By Megan Allinson, Integrated Marketing Director, BKM Marketing
Banking has gone digital. At last count, roughly 203 million consumers currently use some form of digital banking in the United States alone, up from 196.8 million in 2021. That number is projected to grow over the next three years to a total of 216.8 million.
Because of this and the accelerated pace of technological innovation, banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions require a digital presence more than ever before — and not just an informational website about your available financial products and services. Social media, mobile apps, display, and other digital marketing channels can all be beneficial in building awareness and acquiring new customers for your institution’s brand.
Digital, in all its iterations, is the ideal platform to communicate with today’s consumers. It’s where people do business, after all. Mobile should definitely be on your radar, as 78% of U.S consumers prefer to bank through mobile apps and their financial institution’s website. This isn’t to say in-person banking is a thing of the past; you’ve still got plenty of customers heading directly to a branch, but the tides are turning. An increasing number of consumers want the ability to transfer funds between accounts, make mobile deposits, view account balances, and pay bills through mobile apps.
A word of warning, however: Some organizations simply employ the latest digital tools to keep up with the competition. They do the same with digital tactics. Don’t fall prey to this shiny-object syndrome. Every strategy or piece of technology used should make sense and provide real value to your institution. More importantly, don’t fall prey to those vanity metrics. They only tell part of the story and aren’t true measurements of success.
Take something like an impression, for instance. It’s a good indicator that a consumer has seen the content and that you’re building brand awareness, but what action did that person take next? Did they inquire about an offer? Did they apply for a loan? Was there an actual conversion? You want to capture information that relates to performance, which, admittedly, can be difficult in the digital realm if back-end tracking is not employed correctly or precisely.
It’s not like sending out a mailer and at the end of the campaign, you can easily look back to see who on the mailing list opened new accounts during a certain timeframe. Then you would know the effectiveness, and then you could make adjustments accordingly to improve the messaging involved with marketing campaign.
Digital works a bit differently.
The conundrum of showing digital marketing value
The difference between digital and more “traditional” channels can be problematic for marketing teams. At some point, senior leadership teams will want to know what marketing channels are actually driving business. If you’re only tracking impressions and clicks, there’s no way to say that the campaign moved the needle in the intended direction. Sure, the messaging might have sparked interest, but you can’t confidently say that it drove business.
Many banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions are currently missing the analysis step in the digital marketing process. For some, it’s a matter of miscommunication. They’ve tapped an outside agency and haven’t been explicit in their objectives. So, tracking wasn’t carried out correctly. Others might be unsure of what they’re looking for. One survey found that just 23% of marketers know what KPIs to track.
To ensure a digital marketing campaign isn’t a one-off, your team must be able to demonstrate its value. Being in financial services, you already know it’ll come down to the numbers. The following can get you started on how to set the stage for success:
From a reporting standpoint, your marketing team will need another team — either internal or external — to manage the data collection and aggregation, as well as to help interpret the performance results. Also, consider establishing a set reporting schedule and how you’d like to see the data. The information will be simple to use if it’s in an unambiguous, easy-to-understand format.
Conversion is often the metric overlooked. Without this number, you just have clicks, and this doesn’t tell anyone anything about sales. Tracking conversions, whether accounts opened or loans applied for, will allow you to tweak your strategy according to where the majority of the movement is coming from. This will also allow you to invest your team’s time and your budget more strategically and efficiently — if not get more money for your next digital marketing campaign.
In other words, don’t let this opportunity pass you by. If you’re not tracking the right metrics or reporting in the right way, your marketing team will be back to direct mail campaigns in no time. And what’s the fun it that?
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