COMMENT
Time for data
Neil Williams, Managing Director of LendingMetrics, says large lenders aren’t making the most of big data and that this provides smaller players with a golden opportunity. We are all familiar with how well data and machine learning can predict what we are thinking of buying. By analysing our online activity - specif- ically keystrokes and browsing habits - organisations such as Google can antic- ipate our likely purchasing activity. If I loiter on a car dealer’s site long enough, my ‘feed’ will start to reflect this, and car adverts and editorial devoted to buying cars will start to appear. We all generate digital footprints via our internet activity that can be used to second guess where we are looking to
spend our money. Each day of smart- phone use results in another tranche of keystrokes that further finesses my feed. The potential for this is huge, given the day-by-day accumulation of data. Those involved in this industry say it won’t be long before an algorithmwill know what you want to purchase before you (con- sciously) do. In a not-so-distant future, we could see organisations tracking your eye movements across the screen to deduce what most interests you. Keep this in your mind, and now consid- er the sort of marketing you get from the large established lenders. Not often do we see examples of mar- keting activity from the lending giants that is bespoke to our individual circum- stances, even though they’re sitting on plenty of data. I can’t be the only one to be surprised at the number of ‘scat-
tergun’ pitches I still get from my bank; many for products I have no intention of wanting. Surely there is the scope to provide a bespoke pitch; one that reflects my specific circumstances. Certainly the quantity of data out there allows for a more granular approach, but there is not much evidence of this from the main lenders. So why are they not going down this route more urgently? For sure, this is partly down to data con- fidentiality and all the protocols that are in place to prevent abuse. Any company that collects user data (which is just about all financial service providers) is heavily regulated at the national and international level by a range of stand- ards, such as the General Data Protec- tion Regulation (GDPR).
12 | Metrics Monthly
Q4 | 2021
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