NEW YORK–A new report suggests just 39% of consumers believe communications from their financial services company are relevant to their needs.
The research was released by Braze, a customer engagement platform, in a report, “Banking on the Customer Journey: 2022 Financial Services Insights.”
According to the company, the report provides guidance for financial services brands, specifically those that provide banking, budgeting, and wealth management services, to better understand and meet shifting customer needs.
Braze said the report “revealed a major perception gap between consumer expectations and brand performance. The analysis was conducted in conjunction with CACI, a business consultancy with extensive experience in banking and financial services, and combines insights from campaigns powered by the Braze Customer Engagement Platform, with research from two global surveys – of 5,000 consumers and 1,500 marketing executives working in the financial services industry conducted by Wakefield Research, according to the organization.
Primary Findings
Among the findings:
- Only 39% of consumers surveyed believe communications from their financial service company are relevant to their needs, and only 41% of customers say they are satisfied with their messaging.
- That’s compared to 82% of financial services brands that believe customers are satisfied with their messaging, “revealing financial services leaders are overly confident about the customer experience they are providing,” the company said.
- The data found a “strong correlation between sending valuable messages with overall consumer satisfaction,” according to Braze. “A whopping 87% of surveyed consumers who feel they receive relevant communications say they are satisfied with their bank, whereas only 50% who receive irrelevant communications are satisfied with their bank.”
The Paradox
According to Braze, customers want personalized, relevant experiences – 62% of consumers are willing to share more personal information to get more relevant communications, but financial institutions must balance that with the stringent standards around data privacy.
“Much of that starts with the right approach to data collection. With the impending cookieless world, the first step is to move away from third-party data and focus more on zero- and first-party data driven strategies,” Braze said.
“However, our findings show that only 59% of companies are leveraging zero-party data, and 61% are collecting first-party data, to create a more personalized experience for customers.”
Keep it Simple & Short
Braze said in releasing its findings that “when it comes to customer communications, financial services brands need to stop sending irrelevant messages, and focus on sending messages that add value to a customer’s experience.”
The company said it asked consumers to rank the type of messages that they actually want to receive and found:
- Over half (56%) of consumers ranked account updates (low balance, deposit confirmations, etc.) as the most preferred.
- Only 14% of consumers selected promotional offers, 13% selected information on new products and features
- 9% wanted information educational content, and a “paltry 7% wanted to hear about corporate updates.”
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