When financial situations get challenging, consumers need to feel supported by their financial institution or they’ll start searching elsewhere. When asked, 66% of consumers believe their financial institution should understand their unique needs and expectations, but only 27% feel their needs are actually being met. That leaves a large percentage of accountholders that could be looking for a new go-to financial institution.
But with competition in the financial services arena getting tougher and fragile liquidity ratios across the industry, how can financial institutions turn this potential disruption into opportunities for engagement?
If we learned anything from market trends over the last 20+ years, it’s that focusing on acquiring new consumers, retaining existing relationships, and expanding wallet share are key components to building a solid strategy that adds value to your consumers, and your bottom line.
Listen to Lauren Snow, Director, Business Consulting Practice MeridianLink and Joseph Mearn, Director, Product Management MeridianLink talk more about what financial institutions can do to increase deposits in times of uncertainty.
Acquisition
If consumers believe a financial institution has their best interest in mind, they’ll be more likely to consider you their primary financial services provider. They may even let their friends, family members, and colleagues know how happy they’ve been with their experience—building even more opportunities for acquisition. To generate that lasting first impression, start by creating a frictionless experience for those looking to open an account at your institution and then offer best-in-class, competitive products and services.
MeridianLink® Opening, part of the MeridianLink® One platform, allows consumers to open accounts quickly and efficiently. The fully digital end-to-end experience integrates with a variety of identity verification tools that support FIs in reaching people who may traditionally not have access to their institution, ultimately leading to new deposit opportunities.
Retention
Consumer retention is an investment, and it’s one that can provide great returns if financial institutions take the time to better understand what consumers need and create efficient, accessible, convenient products and services tailored to each financial situation. Use data-driven insights to identify opportunities, like maturing deposits, so you can be proactive and prevent those balances from walking out the door to your competitors for better rates.
MeridianLink® Engage, the marketing automation component of our multi-product platform, empowers institutions to efficiently and effectively build personalized campaigns to deliver products and services that speak to the individual consumers’ financial needs.
Expanded Share of Wallet
Increasing share of wallet is your opportunity to evolve alongside your consumers and build on those relationships. This could take the form of simply setting up direct deposit, online banking and BillPay services, or making sure they activate and use their debit card for increased point of sale spending. Or it could look like a new mortgage for a first-time homeowner, a line of credit, investment opportunities to meet a savings goal, or buying a car. It’s all about promoting financial well-being at every stage of the consumers’ financial lives.
No matter the economic situation, consumers expect support from their financial institutions, and FIs need to be equipped to provide the services that meet the unique needs of their consumers.
Learn more data-driven strategies to help grow deposits and increase consumer loyalty with our eBook.
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