Boosting Bank Customer Engagement with Personalized Marketing

How many of us share this common childhood memory? You’re walking around the gift shop at the amusement park or on the boardwalk when you come upon a display of customized bike license plates or coffee mugs and there you find it, the one with your name on it! That feeling you have the moment you see your name is a powerful one.  You feel “seen” and connected to the place you’re at. You feel good.

Our names are uniquely powerful. Dale Carnegie, author of “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” famously said, “A person’s name is to that person, the sweetest, most important sound in any language.” When it comes to boosting customer engagement in banking, a person’s name, along with other means of personalization, can open doors and unlock opportunities.  And the good news is, just like in that gift shop example, consumers almost universally respond positively to this kind of engagement.

According to a study by Epsilon, 80% of consumers are more likely to do business with a company that offers personalized experiences. So, are banks leveraging personalization and how can it work for your institution?

In this blog, we will explore the concept of personalized marketing, its benefits for banks, key strategies for implementation, technological tools to aid personalization, successful case studies, and how BankBound can assist your bank in achieving personalized marketing success.  Let’s get started.

Understanding Personalized Marketing in Banking

Personalized marketing for banks involves tailoring marketing messages and offers to individual customers based on their preferences, behaviors, and needs. This approach contrasts with one-size-fits-all marketing by focusing on the individual’s specific interests and circumstances.

Putting personalized marketing techniques to work often begins with assets you are already utilizing. Printed account statements, eStatements, online banking notifications, compliance communication, and more can all be personalized to improve their effectiveness.  In addition, engaging customers through their preferred communication channels provides an opportunity to increase the odds that they are received and acted on.

The Benefits of Personalized Marketing for Banks

Personalization in marketing is a powerful driver of enhanced engagement, higher conversion rates, and increased revenue. By implementing personalized marketing strategies, banks can expect to achieve positive results that:

1. Enhance The Customer Experience: Personalized touches and interactions help make customers feel valued and understood. They also respect the customer’s limited time and attention, reducing wasted efforts that don’t interest them.
2. Build Stronger Customer Relationships: Establish customer trust by focusing on things that are important to them. No one likes to have their time wasted, and personalization can increase the potential to speak to a client’s specific wants and goals.
3. Increase Customer Loyalty and Higher Retention Rates: Loyal customers are more likely to stay and use more services, not to mention they are more likely to recommend your services to others.

Those looking for proof of the power of personalization to help make a business case will find comfort in a recent Think with Google “Future of Marketing” report that noted around 90% of leading marketers believe that personalization significantly contributes to business profitability. (Think with Google)​.

Now that we’ve laid out the case for what personalization can do, let’s dive into how it can be done.

Key Strategies for Implementing Personalized Marketing

Any manner of data-driven marketing in finance requires, well…data.  And while opportunities to collect data in the modern world sometimes seem infinite, making this data meaningful and actionable requires expertise and intention. A tool such as a CRM for financial institutions is often the entry point to more forms of bank marketing automation.

Data Collection and Analysis: In order to leverage data, you need to collect it and then analyze it.  There are many ways to do this and the more comfortable and seamless the experience, the more likely it is you will unearth data that provides real insights into a client’s true wants and desires.

1. Data collection methods run the gamut, from simple forms and personal notes from interactions to online behavior tracking, surveys, purchase history, and social media interactions. Analyzing this data helps identify trends and preferences.
2. Segmentation: Personalization down to the individual may not always be possible, but data insights can help you divide customers into smaller segments based on demographics, behavior, and needs. These segments can provide enough personalization to appear directed while allowing for that message to be relevant to a larger population.
3. Examples of segments can include young professionals, retirees, and small business owners.
4. Personalized Content Creation: Crafting tailored content for different customer segments enables you to highlight how solutions address specific pain points and opportunities.
5. Content personalization involves creating messages and offers that resonate with each segment’s unique needs and interests.

Utilizing Technology for Personalized Marketing

Technology is the lynchpin for scalable personalized marketing.  Let’s take a deeper look at some of the available tools and how they can support your efforts.

1. CRM Systems: Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems store customer information and interaction history, helping empower businesses to deliver a more personalized and engaging customer experience. Examples of CRMs: Salesforce, HubSpot
2. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML): Still in its infancy, leveraging AI and ML models to predict customer needs and automate personalization is likely to become more accurate, and therefore more common in the near future. AI can analyze large datasets to identify patterns and predict future behaviors, while ML algorithms continuously improve personalization accuracy. Examples of AI/ML tools: ChatGPT, Gemini
3. Marketing Automation Tools: There are a wide variety of options for tools to that streamline the process of sending messages at scale, ensuring timely and relevant communications reach their intended audiences. Examples of marketing automation tools: Mailchimp, Marketo

How BankBound Can Help

Personalizing your marketing efforts requires knowledge of both banking technology and marketing and BankBound has established itself as the expert at that crossroads. BankBound is focused on the specific needs of the financial institutions industry and our longtime dedication to creating solutions for community bankers sets us apart from other bank outsourcing companies.

1. Customized Solutions: BankBound tailors marketing programs that meet the unique needs of each financial institution. From customized templates and personalized campaign management to data collection and follow-up, we provide solutions that are easy to deploy and ultimately truly impactful.
2. Digital Marketing Expertise: BankBound’s roots provide the foundation upon which some of the most successful digital solutions have been built. In fact, many campaign strategies employ a multi-channel approach to raise visibility and meet customers where they are in order to increase the effectiveness of a campaign.

Getting Started with Personalized Marketing

If personalized marketing seems like the right direction for your institution, here is a roadmap to follow so you can quickly begin realizing the benefits.

1. Assess Your Current Marketing Efforts: Evaluate what’s working and what needs improvement so you can be clear on which areas will benefit most from any investment.
2. Define Your Goals: Set clear, measurable goals for your personalized marketing campaigns.
3. Invest in the Right Tools: Choose the right technology and tools to support your personalized marketing efforts. There are pros and cons to almost every CRM system, AI tool, and marketing automation platforms.
4. Partner with Experts: Consider partnering with a specialist like BankBound to enhance your personalized marketing strategy.

BankBound’s Experience Helps Your Bank Thrive

In an era where customer expectations are higher than ever, personalized marketing is not just an advantage—it’s a necessity. Don’t get left behind; Schedule a consultation and start your journey towards boosting customer engagement with BankBound today. And be sure to subscribe to our blog for additional tips and techniques to grow your financial brand.