Customer-Centric, Personalized, Data-Driven: A Recipe for Engagement and Loyalty

‘Tis the season for increased consumer spending. In fact, the National Retail Federation forecasts winter holiday spending to grow between 2.5% and 3.5% over last year — equating to more than $979 billion in total holiday spending in November and December. And, increased spending means increased opportunity to engage with consumers to help them manage and track their finances. 

Consumers have more choice than ever in where to turn for financial services and our research shows that 59% of U.S. consumers want their financial provider to proactively help them better manage their finances. And, a bad experience could make them turn elsewhere. 

At our recent 2024 Money Experience Summit, industry experts discussed how to grow engagement and loyalty among consumers with very diverse preferences, demographics, and behaviors isn’t always easy. The key? Embodying a customer-centric mindset. 

Here are a few key takeaways from the session: 

Recognize that Consumers Don’t Want to Bank 

Life is filled with demands on our time and attention. Consumers don’t want to spend what little extra time they have on managing their finances. Digital Product Leader Lea Sims said, “People do not want to bank. They want to buy, they want to be with their families, they want to have things they want to take care of their families and their children. They don’t want to bank.” 

If financial providers can make products and services as easy to access and operate as possible, customers are more likely to engage and stick around. And, it starts with a strong onboarding experience that creates a foundation for engagement to help them get the most out of their financial provider. 

According to Justin Olson, president and CEO of Utah Community Credit Union, “Onboarding needs to be easy. It just needs to be so easy. Simplicity is really key.” 

See Consumers as Individuals, Not Averages 

Every consumer has their own individual journey. More than half of U.S. consumers (54%) expect their financial provider to know them and they want financial providers to leverage the data providers have about them to personalize their experience. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to managing finances. 

Danielle Wright, managing director of Utah and Idaho and J.P. Morgan Private Bank,  advocates for organizations to try to reflect this mindset of knowing your customer through the “services we provide, the products we offer, and the ways we interact with our clients.”

Financial providers have more data than ever about their customers at their fingertips. However, many are still not maximizing the value of that data by putting it into action. 

Put Data to Work

Data is the key to understanding consumers and developing personalized experiences. “We have a lot of [data], but we need to not be tone deaf. When we reach out to a consumer and if we are not speaking to them in a way that is not personalized, they are going to disengage because it just becomes white noise,” says Olson. 

Loyalty is earned when customers feel seen and understood, so using data to reach customers needs to be done in a way that reflects that. 

Catch the full replay of this conversation for more insights on MXS Rewin