How To Translate Customer Interest Into Sales

Interest Keeps Growing

According to some of the latest market research out there, there is seems to be a continued interest in Biometrics.  I am not talking about interest on part of the consumer at a macro level, but at a micro level.  The market application which seems to be getting this latest surge of interest is the banking and financial sectors. 

Here are some of the details:  “Javelin Strategy & Research’s latest research report — “7th Annual Authentication Report: Weakening of Knowledge-Based Authentication Provides New Opportunities for Customer Acquisition and Retention” — presents details of the authentication methods that financial institutions (FIs) can use to secure remote banking channels for online, telephone, and mobile customers and assesses consumers’ comfort level using these technologies. Javelin conducted online surveys with almost 4,300 consumers and interviews with authentication technology vendors to compile key recommendations on how FIs can leverage authentication methods to acquire and retain customers who currently use or are interested in using remote banking channels . . . “Our research shows that almost two-thirds of consumers are interested in using biometric authentication,” said James Van Dyke, President, Javelin.”  (SOURCE:  http://www.findbiometrics.com/industry-news/i/9296/). 

My Take

As you can see from up above, some 4,300 respondents were polled and involved in this recent survey.  I do have to admit, that when compared to other market research I have written about, this is a very specific one.  And I think that is good, so the Biometrics Industry will exactly knows where the consumer stands in their interest in Biometrics.  Here, it is in the way Security is implemented when customers try to access their financial information via the internet, phone, or wireless.  According to this research, the one traditional form of authentication, which is known as “Knowledge Based Authentication”, is fast losing momentum. 

Under this Security method, you are authenticated by something you know – which is very often a password or a PIN Number.  Thus, the overwhelming positive response for Biometrics (almost 2/3).  Here is where I will add my two cents worth.  Back in the last decade, I used to have my own Biometrics business, in which I tried to primarily sell fingerprint and hand geometry scanners.  I spent a lot of time marketing, and I too, generated a lot of interest in the stuff.  But that is where it ended.  I could not translate that strong level of interest into sales.  It just seemed like that the potential customers simply hesitated at buying.  Who knows the individual reasons why this was so, but it is in general human nature to say you like something, but when you have to actually act on it, that is where the decision making process takes a 180 degree turn. 

I guess the people I has sales appointments with simply thought Biometrics was a sexy tool, James Bondish.  What I am trying to get at is that there will always be a strong interest and as well as a continued growing interest in Biometrics.  But that interest has to be converted into strong sales.  I guess this basic principle of sales and marketing is true for any industry.  But the Biometrics one has an even greater hump to cross, before the $$$ start rolling in.  So what is the best way to do this???  Well, the market research as described here, hits the nail on the head.  It all comes down to basic hand holding and educating the potential customer about Biometrics.  People in the end are not going to be dazzled by all of the fanciness and sexiness involved (that is extremely short lived), but rather, what they will remember is the fact somebody reached out to them, explained in the most crudest terms what Biometrics is all about, and how it can quickly meet their Security needs. 

Hand holding, that’s all it comes down to.  Us humans as a species love to be babied and cared for.  And, I believe, that’s all the Biometrics Industry really needs in order to propel all this interest into a strong level of sales and revenue.  True, the glamor can help, but in today’s times, it is all about good old customer service, like it was back in the 50’s and 60’s.  This quote to a degree, reflects what I am trying to get at:  “Almost half of consumers in 2011 indicated that robust identity verification methods are compelling features when choosing a new FI. FIs can incorporate messages about successful authentication methods into marketing materials to attract new customers and retain existing ones.”  (SOURCE:  http://www.findbiometrics.com/industry-news/i/9296/). 

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