As the COVID-19 pandemic drove a digitalization gold rush, with many industries rushing to reformat their services and customer journeys to fit the “new normal,” financial companies had a leg up on the competition. The financial sector has been leaning heavily into technology for a while now. In fact, even before the pandemic took hold, 55% of Americans stated that they used digital banking for their financial services needs.
However, even with this preparation, customer loyalty is fragmented. The financial services sector is saturated, and competition is stiff. Taking out a loan, opening investment accounts, and refinancing are now offered by a wide variety of online lending institutions. What’s more, many banks are doing away with annual, transaction, and overdraft fees which is an irresistible option for many young adults.
So, how do financial services providers stay in the green this year and beyond? Keep reading to learn about the future of financial services marketing and how research communities play a significant role.
Why Financial Brands Need Data
Financial services marketers are facing a challenge as old as time: How to connect with people and build relationships based on their evolving needs. While banking institutions have historically relied on vanilla marketing campaigns and passive customer interactions, the pandemic has cemented the fact that change is needed. Having virtual operations isn’t enough to hold consumers’ attention in a sea of fintech options. Financial marketers must focus on always-on marketing strategies driven by data to build loyalty.
The only constant is change, so it’s vital to collect customer data in real-time. Knowing your customers’ 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. Online research communities are a powerful tool that can help financial institutions get to the heart of their customers’ motivations, beliefs, and attitudes about banking.
How Research Communities Can Help Financial Brands Thrive Now And In The Future
Market research online communities (MROC) are carefully selected groups of customers who agree to participate in online activities and discussions for the purpose of market research. With this powerful tool, market researchers can conduct both quantitative and qualitative methodologies in one platform with discussion boards, diary studies, live chats, focus groups, and observer views. Members of online communities also benefit from having a two-way relationship with a financial services brand; they get to hear from the brand while also having their voices heard in return which boosts engagement. Additionally, researchers have an audience they can tap into on-demand and in real-time.
With MROCs, financial services brands can discover what their customers want from them and what truly drives loyalty in 2022, specifically in granular customer groups. Younger consumers have remarkably malleable brand loyalty, which can be mitigated with online research insights.
“Do Gen Z banking customers want access to their paycheck two days early?” or “Do they want the ability to overdraft without a fee?” Research communities can answer questions like these.
To understand just how critical targeted MROCs are, just look at the fintech company, Current. “Inflation has been rising at one of the highest rates in 40 years over the last couple of months…And for our members —this meant their money just isn’t going as far as they need.
That means they’re paying more for the same goods and services. It’s making it harder to put money aside,” says VP of Product at Current, Josh Stephens. Current targets consumers who have multiple jobs, are unemployed, or live paycheck to paycheck, and they have a profound understanding of what they need from their banking institution.
Current offers faster direct deposit, cashback, quick gas hold removals, fee-free overdrafts, and more. They specifically dismiss the proverbial 1% and instead allow money to be fluid for this batch of bankers.
MROCs are beneficial for more than directing financial services solutions; they can help lead marketing efforts too. In 2022, financial brands need to be thoughtful about their marketing strategies. We predict that personalization and laser-focused targeting will be critical for success this year, in addition to always-on marketing with effective messaging spread across diverse channels (think digital, TV, mobile, etc.)
MROCs can allow brands to find actionable customer segments (like paycheck to paycheck Gen Z’ers) and uncover their preferred media consumption platforms (like TikTok) to deliver marketing messages that resonate. See this TikTok from @chime, a similar fintech solution to Current. They utilize TikTok to reach their customer base with messages that they want to hear, like how to build credit.
Using an MROC to do a deep dive into “What channel is best?” or “What topics matter?” can help marketers know how to resonate with the right tone and message in the right channel.
Financial Services Solutions Wrap up
Pre- and post-pandemic online communities have allowed brands to tap into the inner workings of their customers’ minds, collect feedback, peel back the layers of customer value, and discover micro trends and behavioral shifts that drive strategic business decisions. By undeserving their customers, traditional banks have made it easy for focused and disruptive fintech brands to take over with aggressive marketing campaigns. In 2022, simply having online banking options isn’t enough to gain loyalty.
Financial marketers must focus on always-on marketing strategies driven by real-time data collection with MROCs. Continuous research communities have evolved over the years and are more effective, simple, and affordable than ever with Fuel Cycle. Major brands in the financial sector are leveraging the power of continuous insights with online market research communities, and you can do it too.
Fuel Cycle customers enjoy comprehensive online research communities, bi-directional customer relationships, a branded mobile app to drive engagement, the ability to conduct qualitative and quantitative research in one place, insanely high response rates, and the opportunity to perform hundreds of research projects per year at an affordable rate.
Continuous, fast research is imperative today. Learn how Fuel Cycle helps customers innovate with ongoing insights here.
