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The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
JOMC 50/EIS Research Initative
This site last updated February 26, 1997


Fidelity Investment

Background on Fidelity
Objectives
Internal work needed
Organisational effects
Site performance

http://www.fid-inv.com/

Background on Fidelity

  • The success story of service industry
  • Largest mutual fund in the States
  • Not focus on technology but getting people what they want
  • Have had a Web site since beginning on 1995
  • 20 million customer accounts, over $350bn in assets, international operations.
  • Three trading channels: phone, mail, retail.
  • Extensive telephone operations: 400,000 calls/day into 5 call centers.
  • Massive in-house direct mail capabilities
  • Fidelity Online Express has been with Prodigy several years
  • Electronic Marketing Department


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Objectives

  • To establish 4th distribution channel.
  • Meet customers where they are spending time
  • 2/3rd of customers owned PC's, 1/3 were online already 1994
  • Leverage online efficiency to migrate routine interaction
  • Support Corporate positioning


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Work needed internally

  • Rethink how to do business from the ground up
    • Start with a clean slate
    • Move from paper based to near paper-less
    • Manage business/regulatory constraints
  • Time to think how to make it interactive
  • People ALL TOGETHER 8-10 full time each day.
  • Rethinking the mutual fund prospectus

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    Organisational effects

    • Attorneys to review electronically
    • Fast turnaround - new contents up within an hour at best
    • Training the customer service people
    • Art director and copywriter no longer enough but whole theater team needed with director, sound etc.
    • Better integration internally between marketing, legal, CS
    • Newsroom approach to create the content
    • Email response team


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    Performance

    • 100,000 -> 350,000 average daily hits.
    • Top day almost 500,000 when put first prospectus up.
    • Conversion ration (new business/leads) exceeds any other media.
    • Feedback hundreds of emails- action where appropriate
    • 10 day process reduced to 20 minutes


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    This web site maintained by
    Eric Chernoff especially for students of the UNC's School of Journalism and Mass Communication's JOMC 50 class. For more information, please contact one of the following:
    Prof. Deb Aikat
    daikat@email.unc.edu
    Tom Hughes, teaching assist ant
    tahughes@email.unc.edu
    Mike Manning
    manning1@email.unc.edu
    Eric Chernoff, student coordinator
    echernof@email.unc.edu