August 7, 2009
Solving Online Application
Abandonment
by Brad Strothkamp
for eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals
Making Leaders Successful Every Day

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals
August 7, 2009
Solving Online Application Abandonment
ten Proven tactics to maximize Completion rates For Financial Products
by Brad Strothkamp
with Carrie Johnson, Peter Wannemacher, and Courtney tincher
ExECut i v E S u m mA ry
The increasing importance of the Web in the acquisition process makes solving application
abandonment a vital part of an eBusiness strategy. Most firms lack the resources or proper analytics to
adequately attack the problem. This document uncovers successful tactics that some financial firms have
used to address the abandonment issue — from simple content changes to more involved win-back and
interactive help strategies.
tABl E O F CO n tE n tS n Ot E S & rE S O u rCE S
2 Online Sales Growth Makes Solving Forrester collected application abandonment
Application Abandonment Vital best practices from across financial services
Solving Application Abandonment is firms and conducted conversations with
Becoming A Priority For Firms vendors including Art technology Group (AtG),
livePerson, and tealeaf technology.
4 eBusiness Executives Must Have A Formal
Abandonment Strategy
Related Research Documents
5 Ten Tactics To Reduce Application “2008 uS Bank Public Web Site rankings”
Abandonment
December 2, 2008
WHAt it mEAnS
“Application Prefill increases Sales Conversion”
13 Solving Abandonment Requires A Methodical
november 24, 2008
Approach To Problem Solving
“Case Study: E-lOAn Finds Success in targeting
Application Abandoners”
november 5, 2008
© 2009, Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited. Information is based on best available
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2 Solving Online Application Abandonment
For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals
OnlinE SAlES GROwTH MAkES SOlVinG APPlicATiOn ABAnDOnMEnT ViTAl
Among the list of tactical questions that Forrester fields, application abandonment continues to
rank among the most popular year after year. Solving application abandonment should be a key
component of every eBusiness executive’s strategy. Why?
· The online channel plays a key role in overall sales. In 2008, 62% of US online adults who
researched a financial product did so online. Of those online researchers, 55% went on to apply
online.
· All signs point to more online applicants in the future. While it will be more of a marathon
than a sprint, the number of consumers applying for financial products online will continue
to increase, especially for products like credit cards, student loans, and auto insurance. On the
deposit side, Forrester is forecasting that the number of online applicants will double in the next
five years.1
· For every application that is completed online, at least one is abandoned. The impact of
application abandonment cannot be understated. In a study that Forrester conducted with
comScore, 54% of consumers who applied for a financial product failed to complete the
application.2
Solving Application Abandonment is Becoming A Priority For Firms
Sales-related goals permeate eBusiness objectives regardless of industry.3 While financial services
firms still trail retailers in online sales expertise, Forrester sees increasing interest among clients in
perfecting online sales. With the rise in focus on online sales, application abandonment becomes
more of a factor. Clients tell us that application abandonment:
· Has grown in importance. Forrester recently conducted a teleconference on application
abandonment. As a part of that teleconference, we polled attendees on a number of issues
related to application abandonment. Thirteen out of the 21 clients (62%) polled stated that
solving application abandonment was more important to their organization than it used to be.
Just one respondent stated that application abandonment was not an issue for the organization
(see Figure 1).
· Requires time to solve that many firms don’t have. In that same poll with clients, we learned
that the biggest obstacle facing clients looking to solve abandonment is time: 10 out of 28 (36%)
responded as such (see Figure 2). Amazingly, budget was not an issue: Just two out of 28 (7%)
respondents cited lack of money as the problem.
August 7, 2009 © 2009, Forrester research, inc. reproduction Prohibited

Solving Online Application Abandonment 3
For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals
Figure 1 Abandonment issues Are more important now than in the Past
“Which of the following statements best reflects the change in priority around
application abandonment? Solving application abandonment is:”
Not an issue
(1 respondent)
As important as in the past
(7 respondents)
More important than it used to be
(13 respondents)
Base: 21 Forrester clients
Source: online poll conducted during Forrester teleconference, June 2009
54983 Source: Forrester Research, Inc.
Figure 2 lack Of time is the Primary reason For not Solving Application Abandonment
“Among the following, what is the biggest obstacle holding you back
from solving application abandonment?”
Lack of money
(2 respondents)
Lack of know-how on how
to solve the problem
(4 respondents)
Lack of time to dedicate to the issue
(10 respondents)
All of the above
(6 respondents)
Lack of analytics
(6 respondents)
Base: 28 Forrester clients
Source: online poll conducted during Forrester teleconference, June 2009
54983 Source: Forrester Research, Inc.
© 2009, Forrester research, inc. reproduction Prohibited August 7, 2009

4 Solving Online Application Abandonment
For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals
eBuSinESS ExEcuTiVES MuST HAVE A FORMAl ABAnDOnMEnT STRATEGy
In Forrester’s study of application abandoners, one key outcome was the finding that not all
abandoners are equal. An important aspect is recognizing the intent of abandoners before they start
the application.4 Forrester found that just half of abandoners intended to complete the application
before they began the application. Armed with this information, eBusiness executives can begin to
formulate a plan. That plan should include:
· Ensuring that you have the right diagnostic tools. Key to success in solving application
abandonment is understanding the extent of the problem, along with having at least some
insight into why abandonment is occurring. To accomplish this, firms need a combination of
Web analytics, detailed session logging, and visual session playback capabilities, as each element
answers a different part of the abandonment puzzle (see Figure 3).
· Solving application errors first. While a large portion of abandonment is related to data
and customer readiness to apply, abandonment also occurs for less obvious reasons. Slow-
loading pages, faulty front-end business logic, or poor information disclosure can also lead to
abandonment. A large US bank realized that slow page load times were causing applicants to
click repeatedly on “continue” buttons when entering as well as during the online application.
The result was dozens of additional started sessions for each completed application, skewing
abandonment numbers and causing frustration during the application process.
Figure 3 Abandonment Diagnostic tools
Solution Questions answered Sample providers
Web analytics • What is the extent of the abandonment problem? Coremetrics,
• Where in the application is abandonment happening? Omniture,
• What segments, products, or categories show a higher WebTrends
propensity for application abandonment?
Session logging • What type of business logic or other type of application Internal company
errors are applicants receiving? data, Keynote
• What are applicants doing that is generating errors Systems, IBM,
(i.e., data)? Gomez
• How quickly are the application and associated application
pages loading?
Visual session replay • What are the various ways applicants abandon the TeaLeaf Technology
application?
• When applicants abandon the application, what precedes
and/or causes the abandonment?
• What commonalities are there in abandoners’ application
sessions?
54983 Source: Forrester Research, Inc.
August 7, 2009 © 2009, Forrester research, inc. reproduction Prohibited

Solving Online Application Abandonment 5
For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals
· Focusing abandonment efforts on intenders. The primary reason for addressing the previous
issues first is that doing so will focus efforts on the segment of abandoners that matters most —
those who intend to complete an application but do not. Intenders tend to make it past the first
page of the application, spend at least some time researching the product on the site before
applying, and show a tendency to return and complete an application even after initially
abandoning it.
TEn TAcTicS TO REDucE APPlicATiOn ABAnDOnMEnT
In the 18 months since Forrester published our report on online application abandonment, the
industry has made great strides in addressing the problem. While additional tactics will assuredly
continue to surface, Forrester believes that the following represent the “state of the state” related to
combating online application abandonment, especially for intenders. Those tactics include:
1. Clearly setting expectations for online applicants. Half of consumers applying for financial
products online are doing so for the first time.5 That being the case, firms need to better
prepare the applicant by highlighting the amount of time needed to apply, outlining the
information the applicant will need, and indicating what will happen after the applicant
completes the application. TD Ameritrade excels at this element by not only laying out
the information the user will need but also being very specific about that information. For
example, the brokerage account preapplication specifically notes that the applicant will need an
employer’s name and address along with a beneficiary’s Social Security number (see Figure 4).
2. Reducing unnecessary application information. When it comes to applicant abandonment,
it is as much about what you ask as how much you ask. A major US bank discovered through
analysis of error messages in its application that consumers had trouble providing information
like account numbers (especially routing numbers), identification numbers (e.g., driver’s
licenses), asset and liability information, and non-obvious joint applicant information
like a person’s Social Security number, previous address, and employer’s address. Citibank
scrutinized every piece of application information during its redesign project to ensure that it
requested only vital information, resulting in a 50% increase in online application completion
rates.6
3. Providing explicit, contextual help. Try as you may, there will undoubtedly be information
required in your application that will be a challenge for applicants to provide. To combat
potential abandonment, firms should ensure that applications have targeted help content and
text to encourage completion. Esurance not only provides contextual help for key fields like
mileage, but the text also describes what the information is, why it is important, where to find
it, and logical parameters for the types of values applicants would expect to enter in the field
(see Figure 5).
© 2009, Forrester research, inc. reproduction Prohibited August 7, 2009

6 Solving Online Application Abandonment
For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals
4. Allowing applicants to save work in progress. Even the most prepared applicant can
encounter information within the application that they do not have handy. Firms need to
offer those applicants the option of saving their work in progress, especially for more complex
products like mortgages, auto insurance, and individual retirement accounts (IRAs). Wells
Fargo offers applicants the ability to save their online application at any point in the process.
In addition, should applicants click “cancel” from within an application, they are asked via
a dialog box if they’d like to save their work. Applicants who save their work receive a save
confirmation email that provides a link back to their application where they can pick up
precisely where they left off (see Figure 6).
5. Ensuring that it’s easy to contact a live person. Just because consumers have started the
online application process does not mean they won’t need help along the way. In fact, one of
the reasons why intenders abandon application is that they wanted to speak with a sales rep.
Progressive Casualty Insurance sets the standard by providing easy access to a phone number
and an email form throughout the application. Additionally, Progressive highlights the 24x7
availability of licensed insurance representatives and provides immediate access to them using
eStara’s click-to-call interactive help offering (see Figure 7).
6. Abbreviating the online application whenever possible. A big headache for consumers
purchasing products is when firms that they already do business with fail to recognize them
as they purchase additional products. To reduce abandonment, firms need to prefill and,
whenever possible, abbreviate online application forms for existing customers. E*TRADE
FINANCIAL exemplifies a best practice in prefilling. Existing E*TRADE customers provide
their username and password; select which account profile they desire to use as the basis for
the new account; and receive an abbreviated, prefilled application form, even for typically
troublesome areas of the application like account funding.
7. Being smart about cross-selling. After seeing Wells Fargo’s success with cross-selling during
the application process, many firms are following suit in their own applications. The problem
is that too much cross-selling can lead to unwanted abandonment. Branch Banking and Trust
(BB&T) strikes a balance in its deposit application. While applicants are asked up front if they
want to open a savings account when opening a checking account, the application requires
minimal information before rendering an initial decision. From there, BB&T comes back and
cross-sells upgraded account options and services like online banking, but only after the initial
sale is completed (see Figure 8).
8. Proactively targeting potential abandoners. The power of being able to recognize intenders
is that firms can better target them before they abandon. Interactive help is the mechanism
that firms need to do that targeting, as solutions from LivePerson and Art Technology Group
(ATG) allow firms to string together events and proactively target potential abandoners. Bank
August 7, 2009 © 2009, Forrester research, inc. reproduction Prohibited

Solving Online Application Abandonment 7
For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals
of America uses proactive targeting of applicants to not only encourage completion but also
answer applicants’ questions or move them to a more appropriate channel to complete, should
the applicant decide not to apply online.
9. Encouraging completion before abandoners abandon. While many of these tactics are
centered on getting applicants to complete the application, it is also important to have
abandonment strategies to win back abandoners before they leave the application. American
Express worked with ATG to launch a very successful application win-back campaign.
Applicants who show signs of abandoning (e.g., who start to move their mouse to the top part
of the screen) are targeted with a marketing message reminding them of the benefits of the
product. Applicants are also given the option to provide an email address. Those doing so are
sent a follow-up email to remind them of the product they were applying for and to encourage
them to complete the sales process (see Figure 9).
10. Marketing to abandoners after they abandon. Timely follow-up with abandoners is vital to
a successful abandonment strategy because abandoners, especially intenders, are the lowest
of the low-hanging fruit. Vendors like Merkle and Sapient have developed processes with
financial firms to capture abandoner information and pass it along to agents for follow-up.7
Online firms like E-LOAN use email campaigns targeted at abandoners to re-engage them in
the process. An email sent 30 minutes after an applicant abandons has resulted in a 28% lift in
completion rate versus a control group of abandoners.8
© 2009, Forrester research, inc. reproduction Prohibited August 7, 2009

8 Solving Online Application Abandonment
For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals
Figure 4 tD Ameritrade States information requirements up Front
TD Ameritrade gets specific with
its data requirements. For example,
it states that the applicant will need a
beneficiary’s social security number.
Source: TD Ameritrade Web site
54983 Source: Forrester Research, Inc.
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Solving Online Application Abandonment 9
For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals
Figure 5 Esurance Provides Explicit, Contextual Help
Source: Esurance Web site
54983 Source: Forrester Research, Inc.
© 2009, Forrester research, inc. reproduction Prohibited August 7, 2009

10 Solving Online Application Abandonment
For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals
Figure 6 Wells Fargo Allows Applicants to Save Work
Source: Wells Fargo Web site
54983 Source: Forrester Research, Inc.
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Solving Online Application Abandonment 11
For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals
Figure 7 Progressive Ensures that it’s Easy to Contact Someone
Source: Progressive Casualty Insurance Web site
54983 Source: Forrester Research, Inc.
© 2009, Forrester research, inc. reproduction Prohibited August 7, 2009

12 Solving Online Application Abandonment
For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals
Figure 8 BB&t upsells Applicants After An initial Credit Decision is made
Source: BB&T Web site
54983 Source: Forrester Research, Inc.
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Solving Online Application Abandonment 13
For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals
Figure 9 American Express targets Abandoners to Encourage Completion
Source: American Express Web site
54983 Source: Forrester Research, Inc.
W H At i t m E A n S
SOlVinG ABAnDOnMEnT REquiRES A METHODicAl APPROAcH TO PROBlEM
SOlVinG
to successfully solve application abandonment, eBusiness executives must ensure that they have
the proper analytics in place and resist the temptation to jump ahead to a particular solution or
tactic without first trying easier, more mundane tactics like checking page load times. that said,
firms that successfully attack and solve application abandonment can be assured of a payoff far in
excess of any marketing campaign or Social Computing experiment. Even a 1% lift in application
completion rates can result in thousands of additional product sales annually. Additionally, higher
completion rates result in higher rOi for marketing spending.
© 2009, Forrester research, inc. reproduction Prohibited August 7, 2009

14 Solving Online Application Abandonment
For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals
EnDnOTES
1
By 2013, 32% of US consumers who apply for checking accounts will apply for those accounts online.
That growth is more than double the amount of online applicants today. See the March 6, 2009, “North
American Online Deposit Sales Forecast, 2008 To 2013” report.
2
Across all financial products measured, 54% of those who started an online application abandoned it prior
to completion. See the August 22, 2007, “Why Financial Shoppers Abandon Online Product Applications”
report.
3
While costs vary for the online channel, most eBusiness executives have the same goals. Panelists derive
value from the online channel primarily through incremental sales delivered to the company, improved
customer retention, and the ability to acquire new customers. See the June 4, 2008, “The Cost Of eBusiness
Operations And Customer Acquisition” report.
4
Forrester’s research with comScore yielded an important insight into the mind of abandoners: 49% had no
intention of completing the online application when they started. Deposit account applicants were the most
likely segment to start the application not intending to finish. See the August 22, 2007, “Why Financial
Shoppers Abandon Online Product Applications” report.
5
Fifty percent of US online applicants who applied for a financial product in the past 12 months were
applying online for the first time. See the September 29, 2008, “Mastering Web Sales By Focusing On
Shoppers’ Expectations” report.
6
The work to streamline the application, along with the introduction of the new E-Sign process, resulted in
a 50% increase in online application completion rates. See the May 21, 2009, “Case Study: Citibank Perfects
Online Account Opening” report.
7
A successful multichannel distribution strategy requires an integrated lead management process. Vendors
like Merkle and Sapient help leading multichannel insurers route quote abandoners to top-performing
agents via email or directly into the agent’s desktop. The agent receives an urgent email message at her
desktop or mobile device along with the full or partial quote and contact information for the customer
(where available). See the June 8, 2009, “How To Develop An Effective Multichannel Insurance Distribution
Strategy” report.
8
E-LOAN reports that its abandonment efforts have a large impact on conversion rates. The first email has a
whopping 28% lift in completion rate versus a control group of abandoners. The second does almost as well,
with a lift of 25% over the control group. See the November 5, 2008, “Case Study: E-LOAN Finds Success In
Targeting Application Abandoners” report.
August 7, 2009 © 2009, Forrester research, inc. reproduction Prohibited

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