Turn data into decisions: How financial marketers can win with customer insight marketing

Banks and credit unions sit on a goldmine: data. But too often, that data goes unused or underleveraged. In today’s hyper-competitive financial landscape, competitive institutions transform raw data into actionable insights; financial institutions that win are the ones that turn those insights into smarter, faster, more human marketing.

Discovering how to uncover in-depth insights from data can assist in making better decisions about how and when to market financial products and services. Here are some ways to unlock the power of customer data to reach account holders at just the right moment, with just the right message.

What are customer insights—and why should marketers care?

Customer insights are a data-powered window into what consumers want, why they act and when they’re most likely to engage. For financial marketers, insight-driven campaigns are a no-brainer. In fact, organizations that utilize customer insights frequently outperform their industry competitors by up to 85 percent growth in sales. That being said, it’s the data behind those campaigns that can help turn a good campaign into something great.

While many banks start with basics like demographic and transactional data, the real impact lies deeper. Truly actionable insights emerge from combining first- and third-party data across a wide range of touchpoints, including:

• Online behavior and website analytics
• Service usage and transaction history
• Customer feedback, reviews and surveys
• Social media sentiment and engagement
• Market and competitive research
• Trigger data from life events or milestones

When brought together, this data paints a fuller picture of your customers, helping to reveal opportunities for more targeted, relevant and timely outreach.

Customer insights help improve experiences

For both businesses and consumers, bank decisions often come down the experience. In fact, across industries, 73 percent of companies with an above-average customer experience perform better financially than their competitors. Better customer feedback and insights allow banks to develop and laser target new products and services, quickly address any customer issues and remedy customer pain points more effectively.

In short, customer insights guide marketing strategies toward success

How to gather insights about your bank customers

The lowest-hanging fruit to gather customer insights is simply to ask customers about their experiences. Try utilizing these tools to unlock insights:

• Online reviews
• Surveys
• Focus groups
• Being asked by front-line staff

Every piece of customer feedback is valuable to improving the overall experience and reputation of a bank.

Behavioral data

Behavioral data is gathered from how customers use products and services as well as how customers interact with systems and applications. From visitor behavior while on the website to customer interactions in a bank branch, each piece is a part of the lifecycle of the customer journey at a financial organization.

Social listening

The average American spends almost three hours per day on various social media sites. Marketing teams should be paying attention to their customers and interacting with them there as well. Social monitoring includes:

• Monitoring online reviews
• Reading and responding to social media comments and feedback
• Encouraging customer interactions through polls and engaging posts

Social monitoring can have valuable payoffs when customers provide feedback on how marketing efforts are (or aren’t) landing. It can also help in determining participant responses to events (such as annual meetings) in real-time and even in monitoring the social activity of competitors and industry-wide trends.

Third-party data and trigger marketing

Most financial institutions don’t have access to the vast data resources that a third-party partner has, but the right data partner can help a bank understand customers in depth to reach them with the solution they need at the exact moment of decision.

One of the most powerful tools in insight-based marketing is trigger data, meaning key life or business events that signal a financial need. Here are a few examples:

Common consumer triggers

• New movers or pre-movers (aka those considering moving residences)
• Newly married or newly single
• Expecting or new parents
• Mortgage or auto loan applications

Common business triggers

• New business launches
• Ownership changes
• Location expansions

When banks leverage this depth of data, their marketing becomes proactive, not reactive, helping account holders solve real-life financial needs as they emerge.

Putting insights into action: Four ways to drive results

Once your bank has partnered with a data expert, the next big hurdle is figuring out how to utilize that information effectively. Here are a few examples of how financial marketers can use customer insights to their bank’s advantage:

1. Personalize with purpose: Consumers are 80 percent more likely to purchase from brands that offer personalized experiences. Savvy marketers should use behavioral and life-stage data to tailor their messaging, from customized loan offers to birthday emails with special rates. Even simple personalization tactics, like dynamic landing pages or relevant imagery, can boost engagement.
2. Optimize the customer journey: Map and monitor how customers engage with your institution: digitally, in-branch and through third-party platforms. Use that journey data to improve touchpoints, eliminate friction and ensure every interaction reinforces trust.
3. Track trends, not just transactions: Insight programs reveal larger patterns, from seasonal mortgage booms to shifts in consumer sentiment. Identifying and responding to these trends in real time allows financial institutions to stay one step ahead.
4. Evaluate your brand and your competitors: Don't just look inward. Competitive intelligence (including how your competitors market, serve and retain customers) can expose opportunities to differentiate and strengthen your position.

Building a customer insights program that works

Creating a best-in-class insights program starts with structure. A good program should do four things:

• Listen: Collect feedback via surveys, online reviews, employee insights and social media.
• Interpret: Use analytics to uncover patterns in behavior, sentiment and need.
• Act: Tailor communications, update service models and launch targeted campaigns.
• Monitor: Continuously evaluate KPIs like customer satisfaction, loyalty index and net promoter score (NPS).

Key KPIs to measure

A performance-driven program should measure and report on key performance indicators (KPIs), including:

• Customer experience score (CES)
• Net promoter score (NPS)
• Loyalty and referral rates
• Online and mobile banking satisfaction
• Speed of service and wait times

Many banks struggle with execution, and again, that’s where the right partner matters. Your data solution provider should help you not only access the most robust multi-sourced data available but also build the systems, dashboards and workflows needed to act on that data.

Don’t just collect data: Do something with it

The most important insight? Data alone isn’t enough. Your institution needs the expertise, strategy and execution power to turn data into growth. That’s why it’s vital to partner with a third-party data marketing partner who can help your financial institution:

• Reach customers at the moment they’re ready to buy
• Uncover insights about your market, your brand, and your competitors
• Personalize communications across the customer lifecycle
• Build a long-term program for growth and loyalty