Customer and member retention is a critical part of every financial institution’s marketing strategy. In addition to promoting competitive offers, the best way to create loyal customers and keep them around is by fostering a great customer experience.
Here are 5 ways your bank or credit union can create loyal customers and members:
1. Communicate consistently across all channels
Multi-channel marketing is important for financial institutions to maintain consistent relationships and continue to put the right offer in front of the right customer at the right time. Creating a consistent message and a seamless communication plan across email, print, social, and in-branch marketing is a great way to build your brand and uphold your reputation. This level of targeting is important for retaining your customers and members so they feel you are not only useful to them but also a partner in their financial endeavors.
2. Financial literacy
Many banks and credit unions forget the importance of promoting financial education to their customers and members. When your relationships understand basic financial concepts, they will be more profitable to your financial institution. It’s your responsibility as a financial institution to help your customers make financial decisions and fully understand credit and debt management. Financial literacy programs should be an investment and a good strategy for creating loyal customers and members.
3. Personalization
Personalization continues to be a buzz word among financial institution marketers, and rightfully so. If your goal is to create loyal customers, you should strive to create a strong individual experience through segmentation and personalization. Making your customers feel unique through personalized marketing communications shows them they matter to your financial institution on an individual level, leaving them more likely to continue looking to you for all of their financial needs. The level of personalization you use in your marketing communications can vary from sending relevant product offers, calling relationships by their name, varying messaging based on age or geographical demographic, or sending the communication directly from the banker or loan officer at a specific branch.
4. Survey and learn
Customer loyalty begins with customer satisfaction, and there’s no better way to understand what your customers and members want from you than by sending regular customer satisfaction surveys. Knowing your customers and members wants and needs when it comes to their financial and life decisions will help you be able to offer them the right products and services at the right time, making them feel like a valued part of your financial institution.
We’ve learned that sending a simple, one question survey after account opening is a great start. Learning more about the account opening experience across all of your products is the gateway to increased loyalty and satisfaction. Use the feedback you receive from your surveys to create better customer experiences to ensure your customers and members stick around.
5. Learn from your data
No bank or credit union is exactly the same, so a final strategy we recommend for building customer loyalty and retention is to test and to learn. Find out what works well for your unique financial institution by analyzing your results, tweaking when necessary, and you will be on your way to building better customer loyalty and retention.
Did you know Core iQ’s automation and survey capabilities make it an essential tool for customer and member retention? Contact Onovative today to learn more and demo how Core iQ can work for your bank or credit union.
