MarTechTalk: The martech transformation in financial services: improving the customer journey

On 29 October, MarTech Talk host Kevin Craine was joined by Ilias Tsatalmpasidis, Growth Marketing Director, HyperJar; Yemi Oluseun, Programme Director - Business Transformation Strategist, The Change Hive; and Laurence Clayton-Trotman, Senior Customer Success Director, Brightcove.

Views on news

EY’s analysis implies that banks today face an uphill battle to optimise the customer experience amid an increasingly competitive environment that now comprises a multitude of bank and non-bank entities, all of which are intent on being as agile as possible to meet the speed and weight of customer demands. What banks need to stay in the game is developing a customer-centric vision and then linking it to the bank’s value creation strategy; an agile, disciplined transformation approach; and a thoughtful deployment of new technologies. Banks in key markets across the globe “are shedding large numbers of their customer base to rivals”, with 12% of banking leaders confirming they have lost 30-40% of their existing customers for this reason. The advantage that digital banks have is that they are digital natives. But banks aren’t just about customer experience. They also must comply with data protection and anti-fraud regulations and ensure that the algorithms they use are unbiased. Some banks are aiming for a bank status, while others are happy with secondary accounts. They can also get highly specialised in areas such as spending or remittances. The UK and the EU currently seem to be ahead of the US thanks to neobanks breaking new ground in this region. 

How to address pain points in the customer journey

Banks often forget about post-sales once a customer has opened an account with them and they fail to guide them through the next steps. Today its imperative for the marketing architecture to keep up with the customer as they interact with the bank on different platforms. The pressure is now on legacy banks to launch services that are on a par with what neobanks have on offer. The regulatory environment in Europe is one of the most robust – a case in point being cryptocurrencies. It’s easier for neobanks to create great customer experiences also because they often target specific, niche customer groups, while legacy banks must cater to the needs of a much broader customer base. Customer data trails are also much more complex for incumbents.

Videos can help customers navigate complex financial journeys. Chatbot technology got much better with access to a multitude of data bases, which enable the technology to potentially provide better customer experiences than humans can. More than half of customers do their banking via mobile. 

Repeated views of video guides can also serve as leads to marketers and serve as first-party data. Videos can be shot in a style that mimics how a friend would explain how to open an account or earn cashback, but banks can experiment with different styles and see what is more popular with clients. Chatbots can also have a feature that enables them to select the video that suits the customer best. Fintechs’ limitations in resources increases their willingness to use automation and make data-driven decisions. A chatbot will know immediately if the client is after a card renewal as it has access to all the information in the customer’s app.

Video can serve diverse use cases at various touchpoints along the customer journey from brand awareness to lead nurturing to conversion and retention. Specialised providers can supply granular data on how videos are used by customers including where viewers left off watching or the bits that have been rewound many times, and this data can also be integrated into a unified marketing platform. Metadata optimisers are also very useful for companies operating across large territories. There are stock trading platforms that provide course-like sequences of videos.

Besides videos, apps provide great opportunities to engage with customers through pop-ups and in-app messages and promote other parts of the app, as well as other products, or make summaries of how people spend or reviews of the year. Push notifications can also be utilised to remind customers to top up or alerting them when there aren’t enough funds in their account for an imminent direct debit payment. These practices help build trust with customers too, which, in turn, will make them more receptive to marketing messages as well. Predictive analytics and gamification are also useful tools. 

The panel’s advice

• Neobanks are working on making banking more digestible and fun.
• Financial institutions are rather limited in what they can do with GenAI other than translation, dubbing and recommendations.
• Segment your customers and see how their journeys are different or similar.
• Introduce birthday offers and anniversary gifts as the initial steps of personalisation.
• Partner with external service providers – use a CRM platform if you don’t have an in-house team and build your own after you have seen its value.
• Create videos that address the frictions that your customer gave you feedback on.