Expert UK Insight Agency

Financial Services Market Research

The financial services sector is one of the most competitive, fast-moving and highly regulated in the world, and success requires more than a market-leading product. Households and businesses alike choose the providers they trust, understand and find easy to deal with, and those judgements are hard to read from sales data alone.

We apply the full range of our market research services to help banks, insurers, pension and investment providers and fintechs understand those choices and win more of them.

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What Is Financial Services Market Research?

Financial services market research reflects the use of qualitative, quantitative and behavioural research to understand how consumers and business buyers choose, use and judge financial products and providers. It gives financial services organisations evidence-based insight for decisions on brands, products, customers, competitors, communications and experiences.

Money is a sensitive subject and consumers are often guarded about debt, claims, savings and their level of financial understanding, so the research has to be designed to get past polite answers to the real reasons driving financial decision-making.

Business markets add a further layer. For a small business, the owner's personal and business finances are often intertwined, so a decision about a business account or loan can be as personal as any household one. In larger organisations a finance director, procurement and sometimes the board each have a say. In both consumer and business markets, brokers, accountants and financial advisers often shape which provider is chosen, so the research needs to hear from them too.

Brandspeak partners with UK and international financial services organisations, carrying out banking, pensions, fintech and insurance market research among consumers, business decision-makers and the intermediaries who advise them. Read more about Brandspeak and the senior team behind this work.

The Benefits of Financial Services Market Research

Financial services market research gives you the clarity and evidence needed to make confident decisions that will:

Maximise Brand Potential

In a crowded sector where many brands look and sound alike, mental availability is what drives growth. Brandspeak uncovers the insights needed to build brand relevance, differentiation and recall.

Derisk New Product Development

New propositions and market entry always carry risk. The right insights, delivered at the right time, reduce risk, prevent costly missteps and maximise commercial potential.

Optimise Sales And Marketing Effectiveness

If you don't know who your priority audiences are, or how to target them, you could be wasting a significant proportion of your marketing budget. Research identifies who to target, how to target them and what to say to maximise return.

Deliver Sector-Leading Experiences

Even the strongest proposition can be undermined if the customer experience introduces friction at key touchpoints. Customer experience research identifies where the experience needs to work harder, and how to fix it.

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Brandspeak's Financial Services Research Methods

No two financial services research projects are the same, which is why we design every programme from the ground up. We blend proven and advanced research techniques to uncover what customers feel, think and do.

Workshopping and Co-creation

A collaborative forum bringing customers and internal stakeholders together to stress-test existing propositions and co-create new products, journeys or communications.

Focus Groups & Depth Interviews

Explore how customers think and feel about money, risk and trust, in rich qualitative detail, through focus groups and depth interviews run by senior moderators.

Ethnography & Observational Research

Observe real financial decisions and money management as they happen, uncovering the anxieties and trade-offs customers rarely raise unprompted.

Online Communities

Gather deeper insight over several days as customers complete tasks and discussions around real financial decisions and products.

Online Surveys

Measure awareness, consideration, switching intent and satisfaction across representative samples of customers, prospects and business decision-makers, using quantitative research designed for the decision in hand.

Statistical Modelling & Data Analytics

Turn transaction, survey and behavioural data into clear insight, revealing what really drives product choice, switching and loyalty.

Secondary Research & Market Intelligence

Track regulatory change, competitor activity and category trends across banking, insurance, investment and fintech using desk research.

Brandspeak's Financial Services Market Research Services

The following are the project types most frequently commissioned by our financial services clients:

Rather than just monitoring your brand in isolation, our GrowthTrack solution identifies and measures all the factors that determine brand health and commercial performance across key touchpoints. It also quantifies where the biggest opportunities for brand growth exist. It is the core of our brand tracking for financial services, built around how customers choose banks, insurers and investment providers.

Our competitor analysis compares your brand, products and customer experience with your competitors' to identify where you are winning, where you are exposed and where the next opportunity lies.

We use a range of customer segmentation techniques to divide your customer base into smaller, targetable segments, each with distinct characteristics and personas that bring them to life for internal stakeholders. A segmentation model will tell you who to target, how and with what. In financial services, that might mean separating savers who want reassurance from those who chase the best rate, or SME owners who want a relationship manager from those who want to do everything in an app.

Whether launching a current account, insurance policy or investment product, our new product development research will first identify the target customer, their needs, expectations and behaviours, before establishing the optimal proposition to address them. We then test that proposition's appeal against competitor offerings to determine its overall commercial potential. Where price is part of the decision, conjoint analysis or Van Westendorp price testing shows how much customers value each feature and the price range they will accept.

We evaluate creative at any stage, from early idea through to final execution, to ensure it cuts through, lands your message and will have commercial impact.

Our ad testing identifies the strength of the creative (clarity, relevance, recall), what drives or limits its effectiveness, how it performs versus competitors and its commercial potential.

The outcome? Confidence that your campaign will meet marketing and commercial objectives before you invest media spend.

Key facts documents, policy wording, renewal letters, statements and online journeys have to be understood, not just read. Under the FCA's Consumer Duty, firms are expected to show that their communications support customer understanding. Brandspeak tests comprehension and recall with the customers who will actually receive the material, shows where understanding breaks down and specifies what to change, giving you evidence you can act on and keep on file. Communications testing has been part of our financial services work since the FSA's Treating Customers Fairly initiative.

Why Brandspeak for Financial Services Market Research

Financial services brands compete on trust as much as on product, and trust is slower to build and faster to lose than almost anything else a brand can offer. A current account, an insurance policy or an investment product can be priced and positioned correctly on paper and still lose out if the experience around it feels unclear, slow or impersonal. In a sector this regulated, getting that wrong is also expensive to put right afterwards.

Repositioning a building society after a takeover

When a well-known UK building society took over an equally well-known rival, Brandspeak ran 20 focus groups and 10 employee workshops to define a separate positioning, proposition and core product set for each brand, so the two could sit side by side on the high street without cannibalising each other. Read the building society case study.

Clearing product communications with the regulator

A life and pensions brand faced having products suspended by the FSA under its Treating Customers Fairly initiative. Brandspeak assessed the information for some 30 products across every channel, specified the fixes, and the results went to the regulator. No products were suspended and no fines were levied. Read the compliance case study.

Putting an insurer's board in front of its customers

Ahead of flotation, the main board of a leading UK home and motor insurer wanted to hear directly from consumers. Brandspeak designed a six-week programme of focus groups, online communities, in-home visits and one-to-one sessions, then ran workshops in which each director agreed the actions they would take. Read the board engagement case study.

Brandspeak has been doing this for over 20 years, and is a member of both the Association for Qualitative Research (AQR) and the Market Research Society (MRS).

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How to Get Your Insights

As a full service market research agency, we support research in 40+ global markets, working with native-speaking moderators and trusted in-market partners to ensure cultural accuracy and insight quality. Wherever your audience is, we can reach them and deliver insight that drives better decisions.

Step One

Fill in the form and click submit.

Step Two

Our team will contact you within 24 hours.

Step Three

We learn about your needs and goals and how to achieve them.

Frequently Asked Questions

Find answers to common questions about our financial services research.

We work across retail and commercial banking, building societies, challenger banks and fintech, insurance and protection, investment and asset management, pensions, commercial lending, payments, and accountancy and tax advisory.

Our GrowthTrack solution provides continuous brand health and commercial performance monitoring, so you can see how your brand is moving against competitors from one wave to the next.

Focus groups, depth interviews, ethnography and online communities are all available, for consumer and business audiences alike.

Yes. We deliver research across 40+ global markets, with native-speaking moderators and in-market partners.

Yes. Comprehension testing with real customers shows whether your communications support the consumer understanding outcome, and what to change where they fall short.

Depth interviews and online communities give people privacy and time to answer honestly, and questions are designed so participants never disclose more than the research needs. All our work follows the Market Research Society Code of Conduct.

We do. Our B2B financial services research covers SME owners choosing a business bank or lender and finance teams choosing payments and accounting software.

Brandspeak in Numbers

As one of the UK's most experienced market research agencies, Brandspeak brings scale, consistency, and depth to every project.

3,000+

Focus Groups

Years

750+

Quantitative Studies

International Markets

1 Million+

Survey Participants

Languages Covered in Global Research

5,000+

Depth Interviews

Brandspeak is proud to be a member of both The Association for Qualitative Research (AQR) and The Market Research Society (MRS) — demonstrating our commitment to quality, ethical practice and industry-leading research standards.

Brandspeak Blogs

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Client Feedback

From their initial proposal they displayed an understanding of financial services and a clarity of thinking that made them stand out. Since then they have consistently delivered to demanding timescales. But what really sets them apart are their actionable and business focused recommendations which give them the credibility to influence senior internal stakeholders. I have really enjoyed working with them and look forward to doing so again.

Leading life and pensions provider

We wanted to understand how elements of our brand were perceived by consumers and identify opportunities where we could make improvements. Brandspeak clearly understood the brief and worked closely with us to develop a research approach that would answer our questions. The insight has been used to inform the development of our creative and also applied to other areas of our marketing communications. It was a pleasure to work with Brandspeak.

Strategy & Insight Manager | Animal Friends Insurance

We worked with Brandspeak on a brand awareness project and we were extremely pleased with the quality of service and the process. They understood the complexity of the briefs and asked plenty of questions to make sure they fully understand the objectives. They interacted with all levels of people in our business and understood the differences within the market and suggested ways to tie the research together so it was still comparable. The results were delivered with easy to digest summaries that could be used across the business. We would highly recommend using them.

Lauren Williams

Very informative, easy to work with and a really friendly team. I would recommend Brandspeak to help any business grow. They are great quality for money, help niche sectors and present their findings in an understanding manner. They have provided a brand review, market review post-covid to ensure we are still up to date, along with two very valuable website reviews. Working with them for qualitative and quantities research has a been fantastic for us. Thank you for all your help!

Sarah Twist – Marketing Manager

It's been an absolute pleasure to work with Brandspeak on our qualitative assessment of different ads across 5 EU markets. Throughout this project, Brandspeak have been expert, professional and so flexible with our requirements and timings. The research analysis that they provided us with was extremely valuable and insightful. I look forward to working with them again – highly recommend!

Zanya Fahy

Work with Brandspeak

With a base in London and partners across the world, we provide global reach with local expertise. Our team is ready to discuss your business challenge and show you what's possible with the right insight.

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London

+44 (0) 203 858 0052

1st Floor, 239 Kensington High St, London W8 6SN

Bristol

+44 (0) 1174 07 0187

2430 / 2440 The Quadrant, Aztec W, Bristol BS32 4AQ

Birmingham

+44 (0) 121 314 4647

The Lewis Building, Bull St, Birmingham B4 6AF