What are some successful strategies for differentiating products in a crowded marketplace?

No one needs to tell a credit union leader that new members aren’t going to flock to them because they offer a particular checking account or a loan or a credit card. Even “premium” features and products, such as high-yield savings accounts, have become commonplace and easily accessible for the average consumer. The ubiquity of deposit and credit products within financial services is a known challenge, but it is one that many successful organizations have solved for in ways that reflect their brand, value proposition, and differentiators.

Last year, Filene collected and analyzed key financial products offered by leading digital banks, national banks, and credit unions. We documented product name, tag line, elevator pitch, and rates and features for all consumer checking, savings, personal lending, auto lending, home lending, and credit cards, adding up to 271 products across 10 institutions. For each institution, we compared their product sets in terms of messaging, features, and experience. See Analysis Appendix for more details.

The high-level findings were unsurprising. The products, even in terms of features, are basically the same. What used to be differentiators have become tablestakes.