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What is it about MoneySavingExpert that consumers love so much?

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Cicely King Consultant in Research, Insight and Consulting 09/10/2020

Price comparison websites are well known, well-loved and widely used, but it’s MoneySavingExpert that has created the strongest emotional connection with customers.

MoneySavingExpert provides a no-nonsense, accessible guidance and aggregator service, fronted by the charismatic Martin Lewis.

Price comparison websites (PCWs) have grown within the last decade to become a habitual part of the average path to purchase for most financial products. General customer awareness of PCWs is  very high, sitting at an average of 92%, whilst familiarity sits at an average of 75%. This is due, in part, to the trend amongst PCWs to create highly memorable  and salient advertising, and partly due to consumers feeling that they are a necessary guide in helping them make decisions around financial services.

The most well-known PCW core product is car insurance – a legal must, for which insurers are obligated to highlight the need to ‘shop around’ when sending renewal letters. With a service focused on providing choice and saving customers as much money as possible on essential financial products such as car insurance, it’s no surprise that aggregators have scored highly in our Top 100 Most Loved Financial Services Brands report, with Compare the Market sitting within the top 20.

Compare the Market comes 1st within the aggregator category, but there is one brand that blows traditional PCWs out of the park when it comes to Brand Love – and that’s MoneySavingExpert, which came in at 3rd place in our overall Top 100 – a huge achievement for the brand.

So, why does MoneySavingExpert score so highly for Brand Love? MoneySavingExpert provides a no-nonsense, accessible guidance and aggregator service, fronted by the charismatic Martin Lewis. Lewis is not your typical financial advisor, rather, he provides financial guidance using layman’s terms, and has firmly positioned himself on the side of the everyday person.

Traditional PCWs often face an (incorrect) perception that their provider panel is biased towards commercial gain. MoneySavingExpert, on the other hand, promises complete brand neutrality in their comparison – a promise that has worked, as MoneySavingExpert scores more than double the PCW brand average for ‘Trustworthy’.

Whilst the accessible language and unbiased service MoneySavingExpert offers is a big factor in their high Brand Love score, it’s only half the picture. In previous decades, customers built strong relationships and lifelong loyalty with door-to-door insurance agents, who were viewed by customers as friends and guides when it came to navigating finances. Today, the process of buying financial products can be largely impersonal, especially for those without the means to access independent financial advice.

Martin Lewis, however, has built an emotional connection with his audience that helps, in part, to do the job that door to door agents did in the past, and he has been invited into consumer homes through his own TV show which features real consumers asking ‘live’ and ‘topical’ questions about finances. The personal approach adopted by Martin Lewis is reflected in MoneySavingExpert’s brand image statement scores, scoring significantly higher than the aggregator average for ‘friendly’, ‘for people like me’, ‘on my side’ and ‘inspires confidence’.

Lewis has been a particularly strong support to many during the coronavirus pandemic, guiding customers through managing their money during a period of anxiety and instability. This is reflected in significant increases in positive image statements since before the coronavirus crisis, as you can see below.

MoneySavingExpert’s high scores in this regard proves that guidance, help and trust are key factors in building Brand Love for aggregators, and it is this emotional connection that customers are craving during this period of uncertainty.

Find out more about BrandVue Financial Services.

To download our full Top 100 Most Loved Financial Services Brands report, click here.

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