Just because mobile marketing and loyalty programs aren’t new (like AdWeek’s SocialTimes blog says here), doesn’t mean you can get away with the same old approach. As mobile and loyalty both continue to gain momentum through 2017, they’ll require fresh thinking from brands, including financial services companies. We agree with Social Times: “The strategy needs to go beyond just having an application or a stagnant loyalty program.” Thinking on other marketing fronts – such as social media and personalization – must evolve, as well.
Based on the trends noted in the SocialTimes blog post, we’ve developed this list of questions for you to consider as you re-think your financial services marketing strategy for 2017:
1. How much does data really guide your marketing decisions?
Specifically, do you leverage customer insights to improve the effectiveness of your campaigns? SocialTimes cites McKinsey & Co. data: “83% of marketers identify the ability to make data-guided decisions as one of the most important capabilities, but only 10 percent believe they are effective at feeding insights about customer behaviors back into the organization to improve performance.”
2. Do you approach content with a mobile-first mindset?
SocialTimes says now is the time to make the move toward “becoming more agile and making data real-time and actionable in the mobile-first world.”
3. Are you able to recognize the customer as one person across multiple channels and devices?
“Companies need to have a single view of online and offline systems across multiple channels so that they can build single, operational profiles for each customer. Behavioral and transactional data and syncing individual profiles will be the only way to reach customers, not through campaigns built for large masses,” says SocialTimes.
4. Have you invited customers to share personal information so that you can customize offers in real time?
According to DMNews data cited by SocialTimes, “78 percent [of consumers] are willing to allow retailers to use information from their in-store purchases to provide a more personalized experience.”
5. Are you familiar with the capabilities of machine learning to automate relevant and timely offers?
SocialTimes describes the technology this way: “By leveraging advanced analytics tools, machine learning helps brands gather predictive data, detect patterns within massive databases and thereby power predictive responses for personalized marketing automation. For example, when a customer enters the store, it can allow the brand to send a push notification at that specific moment with a relevant offer–allowing for a hyper-personalized customer journey.”
6. Do you look closely enough at social media data to create marketing opportunities?
Social platforms house a “plethora of data” beyond likes, follows and favorites. Social conversations also include insights like purchase intent and sentiment. SocialTimes identifies this opportunity for marketers: “By analyzing the social conversation across platforms, brands can respond in real-time with hyper-relevant content. For example, if there’s a spike in conversation about unseasonably warm weather in the area, a coffee chain could push a local campaign offering discounted iced beverages for the day.”
7. Is your loyalty program working as hard as it can?
Specifically, is your loyalty program rich enough to identify high-value customers, motivate behaviors tied to your business goals and deepen engagement? SocialTimes recommends the following: “With key milestones and behavior change thresholds defined, programs can offer specific rewards to customers to motivate long-term loyalty and deepen engagement. Brands and marketers can also use their data to quantitatively determine which customers are the best ones by looking at recency, frequency and spend metrics, and targeting accordingly. Each customer should have their own unique experience with individualized incentives.”