The data lab
What 1,385 financial homepages say
Interactive explorer for the Financial Homepage Language Study. Every chart is built from the published dataset. Hover any bar for the underlying number, switch tabs to move between measures. Score your own homepage first line with the Hero Slot study.
From 5,360 domains to 1,385 headlines
each step filtered on purpose
The exclusions shape every number: 1,873 non-marketers (central banks, cooperatives, Sparkassen), 1,324 domains that no longer resolve, 81 pages that were not homepages, 656 pages with no detectable hero.
Does the hero say “you”?
share of homepages using direct address
Norwegian and French firms address the reader directly a third of the time. Zero of the 22 Polish sites in the sample ever did.
Who runs a price war on the homepage
hero contains a price, offer or discount
Polish and Norwegian homepages lead with promotions six times as often as German ones. The choice is usually inherited from the local category leader, not made deliberately.
Product vs abstraction, by language
two bars per language
German and Italian are the only languages where abstraction outruns product. Czech and Portuguese homepages name something you can buy.
Generic language, by segment
English-language firms only (n=685)
Private and investment banks write in abstractions three times as often as retail banks (47.8% vs 16.3%, chi-square 19.1, p=0.0018). Only 1% of firms used three or more coded themes.
The words that actually repeat
empirical pass, per language
| Word | Language | Meaning | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
pojištění |
Czech | insurance | 28% |
sparebank |
Norwegian | savings bank | 17% |
crédito |
Portuguese | credit | 11% |
boliglån |
Norwegian | mortgage | 9% |
privatbank |
German | private bank | 9% |
vertrauen |
German | trust | recurring |
leben |
German | life | recurring |
morgen |
German | tomorrow | recurring |
budoucnost |
Czech | future | recurring |
вклад |
Russian | deposit | recurring |
страхування |
Ukrainian | insurance | recurring |
The most repeated words in Czech, Norwegian and Portuguese are products. The most repeated words in German are trust, life and tomorrow. That contrast is the study in miniature.
Norway, the strangest cohort in the dataset
96 firms, and unlike anyone else
Long, direct, specific, addressed to one person: 15% of Norwegian heroes carry an emoji (zero English or German firms do), average headline is 9.5 words, and six of 72 Norwegian-language firms literally tell you to move your mortgage to them.
The sample, by country
firms with a usable hero
The United States, Norway, the UK and Germany contribute the largest cohorts. Norway’s 96 firms make it the best national laboratory in the study.
The hall of fame
verbatim, as served 24 July 2026
“3000 ₽ to everyone who buys OSAGO”
Alfa-Bank, Russia. A straight cash incentive on compulsory motor insurance.
“Travel insurance in a few minutes. Now with 35% off.”
Allianz pojišťovna, Czech Republic. A promotion in the most valuable real estate the company owns.
“Vi er lokalbanken, i gode og andre dager.”
Aasen Sparebank, Norway. We are the local bank, in good days and other ones.
“Wir für Sie. Schön, dass Sie bei uns sind.”
AlpenBank, Germany. We, for you. Good that you are with us.
“Earn up to 6.05% APY with a First Rate Checking Account.”
First State Bank Nebraska, USA. A number, a product, a rate.
“Funding the Next Chapter of American Exceptionalism.”
1789 Capital, USA. The abstraction end of the distribution.
“The value of active minds.”
Jupiter, UK. Generic language, concentrated in exactly the place the data predicts.
“Банк цифровой экономики.”
Bank 131, Russia. Bank of the digital economy.
And one that never made the dataset: a former bank domain now serving Indonesian gambling spam, filtered before it could count as a defunct bank’s brand positioning.
Full method and limitations in the study: What 1,385 Financial Homepages Say, in 55 Languages.