It’s official: banks’ digital experiences are not cutting it for consumers, and it’s jeopardizing their loyalty. A recent Persado report discovered that 50% of consumers feel bank communications are too formal, impersonal, dated, and out-of-touch. Also troubling; more than half (54%) of all respondents said the written communications from their banks are “somewhat, hardly, or not at all” personalized to their needs and preferences.
In an age of hyper personalization and individuality, it’s not surprising that most consumers expect their bank to offer information and experiences tailored to their personal needs and financial situations. And there’s a lot at stake for financial service organizations: more than 50% of Gen X, Millennial, and Gen Z respondents said they would consider switching banks for a more personalized experience.
So, how can retail banks and credit unions step up and deliver the digital experiences customers are looking for? It starts with understanding your audience — and using every tool at your disposal.
AI: A Tool to Help Banks Reach Their Full Potential
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a powerful tool for scaling processes that would be prohibitively time- and resource-intensive if done manually. Historically, financial organizations have been hesitant to adopt AI technology, but consumers, in fact, say they are comfortable with it, especially if it means an improved digital experience: 75% say it’s acceptable for banks to use AI to help understand their needs and preferences.
Here’s how banks can use AI to understand customer needs and preferences, apply relevant messaging and offers, and drive real business results — while remaining compliant.
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Staying Relevant
Your marketing content shouldn’t read like an email blast — it should align with each of your customer segments’ needs and financial goals, incorporate personalized offers, and deliver relevant financial education. Specialized AI-powered marketing tools can help with this personalization and significantly contribute to customer loyalty by crafting compelling messages that resonate deeply with individual customers. By speaking to each customer in a way that feels tailored and relevant — made scalable by AI — marketing teams can increase engagement, improve brand perception, and build critical loyalty.
For example, AI can pinpoint the words and phrases that enable banks to convey that they understand their audience and financial needs. When personalizing copy, digital marketers can apply message variants based on customer attributes, such as length of credit history. Here are two examples of messaging promoting a new credit card to two different types of customers based on their banking history:
- Customers with a credit history: “Introducing cash back with no annual fee”
- Customers without credit history: “$0 annual fee—almost too good to be true”
…and Emotionally Intelligent
It’s also crucial to consider the emotion-driven motivators behind your customers’ actions and ensure the content and tone of your messaging aligns. This will create more effective, mutually beneficial customer experiences and strengthen customer relationships. It’s no secret that banks have room for improvement: 66% of consumers consider written communications from their bank to be only “somewhat emotionally engaging,” at best. What’s important is that customer communications are aligned with your audience — while remaining true to your brand.
Purpose-built AI solutions can help your CRM and marketing teams achieve this, by mapping the specific emotions, tones, and narratives behind each message, and measuring their efficacy across customer segments.
Typically, there are two main tones that banks and other financial institutions lean toward when drafting communications.
- Formal – Some banks and card issuers gravitate toward a business-like, formal, and informative tone to establish themselves as a knowledgeable and reliable resource for financial information with messages such as: “the right choice for your money.”
- Conversational – Other banks employ a warm, approachable, and conversational tone to avoid jargon and break down complex topics. They may instead say: “We’re in this together.”
Neither of these tones will work for all customers. Remember that language resonates differently across customer segments, based on many factors like financial situation, time of year, and so on. Your team should be regularly testing engagement rates for each piece of content, leaning into what works for a particular segment, and pivoting when it’s falling flat.
Such purpose-built solutions boost productivity and performance by capturing customer attention across digital channels (email, social, web, SMS, push notifications) with emotionally engaging copy that feels familiar and aligns on-brand messages and offers with each customer’s evolving needs and preferences. This modern approach to leveraging AI makes digital marketing more human and delivers a better customer experience (CX).
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