To create a plan for digital marketing, banks can use various online platforms to lure and interact with prospective clients and enhance brand recognition and loyalty among their existing customers.
According to PwC’s Digital Banking Consumer Survey for 2017, the behavior of digital banking customers is evolving quickly. The study specifically mentions the emergence of a group of customers known as “omni-digital,” who solely utilize mobile devices, computers, and tablets for their banking needs, bypassing traditional banking channels completely.
As fintech companies have revolutionized the financial sector with complete digitization, banks need to regain interest from potential customers. Utilizing interactive digital marketing techniques enable financial establishments to expand their market presence and significantly enhance customer contentment.
To stay in line with their clients’ evolving needs, a lot of banks have embraced a mobile-first strategy while others are making efforts to do so. Given the decreasing level of attention, banks must regain potential clients’ attention within eight seconds if they look forward to outshine their rivals and enhance their customer satisfaction score and profitability.
1. Simplify Financial Concepts with Explainer Videos
Due to their remarkably brief attention spans, it is uncommon for patrons to peruse extensive paragraphs presenting technical details about monetary schemes. Even if they do, the majority of the information may be incomprehensible to them.
Based on studies, over 50% of people who visit a website exit it within 15 seconds. To mitigate this, numerous corporations are incorporating succinct videos on their website.
These videos simplify complex financial concepts and capture your customers’ attention with their appealing graphics, easy-to-follow script, and uplifting background music.
Utilizing influencer marketing is an effective way to reach out to potential customers and promote your brand. A study has revealed that a whopping 92% of consumers rely more on recommendations provided by unknown individuals than on branded content.
Banks can benefit from using financial explainer videos as an effective digital marketing strategy for various reasons, such as simplifying intricate financial topics, increasing brand recognition, interacting with clients, and enhancing their online presence.
TD Bank’s report shows that most millennials feel they would benefit from guidance on financial matters such as savings (32%), credit cards (26%), and budgeting (30%). According to FINRA’s study, millennials have a strong interest in educational content because they lack financial stability.
Selecting appropriate influencers ranging from advisors, bloggers specializing in finance, and experts within the industry enable you to educate customers regarding your products and sway their buying choices favorably, albeit discreetly.
2. Make Your Website the Main Touch Point for Customers
According to a PwC survey, a significant number of individuals from the digital generation prefer to handle product or service-related issues on their own and minimize their interaction with business representatives. A considerable portion of Generation Z respondents revealed that they prefer searching for information online and resolving issues independently.
Therefore, rather than increasing your customer support workforce, it is necessary to allocate resources to implement technology that enables your website to provide self-help alternatives and be accessible 24/7.
The incorporation of live chat technology is a compelling way to enhance your customers’ experiences. As per Forrester’s findings, 44% of web-based shoppers indicated that having access to a live agent to address their inquiries while making an online purchase is a critical website feature.
Banks can enhance customer engagement and foster brand loyalty by utilizing chat technology as an effective digital marketing tactic.
AI-powered chatbots, live chat, and messaging apps are utilized in chat technology to engage with customers. The primary advantages of integrating chat technology in banking involve enhancing customer service, decreasing response time, and elevating customer contentment.
By using chat technology, personalized recommendations and financial advice can be given to customers based on their transaction history and behavior, which can ultimately boost customer retention. Furthermore, it allows for round-the-clock customer service availability and a decrease in operational expenses.
Customers can communicate with banks through their favorite channels as chat technology can merge with different messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and WeChat.
Banks must guarantee the safety and confidentiality of customer information when integrating chat technology. The incorporation of chat technology can serve as a powerful digital marketing tactic for banks to enhance customer interaction, establish brand devotion, and remain competitive in the digital age.
Financial websites often provide clients with an FAQ section that covers frequently asked questions. The valuable data gathered from live chats can be utilized to develop an informative FAQ section or to train a chatbot that can assist customers round the clock.
HDFC Life has implemented India’s initial chatbot for life insurance, which serves as a financial advisor aiding clients in selecting appropriate life insurance policies and remedies.
HDFC Life’s chatbot provides insurance guidance ranging from Health to Tax Planning and Retirement. Through a brief 60-second quiz, the chatbot calculates a customer’s Insurance Quotient. This score helps HDFC Life suggest the most appropriate insurance options for the customer.
It is not unexpected that HDFC Life’s innovative approach has resonated with users. As per a report, the bot interaction sparks an intention to buy the product in 8.03% of users, which is significantly higher than the meager 2% interest generated by conventional web-based forms.
3. Create a YouTube Channel For Information Rich Content
Research has revealed that a majority of 72% of consumers favor utilizing videos to gain knowledge about products or services over other communication channels. This sounds quite positive, right? They have generated an entertaining and relatable 28-second video featuring a renowned celebrity, demonstrating how PayZapp can enhance users’ daily lives.
Have you established a YouTube platform for your brand? Below are some suggestions for crafting compelling content that will appeal to viewers:
- 68% of consumers find educational and informational content more valuable. This is great for financial brands who can create how-to content, tutorials, and data-driven content to help users, and promote their services.
- Research says that videos between 16 to 120 seconds generate almost 50% of all YouTube views. So keep your videos short and sweet, yet full of useful information for users.
- Another winning strategy could be to conduct live Q&A sessions and webinars on your YouTube channel, to spread financial awareness while also sharing information about your products.
4. Email Marketing
Even with the increasing technological progress, email marketing is still one of the top-rated channels to provide customers with valuable information. Data shows that businesses typically earn an average return of $38 for every $1 spent on email marketing.
By combining your email with other marketing channels, you can enhance your sales cycle and the actions taken towards nurturing leads.
By integrating email, you can develop customer profiles that are personalized and contain important information about your customers’ spending and saving behaviors. This data can be used to send targeted messages that are tailored to the interests of your customers, rather than relying on generic, one-size-fits-all emails that may annoy some customers.
Remember to include your bank’s logo in your emails to ensure that your customers remember you. Email integration is a beneficial tool for financial marketers, and here’s how it can assist you.
- Segment your audiences into smaller groups based on their buying behavior.
- Create targeted content for different segments to improve conversions.
- Get sophisticated email reporting to receive insightful information about your customers.
- Keep your customer data up to date through automatic synchronization of data.
5. Blogging
By implementing a blogging plan, your bank can enhance website traffic, establish expertise, and develop social media presence.
Transform frequently asked questions or commonly expressed customer worries into informative blog articles. Utilize these pieces to populate your social media accounts and create an additional outlet for addressing customer needs.
In order to create a blog that fulfills your customers’ needs, with good design and SEO optimization, prioritize these crucial factors:
- Deliver a great user experience
- Provide a call to action that ties in your services
- Font, color, and content should represent your bank’s brand
- Use images and videos to diversify content
- Establish a consistent and easily readable post format
In addition to publishing responses to commonly asked customer inquiries, you can guarantee that your content aligns with your customers’ interests by utilizing resources such as SEMrush and Ahrefs. These platforms include keyword tools that simplify the process of recognizing relevant topics for content creation.
If you experience writer’s block or have to prepare your schedule for the year, these tools can prove to be quite beneficial. Although they may seem daunting at first, it’s beneficial to locate a useful guide that can assist you in effectively employing them.
6. Customer Service
Incorporating exceptional customer service into your marketing plan can enhance your brand image.
TD Bank developed the #TDThanksYou campaign to demonstrate their dedication to serving their customers. Through this initiative, they documented customers’ reactions to exceptional service, resulting in a widely shared video across their social media channels.
Defining a bank more distinctly in the marketplace, a strong brand image can create a perceived value in the minds of consumers, ultimately leading to long-term profitability.
7. Digital Signage
Digital signage enables your displays to perform the sales pitch, freeing you from the task. Utilize strategically-placed displays to showcase images and videos that endorse your newest offerings or guides for your recent items. Capture enjoyable snapshots of your top-performing staff and integrate them with an appeal to action, such as “Consult Tracy to discover more about streamlining your educational loans.”
Providing customers with interactive content during their waiting period can enhance their branch experience. Display information such as local weather conditions, schedules for public transportation, traffic reports, live updates from popular financial blogs or your own blog content.
Utilizing digital signage at your branches can assist with various marketing strategies discussed in this article. Utilize these identical resources for promoting online campaigns like Fifth Third’s “Retweet to Reemploy” on your displays. This not only strengthens your brand image to your customers but also portrays your financial institution as tech-savvy.
8. Non-Traditional Rewards Programs
As you develop a loyalty program for your clientele, bear in mind these three main objectives:
- Increasing customer loyalty
- Extending retention
- Cross-promoting services and products
Chime has a rewards program that is distinctive in its approach towards achieving specific goals. Whenever you use your debit card, Chime will round up the total to the nearest dollar and add the difference to your Chime savings account without any effort on your part.
Encouraging regular utilization of your debit card, which is already a common practice among most customers in 2018, is how this system fosters customer loyalty. The extent of rewards earned is proportional to the length of your association with the bank, which in turn affects retention. Furthermore, this system of rewards presents an ideal chance to promote both savings and checking accounts in conjunction.
Financial institutions have a wide range of options in their marketing strategies – they can either entice and secure clients through discounts and offers or establish fresh customer connections through brand-oriented approaches.
9. Strategic Partnerships
Collaborate with entities that have similar values as your clientele, such as non-profit organizations, real estate firms, or entertainment companies.
Citi collaborates with Live Nation, a concert promoter, to offer pre-sale concert tickets and exclusive deals for popular shows. To take advantage of these benefits, all you need to do is use your Citi credit card while checking out.
Through establishing partnerships and formulating tactical initiatives such as this, your bank can set itself apart from its rivals.
A useful tip is to incorporate captivating visuals into your digital signage, enabling you to incessantly showcase ongoing partnerships and promotions to customers visiting your branch at any time of the day or night.
10. Customer Data
Insightful information obtained from data can help you understand the behavior patterns of your current customers and subsequently provide offers that align with their daily routines.
Rather than being preoccupied with fulfilling their social media obligations or adopting the newest technologies, financial institutions must utilize their data in order to gain a deeper comprehension of their current customer pool and provide them with better service.
There is a great potential for banks to provide their existing customers with more tailored, meaningful, and timely communication. Sometimes, our enthusiasm for technology overshadows the importance of real people. It is wiser to appreciate and cultivate what you already have than to constantly seek new things.