SIX WAYS BANKS CAN FORGE AN EMOTIONAL BOND WITH CUSTOMERS
We all know what it's like to be bombarded
with irrelevant advertising. Instead of making us want to engage with the
brand, too many and the wrong sort of messages can make us grind our teeth in
frustration – and maybe vow never to buy the advertised product in the
future.
In the early days of digital advertising,
brands had little choice but to follow along with the “spray and pray” approach of
traditional broadcast marketing. The information revolution, however, means that there
is not any excuse for failing to get the most powerful message to the
right customer at the proper time, and with the right frequency.
This applies just as much to banks and other financial services firms because it does to consumer brands. By delving deep into customer data, these institutions can gain a true 360o view of each customer, discovering what lending options they use, why they choose them, and just how they use them. What's more, the information can shed invaluable insight into the customer journey and each person's specific needs at each stage along it.
When you are looking at digital, people expect a
a lot more personal and relevant relationship with their bank. That's why we've
compiled six top tips for banks that want to make the most of their marketing.
- Create “Micro-Moments”
Sometimes it's important to consider the big
picture, but when we want to find something an astonishing 96% of people use their mobile devices. In spite
of the small screen and the short engagement time, these “micro-moments” on
mobile could be incredibly powerful if they're done right.
Banking can be ripe for micro-moment
marketing, but it requires content and resources to be tightly tailored to each
individual. With the aid of a savvy SEO and content marketing team, your bank
can anticipate from the root of your customers' economic worries to
the road of their financial dreams, and employ this insight to create articles,
videos, along with other engaging, rich, and helpful happy to answer questions and
fuel financial and life goals.
- Emphasize the Emotional
One of the key pillars of marketing is to
create desire and emotional engagement using the brand. As consumers, we tend
to not feel emotional about our financial providers – but few things affect our
health and wellness as much as our relationship with our money.
Banks should therefore shift their
marketing strategy towards the financial-emotional journey: what experiences,
life stages, and other touchpoints in the customer lifecycle ultimately lead individuals to your bank
and your lending options? Focus on the moments that matter: graduation,
marriage, expanding families, savings, retirement – all the emotional, exciting
moments and activities that usher customers through your bank's doors.
From there, you can build out your marketing campaigns around these
touchpoints, to create purpose-driven marketing campaigns, storytelling
initiatives, along with other engagement.
- Harness the power of AI and chatbots
Few situations are more frustrating than
hanging on the telephone for ten or fifteen minutes, waiting to get through to
our bank's call centre to perform a routine transaction. With recent advances
in artificial intelligence, there's now pointless why a huge range of customer
enquiries can't be handled by advanced chatbots like Drift and Intercom. These AI-powered
tools are good enough to 'fool' customers into thinking they're speaking with a
human, and provide instant and accurate solutions to client questions, via your
website chat, social networking chat, and other sources.
- Make probably the most of video
Everybody loves video, most famously because it
can express potentially complex ideas with simplicity and brevity. Every bank
should be examining how it can make the most of video, which is the most effective
type of content: it encourages existing and potential customers to spend an
average 88% more time on your site than they would certainly. While there's a
place for text, video is perfect for creating the emotional triggers which make
digital marketing so effective.
- Customize and Personalize
Digital marketing is wasted if it's not
personalised. Customer expect bespoke communications and products – and advanced
data analytics can provide them in real-time. Analytics, responsive
technologies, customer insights along with other data-driven marketing tools enable
you to definitely follow customers through their journey, ensuring you can deliver the
most highly-personalised communications and services.
- From Millennials to Gen Z
It's no longer all about the Millennials: Generation
Z is on the cusp of becoming valuable consumers. They're getting ready to
graduate college, enter the workforce, buy their first new cars, and – soon –
get married, purchase their first homes, welcome their first babies, and
celebrate other major life milestones.
Ignore Generation Z at your peril. They are
already researching where you can open their first “adult” bank accounts. Grab them
early and form a psychological attachment, and you'll have a better chance of
keeping them in their later, more lucrative life stages, like once they
need loans or mortgages.
The lesson is apparent: the journey to
effective, engaging internet marketing starts with customer insight. Get a
handle on your data today, and begin building an emotional connection with your
customers – present and future.
