Trovus research shows how customers engage with the Financial Services market. Results uncover only the most innovative companies exploit critical customer intelligence and social media.

London, UK - Trovus, the award-winning and leading provider in customer intelligence services built on understanding organisational behaviour through detailed profiling, has revealed the results of its latest benchmarking research into how predictive modelling helps organisations drive value from the profiles of their web site visitors. Looking at traffic from hundreds of organisations across the website of a Financial Services company, the research concludes that many companies want better understanding of client and prospect behaviour to improve client engagement and long term relationships; and that only innovators are exploiting the value of this customer intelligence to develop their businesses.  

The research, which draws on unique datasets from real life case studies, includes trends analysis over the eight months to August 2011 across a financial services company website – in the areas of ‘deferred corporation tax’ and ‘salary sacrifice’.   Addressing a wide range of organisations in several different vertical markets, the research shows a significant fall in interest levels in corporation tax among media companies during the summer months, with a marked increase among professional services and technology companies. This is due to their respective marketplaces’ changing needs around planning for corporation tax calculations relative to their financial year end, says the research. At the same time, the summer months saw distinctively more interest in salary sacrifice among within manufacturing and technology companies as well as the public sector. As this was focused on salary sacrifice within a leasing programme, it is clearly reflective of the creative initiatives being thought about by markets that are looking to control costs.   “Our research highlights that analyses of customer intelligence from their web site profiles reveal who is interested in what and when,” said Caspar Craven, Co-Founder of Trovus. “This predictive modelling is a powerful weapon. It tells you which clients and prospects to engage now and what to talk to them about. The most innovative companies use this customer intelligence to understand vertical market trends and client needs, gaining insights into interests and behaviours and targeting engagement activity and messages appropriately.”   According to the research, acting on trends with a targeted approach will increase the effectiveness and timeliness of client engagement, based on hearing the true ‘voice of the customer’ and on choosing the right channel to begin business development activity.   In fact, in Trovus’s sister research looking at Professional Services, shows hard-to-measure marketing channels are shown to be all important. In a stark message, the research warns that companies ignoring social media channels, for example, do so at their peril. “We would ask whether it’s time to stop questioning the value of social media,” says Trovus’s Craven. “Our research highlights an unmistakably powerful correlation between exploitation of social media and number of relevant referrals to a company’s website, and relevant is the watch word here; as the only measure of successful b2b engagement with social media is known companies your business cares about.”   Comparing an innovative benchmark company with a basket of four other companies using social media the research shows that despite having a large number of followers on LinkedIn, the four companies without dedicated resource for social media exhibited a poor conversation rate to relevant referrals on their websites.   “Looking at one of the most successful clients Trovus has in terms of the ratio of followers on LinkedIn to relevant organisation referrals onto their site, the power of social media when engaged with is clear,” says Craven. The research reveals that Trovus’ client who focused on social media initiatives converted a huge number of followers to web referrals: 5,032 from LinkedIn, 1,091 from Facebook and 439 from Twitter during the 12 months to June 2011. These figures compare to the four firms’ respective lacklustre conversions of 21, 6 and 7.   “Our analysis shows a massive difference between those who are social media-savvy and those who are not. It equates to a 200-fold increase in relevant organisation visits from LinkedIn, 140 fold increase from Facebook and a 60 fold increase from Twitter,” says Craven. “This is nothing short of dramatic and we believe there are lessons to be learned here for Financial Services companies.” Analysing channel efficiency shows an almost 1:1 LinkedIn conversion rate for the benchmark firm in the Trovus research, dwarfing the result of only 10 referrals from over 700 LinkedIn followers for the four firms.   The research also contrasts company referrals from corporate LinkedIn profiles with email marketing, unveiling startling results. It highlights a major difference of 5032 versus 2553 referrals respectively over 12 months to June 2011, the over-riding message being that engaging in personalised relationships via social media promises far superior returns in developing the business.   “This information is invaluable to our clients,” concludes Craven. “They can create fresh opportunities in terms of marketing and business development. Their business development initiatives reach only a small segment of the full target audience, so the potential market to exploit opportunities with more targeted marketing campaigns is massive.”   About the Trovus research Trovus is revealing the results of its research to selected companies during its road show throughout the UK. The research currently covers how customers engage with the financial services sector, with additional research available covering technology companies and legal firms. The analyses address (1) client engagement and (2) measuring the effectiveness of marketing channels. The findings are based on unique datasets from real life case studies.   The trends and research show how greater insights enable companies to:

• accelerate business development activities by identifying and focusing on ‘hot prospects’
• better manage sales pipelines
• make the most out of integrated marketing activities (telemarketing, social media, SEO etc)
• measure customer engagement by analysing online behaviour
• prioritise marketing channels to deliver results 

Other Trovus research includes “The 5 most dangerous trends affecting B2B companies.”   -          Ends   -   About Trovus Trovus is a leading provider in customer intelligence consultancy services. Trovus reveals, analyses, integrates and advises on customer intelligence data sets to create highly valued profiles on clients and prospects. Through an innovative approach, Trovus combines customer intelligence data sets with advanced technology such as its highly detailed dashboards and its Consultancy Services to maximize ROI on sales and marketing investments. Trovus provides outsourcing and managed services, as well as the underlying supporting technologies. Trovus are an award winning customer intelligence consultancy working only with innovative Marketing and Business Development teams of ambitious B2B brands, such as ING, Eversheds, Climate Change Capital and Ashridge Business School.  Trovus’ awards include Winner of the 2011 Hot Companies Award by Network Products Guide and recognised by Forrester in Q3 2011 report on “Emerging technologies CMOs should watch”. A privately held company, Trovus is based in Vauxhall, London, UK. For more information, see

. Trovus is a trading name of White Label Intelligence Limited. The company was founded in 2006; Trovus was launched in 2008.   Press Contacts Trovus Press Office Susan Morgan Tel: +44 (0)118 946 3177 Mob: +44 (0)7710 246248 Email:

  Caspar Craven Co-Founder, Trovus, White Label Intelligence Limited Tel: +44 (0)207 582 5022 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.