With the advent of the digital age, new channels of communication have emerged, consumers now have 24/7 access to information. This has resulted in the consumer media sphere being bombarded with information.
The challenge this creates is that it makes consumers time poor and more averse to reading.
As a result of this, communication is evolving – and naturally so – people are watching more than reading and are making impetuous judgements on products and services based on visualised information.
Visual thinking can be used to discover data, develop ideas and information as well as share them in a highly captivating and impactful way. Everyday people are using the art of visualisation to define and create strategy, solve problems, analyse and interpret data, describe complex concepts, increase understanding and memorability – the list is endless.
Research has shown that 60% of people will watch a video on a website first before reading text and that it increases linger time by up to 100%. According to Garth Jemmet Director of Flick, the financial sector has been slow to realise the benefit of visual thinking.
“Many financial institutes devote large amounts of time to copying their competitors. Instead, they should be shifting their focus and energy to ensuring product clarity and clear communication in order to educate consumers and ultimately drive sales.” Jemmet says that if executed correctly, visualising content will attract like-minded and loyal consumers.
The financial market is saturated with a vast amount of products. More often than not, they are packaged in a complex manner, difficult for a financial advisor to explain and in the end, sell. “When a consumer does not understand, they won’t buy,” says Jemmet.
In a time poor digital era, businesses need to rise above the noise smart and fast. “There are far too many financial institutions that send out text heavy information. These are merely skim-read which means the level of concentration and the consumer actually absorbing the message is slim to none. It has been proven that visual information is 48% more likely to be read.”
It is a given that for most consumers who have applied for a bond, loan or any other facility, the process has been an arduous and frustrating one as staff do not understand the need to get it right the first time and efficiently. This problem starts at training level, where elements have been poorly explained through large documents that do not clearly communicate the big picture – if there is no context, there is no understanding. The risk here is that if a financial advisor is not able to close a sale, the company’s bottom line is impacted negatively.
From bankers to brokers, financial institutions must realise the urgent need for a happy medium for sales progress to be successful to the end user. Simplified, visual thinking is the key to packaging and explaining content simply – this is the starting point for capturing a market’s attention and in due course, growing the bottom line. So where does this leave you? If you are not doing this, perhaps it is time to consider catching up with the visual thinking trend to ensure you are not being left behind.