Customer retention is crucial to any service industry business’s success because customers are happy with what you provide and want to continue working with you. If no one wants to continue working with you, your business is, well…doomed. Customer retention is even more important than acquiring new customers for brand longevity. According to Harvard Business Review, acquiring new customers is 5-25x more expensive than keeping existing ones.
The financial services sector is incredibly competitive because services like taking out a loan, opening investment accounts, and refinancing are now offered by a wide variety of online lending institutions and not just large banking institutions. Many online-only organizations provide better terms than the brick-and-mortar banking conglomerates. So how do financial services firms keep their customers locked in when the internet offers such a wide array of options? Check out our blog on Fragmented Loyalty in Financial Services to learn more about why this fragmentation exists, or keep reading for examples of actionable solutions.
Know Your Customers
At the heart of any customer-retention plan should be the customer themselves. Knowing your customers, their financial needs, expectations, and pain points is crucial to rising above the competition. The best way to get to know your customers is with agile market research. By conducting surveys, in-depth interviews, and focus groups, you can gather robust insights into what makes your target market “click.” Once you know what your customers want, you can begin offering services tailored to them.
A voice of customer program is especially powerful when shifting to a customer-centric business model. From changes to chatbots, customer service operators, transaction fees, ATM’s and more, VoC programs can lead to higher customer retention. Managers, directors, and other business leaders must focus on helping their teamwork collaboratively, with a customer-first mindset.
Customize Experiences
Once you know your customers on a deeper level, you can begin to personalize their experiences with your financial services brand. Personalization plays such an essential role in consumer loyalty because it makes customers feel seen and cared for.
For example, suppose your customers express frustration with their banking fees. In that case, you might offer a “no-fee guarantee” to set your organization apart from others, or if your customers expect certain features in a banking app, like mobile check deposit, you can add them in to boost satisfaction.
Rely On Continuous Data
Data is great for making business decisions, but only if the data is current. As the world changes over time, so do your customers, so it’s vital to collect data on them all of the time in real-time. Progressive profiling is the way to do that for financial services businesses looking to boost retention. With progressive profiling, firms can track age, gender, location, income, preferences, and more. Online surveys coupled with progressive profiling technology make it easy to update dynamic information that will keep your company relevant to its customers now and in the future.
Maintain a Loyal Following
Measuring brand loyalty is vital for brands large and small. Businesses that stand the test of time do so not only because they make great products, but also because they maintain and grow their loyal following.
Want to keep your customers? We can help. Check out our post on Fragmented Loyalty in Financial Services to stay informed on the current fintech trends. If you’re looking to start your own solutions, Fuel Cycle provides brands with a complete set of tools to map the customer journey, uncover pain points, identify missed opportunities, and perfect overall CX strategies.
