| By Jim Bruene on October 23, 2008 6:53 PM | Comments (3) |
As I was drilling into the latest Compete traffic numbers for the annual Online Banking Report planning issue, I noticed a significant uptick in traffic to online personal finance specialists, almost across the board.
Sept. traffic revealed a total of 1.2 million unique visitors (note 1) compared to less than 400,000 a year ago. Not surprisingly, consumers appear to be taking a closer look at their finances.
The big three newcomers last year: Mint, Wesabe, and Geezeo saw combined traffic increase by 450,000 users, a nearly three-fold increase from 2007. Geezeo was the star percentage-wise, growing more than six-fold. But Mint accounted for three-fourths of the net gain across the existing players with 330,000 more visitors (see Table 1 below):
Also, two newcomers made a big splash last month:
- PNC Virtual Wallet launched in July (coverage here) by PNC Bank, which trailed only Mint last month with nearly 140,000 unique visitors (see 2 below).
- Rudder (a relaunch of Spendview) drew 50,000 visitors last month after its launch at DEMOfall in early Sept.
Granted, the PNC Virtual Wallet benefits enormously from the 2 million monthly visitors to parent PNC.com and PNCBank.com. Yet, it's still an impressive total and is encouraging for banks and credit unions considering similar efforts.
Table 1: Online PFMs launched more than 1 year ago
| Sep 2008 | Sep 2007 | Gain | '08 vs. '07 Multiple | |
| Mint | 530,000 | 200,000 | 330,000 | 2.7 x |
| Geezeo | 72,000 | 11,000 | 61,000 | 6.5 x |
| Wesabe | 89,000 | 33,000 | 56,000 | 2.7 x |
| Yodlee | 97,000 | 50,000 | 47,000 | 1.9 x |
| Finicity/Mvelopes | 91,000 | 73,000 | 18,000 | 1.2 x |
| Buxfer | 9,000 | 3,500 | 5,500 | 2.5 x |
| PearBudget | 6,300 | 2,100 | 4,200 | 3.0 x |
| ClearCheckbook | 6,200 | 2,800 | 3,400 | 2.2 x |
| BudgetTracker | 12,000 | 12,000 | 0 | Flat |
| Total | 910,000 | 380,000 | 530,000 | 2.4x |
Table 2: The online PFM class of 2008
| Sep 2008 | Sep 2007 | Gain | |
| PNC Virtual Wallet | 140,000 | 0 | 140,000 |
| Rudder | 50,000 | 2,000 (1) | 48,000 |
| Expensify | 9,600 | 0 | 9,600 |
| GreenSherpa | 6,300 | 0 | 6,300 |
| RateSurfer | 4,400 | 0 | 4,400 |
| Thrive | 3,500 | 0 | 3,500 |
| Expensr | 2,900 | 0 | 2,900 |
| Banzai | 2,700 | 0 | 2,700 |
| iThryv | 2,000 | 0 | 2,000 |
| Total | 220,000 | 2,000 | 220,000 |
| Grand Total | 1.2 million | 380,000 | 750,000 |
Notes:
1. Sum of the monthly unique visitors from all PFM companies, visitors that went to more than one PFM provider are not eliminated from the total, so there is double counting in the totals. Data source is Compete, pulled 21 Oct 2008.
2. Rudder was previously Spendview, but we consider them to be essentially a new company.
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Good catch Jim. I wonder if there is something to this. Traditionally Quicken was for budget geeks, and less that 10% market share. Can it be that the newcomers will increase the overall penetration?
Colin,
My opinion is, absolutely! Especially when these tools get rolled into online banking with your primary financial institution. reason for the adoption is it is now much easier thanks to some savvy programmers.
The problem with Quicken is you had to download it, install it, set it up, and load all your data. Then you were still not done. YOu had to manage it.
With these new online services its all done relatively painlessly after the initial setup. But you do still have to go to that site to view the data. When the banks get it, you'll see all your finances right there when you go to pay your bills or check your statements.
My guess is the web based services like Wesabe/Mint will decline a bit when these capabilities become available through your primary bank.
Hi there, just letting you know, Intuit, makers of Quicken, now offer a free online PFM as well: Quicken Online. Great overview of the PFM space. Please contact me directly with any questions. Thanks!