Earlier this week, my business partner and I attended NetFinance, The Event for Digital Innovation in Financial Services at the Trump National Doral Miami. Over the course of a couple days, we heard from industry leaders and experts about the impact of digital marketing in the financial services industry. And they did not disappoint.
In a previous post, we discussed 4 areas that are impacting this industry. Each of these areas was touched on during the event, and the conference elevated these points by discussing why each one of these programs are important to any financial services company’s approach to the market.
When you attend a conference like this, with large and prominent companies, you’re relentlessly consuming information. But what out of this newfound pool of knowledge will really change the way you think and market going forward? We found these 3 things specifically to be the mantras of NetFinance and the driving forces for the digital landscape of the financial services industry going forward.
Banks can no longer just be banks
To kick off the event, Catherine Zhou from PWC set the stage with her opening remarks by discussing why the digital bank needs to be more than just a place where customers go for monetary transactions. Your customers expect you to be more than this; they want a financial advisor, a realtor, a mortgage company, etc. Why? By doing this and offering the customer what they need in all areas of their financial life, you’ll establish loyalty and trust, which is fundamental in harnessing today’s skeptical buyer.
Omnichannel is everything
Think about your customer. The always on the go and always connected individuals who want to access information at any time, anywhere. And the best way to make this happen is through an omnichannel experience.
We’ve heard a lot about how mobile is one of the most important areas to focus on for the digital consumer. And while this may be true, creating an omnichannel experience is what marketers need to focus on most. Why? Because this allows your customer to interact with your brand without interruption across any device. Whether it’s through face-to-face interaction or digital channels, your customer wants communication to be easy.
And there is work to do in this area. According to OneReach, 87% of customers think brands need to work harder to create a seamless experience.
The experts tip: Make sure you pay attention to your API to ensure it supports the omnichannel experience.
The easier you connect your customer to your brand and the services they need, the better your customer experience will be, and the longer their loyalty to your brand will last.
Customer experience will define brands
We all know that customer experience is and continues to be a major concern for all brands, but there’s an increased level of need for this in today’s digital world. Your customer experience is how individuals feel connected to your brand get to know you. In their minds, they have a standard in terms of what they expect from you, and if you fail to meet these expectations, customers will not value or trust your brand.
To establish a greater level of customer experience, conference speakers recommend creating a seamless user experience across all touchpoints. How? Put more focus on simplicity. There’s no need to make things more complicated than they should.
By focusing on these two areas, and more, you’ll develop the type of relationship you want to have with your customers and get to know and understand them better.