites)
does
work
very
well!
eConceptLab
offers
tremendous
possibilities
to
fine-­‐tune
and
research
the
connector
further.
But
more
importantly,
we
can
work
with
the
people
that
click
on
our
ads,
because
they
need
a
concept
landing
page.
Just
like
youngsters
making
a
temporary
Facebook
page
to
invite
people
to
a
party,
we
make
temporary
Internet
and
Facebook
pages.
In
our
experiment
we
started
with
a
general
“financial
planning”
page,
but
as
soon
as
we
narrowed
down
our
connector
to
“the
number”,
we
made
special
“number”
landing
pages.
The
really
interesting
part
was
that
we
were
able
to
further
research
the
people
we
attracted
in
the
first
place.
Target
Audience
Profiling
On one page we designed a small psychological profiling tool where
people could find out their attitude towards the number.
The page is still up: http://bit.ly/qrddO4 , so you can find about your own
attitude.

12. In Fig. 2 you see the result of our simple (only 9 questions) profiling
exercise.
Not
surprisingly,
the
majority
of
people
that
landed
with
“the
number”
connector
are
safety
seekers
(assurers).
The
amazing
part
is
that
38%
of
the
people
who
landed
on
our
page
did
respond
to
the
profiling
questions
and
spent
+/-­‐
4
minutes
doing
so.
This
demonstrates
the
quality
of
the
engagement
you
could
achieve
with
this
research
methodology.
On
Facebook,
the
cooperation
of
people
who
click
through
is
even
bigger.
The
nice
thing
about
Facebook
is
the
“Like”
button,
a
good
indication
that
you
brought
people
in
for
the
right
reason.
In
our
sample,
78%
of
the
people
who
were
brought
in
did
“like”
us
(without
our
content
being
hidden
behind
the
“like”
wall!).
With
the
people
who
are
now
fans
of
“the
number”
Facebook
page,
we
can
hope
to
create
a
financial
service
based
on
the
psychology
of
the
number.
We
could
introduce
ideas
on
our
wall
−
ideas
about
how
to
give
people
insights
about
their
number.
Each
idea
that
is
public
on
our
wall
will
pop
up
on
their
Facebook
page;
that
is
the
way
to
co-­‐create
new
products
and
services
with
their
potential
users.
eConceptLab.com
makes
it
possible
to
work
both
unbranded
and
branded.
We
prefer
to
start
unbranded,
but
once
your
company
has
decided
which
service
to
develop,
we
can
move
the
landing
pages
under
your
brand
name,
if
you
wish
to
do
so.
This
is
interesting
to
do,
but
it
12

13. also
shows
how
the
world,
under
pressure
of
new
technologies,
has
become
hyper-­‐transparent,
and
our
processes
(including
innovation)
still
need
to
adapt
to
this
new
world.
Conclusion
We
perceive
the
financial
services
industry
as
one
of
the
most
challenging
ones
in
terms
of
crafting
engaging
communication
and
services.
We
believe
that
consumer-­‐centric
concept
development
is
critical
to
change
the
way
the
industry
communicates
and
innovates.
To
catch
up,
we
should
be
more
connected
to
the
customer.
Innovation
should
start
from
good
connection
with
customers.
Being
connected
means,
looking
at
money
like
customers
do,
speaking
the
language
of
the
customer.
With
eConceptLab.com,
we
have
demonstrated
a
new
way
to
find
good
connections
to
customers
via
Google
and
Facebook
ads
and
landing
pages.
We
have
offered
some
initial
examples
about
how
customers
might
be
connected
to
“their
Number”.
We
have
proven
the
actionable
worth
of
this
new
research
methodology
through
researching
the
“Number”.

14.
i
Lee Eisenberg, The Number : A Completely Different Way to Think About the Rest of
Your Life, free press, 2006
14