Check out the latest CUNA News Podcast sponsored by Marquis as Dr. Tony Rizzo, Chief Marketing and Creative Officer, and Ryan Housefield, Senior Vice President of Sales, describe how credit unions that use data on the front lines can provide the engagement tools employees need to drive sales and decision-making while improving the bottom line.
In a little more than a decade since the global financial
crisis, things are looking up, especially for U.S. financial institutions. With
the calmer waters comes fierce competition. On top of brick-and-mortars, Fintech
and Neobanks are hitting their stride while Big Data companies like Amazon and
Google are jumping on the lending wagon. Consumers are bombarded with messaging
from all sides. How can your bank or credit union’s voice be heard through all
this static?
Attracting and Retaining Households
Although it’s true that spending is up, acquiring new
households is down and retaining current ones is an issue. Half of all accounts
are single-service households. This presents potential retention issues, especially
since new single-service households are 50% more likely to leave within a year.
The likelihood of leaving halved if they add just one more product. With four
products, the potential for leaving decreases to a mere 5%. Concerted efforts
to add at least one more product to a household is essential for retention. But
it has to be personalized and sent at the right time to the right person. Flooding
households with untargeted messaging just doesn’t work, whereas a vehicle loan
offer aimed at households with teenagers might do the trick.
Meeting Consumer Expectations
Today’s consumer voluntarily supplies enough information for
brands to know and predict their preferences. Nearly three-quarters of global
consumers expect brands to treat them as individuals, not anonymous parts of a
larger whole. In a world of anonymous avatars and usernames, they expect brands
to use the data to approach them as individuals with relevant, personalized
experiences. That includes financial institutions.
The Backbone of Effective Marketing Efforts
It’s no secret. If properly utilized, Big Data enables the
personalization consumers are looking for. When properly interpreted, you’ll
know who your customers/members are, what they need, and when to engage them. Take
it one step further to increase growth and profitability by leveraging the data
for Growth Analytics.
The Analytics Growth Engine
Growth Analytics is used to identify growth attributes and
metrics. An Analytics Growth Engine gives direction and purpose to your Growth
Analytics by combining artificial and human intelligence to deliver insights to
fuel consistent and predictable revenue growth.
Mark Gibson, Senior Consulting Associate at Capital
Performance Group, suggests that growth engines for financial institutions need
to have specialized stages.
Stage 1 – Prospecting
Stage 2 – Acquisition
Stage 3 – Onboarding
Stage 4 – Activation &
Utilization
Stage 5 – Relationship Expansion
By using data and analytics as tools at each stage, you’ll
have precise and scalable data that measurably improves performance and
efficiency.
The Super Tools
A strong marketing plan is based on how consumers learn about
and buy financial services. It’s about the journey from the prospect to full
engagement. Gibson’s Analytics Growth Engine model requires data be applied as
a tool to each stage of the process. These tools – Segmentation, Targeting, Engagement
Strategies, Life Stage Marketing and Customer Value and Attrition Propensity –
lead to a deeper understanding of customer/member needs. In turn, offers are more
pertinent to targeted consumers and likely to elicit a response.
Putting It All Together
You have your Analytics Growth Engine. You have your super
tools. When the tools are applied, insights will be more meaningful, leading to
increased sales, deeper relationships and stronger retention.
Segmentation is the foundation of any targeted
marketing strategy. Before prospecting, determine who your best customers/members
are, what products and services they use and where they are on their financial journey.
Use Targeting at Stage 1 Prospecting to find prospects
who resemble your best account holders. Combine predictive and look-alike
modeling with third-party data to target individuals with potential for best value
and profitability based on your Segmentation analysis.
Use the Engagement tool to define the onboarding
process. Understand what services and products a fully-onboarded customer/member
uses. Realize the vision by applying the Engagement tool to Stage 2 and 3
of your Analytics Growth Engine to develop a personalized approach for each
customer/member. Then, use the Engagement tool for reboarding to increase
activation and utilization.
Life Stage Marketing is perhaps the most important
tool for customer/member personalization. Apply it to Stage 4 Relationship
Expansion to understand where each customer/member is on their financial
journey. Now, you can give relevant advice and predict what products make sense
for your customer right now. For instance, a HELOC is meaningless to a 20-year-old
college student, but a student checking account might do the trick. This tool
helps deliver the right message at the right time.
You’ve reached Stage 5 – Relationship Expansion and your
prospect is fully-engaged. Use the Customer Value and Attrition
Propensity tool to determine their value to your organization. This
allows you to fix a value on retention efforts in both time and money by
targeting accounts that historically realize the most value.
You Are Not Alone
Developing a robust Growth Analytics program driven by a
strong Analytics Growth Engine is essential in today’s banking landscape.
However, most financial services marketers are short on time, training and
manpower. Even though financial institutions have remarkably more data than
other lines of business, many are unprepared to make the most of this
opportunity. But consumers expect us to know who they are and what they want
before they even know themselves. If we don’t deliver, we risk losing both
prospects and current customers/members. That’s where a company like Marquis can
help by leveraging the strength of technology, analysts and creative services needed
to extend your reach.
Marquis works closely with your team to develop a strong
marketing plan dedicated to attracting new customers/members, expanding product
adoption and increasing product use. The Marquis team assembles data sources
and provides the tools and expertise to analyze and understand customer/member
relationships and opportunities. Using Big Data and Growth Analytics, companies
like Marquis become your partner, helping you elevate performance and increase
effectiveness. They become your Analytics Growth Engine.
Time for Action
To successfully compete in the current environment, you must
engage with customers/members on a deeply personal level and develop a
marketing strategy that meets consumers’ expectations of personalization. An
Analytics Growth Engine puts your vast amount of data into context to discover
new opportunities and promote revenue growth. It’s how you attract prospects
and engage with those customers/members most likely to add new products. It
makes your message heard in the ultra-competitive world of retail and business
finance.
Image courtesy of Mark Gibson, Senior Consulting
Associate, Capital Performance Group.