New research from BAI has revealed the top trends and challenges for banks in 2022, providing important insights into what is and isn’t working for consumers. From changes to how consumers interact with their banks to their desire for cryptocurrency to be an option, there are a range of areas finance brands can improve upon to generate leads and retain clients. While this report is specific to the banking sector, all finance brands can take away key information that they can replicate in their own marketing strategy. So, what are the banking trends and challenges for 2022 and how can your finance brand improve?
Banking trends: what consumers want
The banking trends for 2022 are focused on two key areas; cryptocurrency and channel transformations.
More consumers are asking that cryptocurrency become an accepted payment option, yet 78% of banks have no plans to do this. If your bank isn’t yet ready to incorporate crypto as part of your services, it’s worthwhile including it in your content marketing strategy. Research by The Dubs and Dianomi found while cryptocurrency made up 18.25% of investors’ global search volumes, only 2.96% of global asset managers published content about it.
While cryptocurrency used to be only for Reddit forums or X threads, it’s now something the everyday investor wants to learn more about. This information gap offers a prime opportunity for your finance brand to provide reliable and trustful content consumers are demanding, helping you to form meaningful connections with interested investors.
How consumers are interacting with your finance brand is also changing. BAI has noted that banks are experiencing a channel transformation, where consumers are reducing their preference for in-person experiences for online ones. In fact, branch channel usage dropped from 20% to 19% between 2020 and 2021 with this trend continuing into 2022.
“ “Improving the customer digital experience is the top business challenge
for financial services organisations, and their top investment priority, too.”- BAI, 2022 ”
What this means is that your online and digital presence must continue to improve to ensure your clients remain satisfied. Ensure every interaction a consumer has with your brand on any channel is a positive one. This means employing customer service and chatbots across your social channels to help provide quick fixes to clients’ everyday problems. Additionally, providing relevant content that provides value to your target audience can help you to generate and nurture leads, pushing clients through the customer acquisition funnel.
Banking challenges: what isn’t working
Overall, banks are finding it challenging to meet customer expectations and improve the overall customer experience. According to BAI, there remains a mismatch in priorities when it comes to what consumers want and what banks are prioritising. By focusing on providing what consumers are demanding, your finance brand has more opportunities to deliver an exceptional overall customer experience both in-store and digitally.
Here are the top three areas finance brands should improve to meet consumers’ expectations, according to the report by BAI:
- Improve the omnichannel experience – The goal of an omnichannel strategy should be for customers to be able to flick between platforms without fear that the financial institution will lose their journey and have a positive interaction at every touchpoint. Providing exceptional customer service and relevant content across all social channels will improve your omnichannel marketing.
- Provide customisable solutions to consumers’ problems – It’s the era of personalisation and it’s time your finance brand jumped on board. Not every solution is appropriate for every consumer, and it’s important your finance brand can deliver relevant and personalised solutions to everyday customer problems.
- Provide financial education – Consumers want educational content from their finance brands. With most consumers today feeling financially stressed, delivering educational content can build loyalty and trust by helping them build better money management tools. In fact, 47% of consumers believe it’s their bank’s duty to help them make better financial decisions.
As BAI reports, “Improving the customer digital experience is the top business challenge
for financial services organisations, and their top investment priority, too”.
What can your finance brand learn from this?
Identifying the challenges and trends in banking can not only benefit banks but all finance brands. Delivering content that provides value on topics your clients want is a clear way to build meaningful connections with interested consumers. Identify what topics you’re not delivering content on that your target audience is demanding.
With the continued digitisation of financial services in addition to the habit changes COVID created, it’s never been more important to prioritise your digital services. Building a great omnichannel marketing experience alongside personalised solutions and educational content can ensure your brand effectively generates and nurtures leads.
