The news feeds are currently full of the 2023 trend articles. We have waded through the buzz and honed in on what sounds like the best advice for bank marketers in 2023.
As 2023 begins, banks and credit unions are rolling out the plans made last quarter. No doubt some of those initiatives will be just right for what is coming, and some may require adjusting. The prognosticators are appropriately out and about making their own adjustments to what they predicted six months ago. In reading the lists, we have gleaned five trends impacting bank marketers that are worth considering as 2023 begins.
1. Compliance/Regulation Changes Need Attention
The importance of compliance and staying ahead of industry regulations is always high. In years where significant changes come, being on top of the requirements and their implications requires more. Mark Gibson at the ABA speaks specifically about it: “Two very critical changes are emerging in the regulatory and compliance space. The first is how to realize all the benefits digital marketing provides while managing significant and increasing compliance risk. The second is upcoming changes to data privacy laws and how they will impact the marketing landscape in 2023.” With increased scrutiny around how banks target their advertising, marketing teams need to be working more closely with compliance and need to ensure they thoroughly measure and document campaigns. This means having the right marketing tools and the right team to use them. Gibson continues, “Finding common ground between compliance and marketing will be essential in 2023 in order to manage risk and simultaneously achieve the banks’ business objectives.”
2. The Cookies Are Disappearing
As the inevitable exit of digital cookies approaches (though Google has delayed until 2024), bank marketers will need to adjust to being without that helpful third-party data. It will no longer be easy to target consumers based on their behavior on the web. A renewed focus on the current customer data that banks have at their fingertips should be a priority. Many banks still don’t capture all the available customer data or don’t effectively use it when they do. It’s time to update tools and processes for marketers who are lagging in this area. Again, Gibson offers some insight, “The obvious implication is that data gathering, data management and highly focused data analytics become much more critical in this new world. A secondary implication is that marketing automation is needed to do something with that data—target personalized offers as well as customize campaigns to customers who are exhibiting specific behaviors. All while operating in a new cookie-less environment.”
3. Deposit Wars Are Here
With the economy lingering in uncertainty, in addition to the Fed’s historic interest rate hikes, consumers are thinking about deposits again, and Bank Marketers should be thinking about them too. J.D. Power knows this: “Americans are tightening their belts, and they’re willing to reset that ‘Customer Since’ line on their monthly statements to do it. In fact, we’ve found that 26% of customers moved money to another institution in the past 30 days and, on average, they moved about one-third of their deposits.” That’s movement that bank marketers should be paying attention to—which means knowing current depositors and knowing how to attract the newly unattached depositors. Bank marketers should be using data analytics to make targeted offers to potential prospects and engaging their current customers on their changing deposit needs.
4. Customers Want Engagement Around Financial Wellness
The same energy that is driving the deposit wars is driving customer concern around their future and how best to navigate these challenging times. Customers want a helping hand and a partner in their financial institution. J.D. Power, when surveying about the influences in customer experience, found that commonly held metrics like speed, efficiency, and convenience are not as important in this climate. “The one factor that does heavily influence customer experience in this environment is the bank’s ability to ‘support the customer during challenging times.’ We found that customer satisfaction with retail banks rises 155 points (on a 1,000-point scale) when customers indicate that their bank supports them during challenging economic times. Similarly, 63% of customers say they ‘definitely will not’ switch banks and 78% say they ‘definitely will’ reuse their bank when it delivers this support. However, despite its huge effect on customer satisfaction, only 44% of banks are delivering on this metric.”
Following this type of evidence of customer demand, in their “2023 Banking and Capital Markets Outlook” article, Deloitte speaks to specific strategies to address the issue, “Meanwhile, retail banking customers are also expecting more from their banks. In particular, they are clamoring for a superior cross-channel experience and hands-on guidance during challenging times. These heightened demands will require banks to go beyond a product lens and create customer experiences that are data-driven, consistent across channels, and complete with personalized advice.”
5. A Seamless Customer Experience is the Foundation
It is not news that a smooth, friction-free customer experience continues to be central to the success of financial institutions. At the risk of sounding like a repeating drone, in the end, it’s all about the people. Knowing and engaging customers meaningfully and consistently translates into stable and expanding business. In data analyzed by American Banker in November of 2022, “One-fifth of respondents said if they could fix one issue with a magic wand, it would be the ability to understand and react to customers' needs.” Elaborating on what that might look like, the article continues, “Customer data platforms, which gather and analyze customer information to create personalized solutions, are among top technology priorities for about 30% of respondents.”
There is a lot to consider for the upcoming year, but having the right marketing tools (specifically data gathering, data management, and marketing automation) addresses some piece of all the challenges presented in these five trends. Knowing what is coming and knowing how to tackle it is a great start when facing the tasks on the 2023 horizon.
How 360 View Can Help
If in assessing your preparedness for 2023, you find you need a partner to assist you in gathering and managing your customer data, consider engaging a trusted industry provider. 360 View is the CRM Platform for banks and credit unions. It not only offers an easy-to-use CRM, but several additional tools including a marketing automation module. If you'd like to know more, check out our Getting Started Guide or schedule a demo to see our product up-close.