A brief analysis on its positioning.

Do you know how many people over 18 years old in Costa Rica have some type of relationship with a financial institution?

Do you know what is the financial institution obtaining the higher brand name recall and advertising ratings?

Do you know how the financial institutions in Costa Rica are perceived?

In this article we will try to respond to these and some other questions, using as sources of information the results obtained in the National Financial Tracker (NFT), conducted by Dichter & Neira Latin Research Network last February.

First of all we must point out that 45% out of every 100 Costa Ricans between the ages of 18 and 65 state having a financial relationship with some of the financial institutions operating in our country.

When referring to the positioning levels of the banks, we find out that:

which places Banco Nacional as the top bank (TOP OF MIND) in the minds of 41.6% of the Costa Ricans, followed by Banco de Costa Rica in a second position (30%) and Banco Popular in third place (18.7%).
But that is not all. Spontaneously the number of people that mention each one of the national banks once again place Banco Nacional in the first place, while Banco de Costa Rica is placed in second position but reducing the difference with respect to BN.
It is important to point out the increase in the recall name of banks such as BAC San Jose, Interfin and Banex, that just start positioning in the minds of the consumers.
Upon analyzing these figures it seems that the advertising efforts made by the financial institutions are bearing its fruits. They have at least obtained that a great part of the target consumers keep in mind at least two of the financial institutions existing at present.
However, there are two important questions. One of them is, What communication strategy has been the most effective for positioning a financial institution in the minds of the consumers? and What is the image being built?

The advertising agencies, namely the media agencies or departments have the answer to the first question, and must take this recall data and correlate it to their information on investment amounts, GRP`s and TRP`s, etc, and demonstrate thereby how effective its investment has been in building the brand name recall.
On the second question, we will try to give an idea of the users´ perception of the different financial institutions.
When asked about the financial institution they prefer to deal with, the users responded the following, regardless of their level of recall:

Upon determining the relationship rates between the preference for a bank and the recall levels, we find out a direct and positive relation, that is, it can be demonstrated that the recall levels cause an impact upon the preference shown for a bank.
The reasons the consumers state for preferring a financial institution over another one are basically because they feel that these are ”Reliable” , “Safe”, “ “They already have several accounts with them”, “They offer a good customer service”, and because “They are close”.
Confidence and safety stand as the almost minimum conditions that a bank must have, and these two attributes have been systematically quantified in previous investigations. A marketing strategy must not ignore these attributes. However, these are not likely to be recommended as differentiating elements.
Three elements appear though, which combined with the two previous ones, can make a bank attractive for certain market niches. Therefore, a bank developing its client portfolio to maximize its relationship, supported on previous experiences, or rather having a proactive customer service, of anticipating problems, of empathy or developing an agency system, cashiers desks, cashiers, or effective virtual bank, placing the bank closer and closer to the users job sites and residential areas, will have the opportunity of attracting more clients.

If we quantify the way the banks are perceived in the minds of the consumers, we can build a map arranging the different financial institutions and the attributes associated thereto:

As may be noticed from this map, Banco Nacional, Banco de Costa Rica and Banco Popular are considered as highly Sound, Reliable and Prestigious banks, while institutions such as BAC San Jose, Cuscatlan, Interfin and Mutual Alajuela, are likely to be perceived as institutions having “Good personal service”, “Attractive Advertising”, and High Differentiation”.

LIST OF CREDITS: 

LatiXpress is an Omnibus-type survey conducted by Dichter & Neira Latin Network. The survey is carried out in the urban national area, with a sample of 1000 homes selected in a multi-phase process.

People from both sexes, between the ages of 18 and 65 participate in the survey, selected through a proportional quota sheet by sex, age and socio-economic level.

The survey is carried out bimonthly, and the field work is planned for the first week of the months of February, April, June, August, October and December.

The sample of 1000 homes with a 95% confidence and presuming a P=0.5, has a maximum margin of error of 3.1%

Dichter & Neira conducts this same survey in Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala and it will soon be started in El Salvador and Honduras markets.