Social media continues to spur innovation in the financial services industry. Case in point: trade MONSTER’s new Feedback Forum. This online forum allows clients to submit suggestions to trade MONSTER regarding changes they’d like to see made to the platform, including new features and bug fixes. This concept in itself is not new; firms like Scottrade and Zecco also solicit feedback from clients via their boards (see below). trade MONSTER takes the concept further, though, by letting clients vote for the ideas they like, a techique used by TurboTax and discussed in our Social Media: Trends and Tactics in the Financial Services Industry report.

Here’s how it works. Each customer receives a basket of 15 votes. They can place up to three votes in favor of any idea currently posted to the site and can comment on ideas, as well. Ideas that receive the most votes are labeled “Top Ideas.” Examples of some current “Top Ideas” include “Add contingent orders” and “Ability to open multiple windows.” Separate lists are also offered for “New” and “Hot” ideas. trade MONSTER labels ideas with such tags as “under review,” “planned” or “started” to reflect their status in the platform development life cycle. Once trade MONSTER accepts or implements an idea, the digital votes are returned to the customer and can be applied to another idea they like.

A forum is a great way for a financial services firm to create a sense of community among customers and to encourage knowledge sharing. That helps explain why they’re so popular among brokerage firms - like trade MONSTER - that cater to sophisticated active traders, a group that loves to share its opinions. That said, a board or forum is only as good as the level of engagement and participation among customers. trade MONSTER recognizes this and uses incentives to get clients to participate. The firm promises to give credit to clients that suggest an idea which is then implemented by the firm. If trade MONSTER mentions the idea in a press release, the client earns a free trade.

Public recognition is a key motivator for many message board participants, so trade MONSTER is smart to give credit to those people that present good ideas to the community. That said, offering just one free trade for an idea cited in a company press release seems a little stingy. After all, firms like E*TRADE offer 100 free trades to people that open a new IRA with the firm. Why not raise the stakes and offer 5 or 10 free trades for any idea cited in a press release? This might spur even greater participation, which is likely to benefit trade MONSTER and the firm’s clients.