Banks are trying very hard to forge personal relationships with customers in this day and age of mobile-savvy consumers. Attaining that true brand loyalty through effective customer engagement is vitally important for banks today.
According to a new study from Segmint, Millennials are willing to see ads about financial products that will help them reach life milestones. In fact, 67% of Millennials (ages 18 – 34) who have a bank would be willing to see a personalized ad from their bank to help them reach their personal finance goals for life events (e.g., paying for college, buying an engagement ring, or saving for a down payment on a new home). This compares to only 42% of those aged 45 and older. Similarly, parents of children under 18 are significantly more likely than those without children to be willing to see personalized ads from their bank to help reach financial goals: 67% vs. 46%, respectively.
“Now more than ever, savvy banks have an enormous opportunity to forge stronger relationships with current customers and attract new ones through a broad mix of hyper-targeted online marketing campaigns,” said Rob Heiser, CEO of Segmint. “Millennials, in particular, are in a stage of financial growth and planning, so they are more receptive to receiving guidance.”
One out of every two Americans who have a bank are open to receiving marketing communications and personalized advertising from their financial institutions, and that proportion increases among millennials and parents, the study shows. Financial customers are open to ads that reach them in new and different places. More than half of bank users in the U.S. (57%) report that they never see online advertisements from their bank outside of the company website and mobile app. What’s more, just under half of bank users (49%) wouldn’t mind seeing online advertisements from their bank on web pages, outside of their bank’s website and mobile app, if those offers were relevant to their financial goals.
“Personalization can take many forms but digital personalization is where most investment is taking place today,” according to a recent report by Gartner analyst Mick MacComascaigh. “Master data management — particularly when coupled with a digital personalization engine — can lead to a better online customer experience by indicating an understanding of the customer and the context of the interaction, typically leading to more online sales, whereas better knowledge management can increase the number of first-call resolutions. Customer loyalty, brand recognition and profit can all be increased.”
The survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Poll on behalf of Segmint between July 5-7, 2016 among 2,038 adults aged 18 and over, among whom 1,930 have a bank relationship.