Square, Venmo ‘Simpler’ Than Banks
A new study on brand simplicity has ranked “financial disruptors” higher — as in simpler — than traditional banks. Square topped all financial companies in the ranking.
It should not come as shocking news that startups are simpler for consumers to use than banks. The survey, from brand strategists Siegel & Gale, considers brands from more than a dozen industries across the globe and ranks them all in terms of simplicity — simplicity of message, simplicity of use, simplicity of operations. Simplicity, the firm argues, wins customers, and is, therefore, essential to success.
More than 500 brands were ranked in the U.S. In the banking sector, the five largest banks were considered, and ranked in this way:
- U.S. Bank (ranked 80 overall)
- JPMorgan Chase (93)
- Wells Fargo (100)
- Bank of America (102)
- Citibank (114)
Only Bank of America gained on its position a year ago, when it ranked 118th. The other four lost ground. In 2013, U.S. Bank was 67th, JPMorgan Chase 89th, Wells Fargo 92nd, and Citibank 110th.
This year for the first time, Siegel & Gale considered disruptors in its survey. Five disruptors were given simplicity scores better than the best bank, U.S. Bank. They were, from simplest to most complex, Square, Venmo, Google Wallet, PayPal, and Ally. (What, Simple’s not on there?)
How are the simplicity scores calculated? Well, it’s complicated.
Here are all the financial services companies ranked by simplicity score, with a few other companies included for reference:
- Zappos – 914 (#1 overall)
- Square – 880 (This would be good enough to be #9 on the overall list if Disrupters were ranked.)
- Venmo – 859
- Google Wallet – 704
- PayPal – 676
- Ally – 667
- U.S. Bank – 574
- JPMorgan Chase – 525
- Wells Fargo – 493
- Bank of America – 491
- Citibank – 396
- Cigna – 232 (last place)
The top five brands overall were Zappos, Amazon, Subway, Pizza Hut and Netflix. Siegel & Gale points out that restaurants, by virtue of their self-evident value proposition, have a bit of a leg up on the composition.
There is not enough data in the survey as it stands for banks to make meaningful changes. GrubHub and Seamless are simpler services than those offered by Wells Fargo and Citibank. Simplicity is a largely aspirational concept, and startups, doing one thing well, should always rank better than large companies doing many things.
Nonetheless, congratulations to Square and U.S. Bank for their good results.
