Category: Blog

Hyper-personalization is changing the face of digital marketing. By unifying proprietary data with third-party and contextual data sources, customer-centric leaders in financial services can create experiences that meet customers’ needs in real time. Banks can push this evolution forward even further by creating alliances with other non-competitive brands and playing the role of “concierge” to tailor meaningful experiences down to the individual consumer.

It’s no secret that Big Tech companies like Apple and Amazon have shifted customer expectations over the past decade. Frictionless digital transactions, next-day shipping, and other streamlined omnichannel experiences have become the norm across multiple industries. Companies that can’t deliver may already find themselves falling behind.

It’s in every bank’s best interest to place well-aligned credit cards in their customers’ pockets. Customers spend 32% more and put a higher share of their monthly spend on credit cards when a card’s fee structures and rewards match their spending.

These primary card behaviors make it more likely that customers will purchase other products from the same bank, too. In fact, primary card customers are 15 times more valuable to banks than casual card customers over the long term.

The rise of digital banking has not meant the demise of the physical bank branch. In fact, it’s just the opposite. At many banks, branches are still the most important retail sales channel. In the same way consumers prefer visiting their local Apple Store to troubleshoot computer issues in person, they also like an actual human to guide them through major financial decisions.

Digital channels are important battlegrounds for customer loyalty in banking. Customers’ expectations are increasingly set by big tech companies that offer frictionless, streamlined digital experiences — experiences that they’re starting to bring to financial services in the form of eWallets, loan products, and more. Banks must leap ahead if they want to remain competitive, and attract and retain the types of loyal customers who generate their steadiest revenue streams.