Today, customers’ expectations of banks have gone beyond conventional financial needs, and the future of new customer acquisition in banking requires rethinking past paradigms and adopting new approaches. Here are five proven customer acquisition strategies to help you generate valuable returns, reduce acquisition costs, and bring in more customers.
1. Increase visibility on social media
Having a high-quality social media presence is a must. Social media presence allows banks to increase customer touchpoints and build relationships through branding, customer satisfaction, and value-added content. Some examples are sharing free content on financial planning, responding to social media chats, or sharing stories of bank tellers and loan lenders talking about customer experiences. Your bank can also share behind-the-scenes photos to showcase staff, community events, special events, and branch photos. This type of content will prove the strength of your brand and community by being transparent and authentic.
2. Become a master at managing reviews
Online reviews impact your search engine performance, shape your brand reputation, and determine your ability to win new customers. Moreover, customers are more likely to believe other customers’ experiences when they decide to use your services. Therefore, your bank must start managing online reviews. Begin requesting consumer reviews on the top three review sites — Google, Facebook, and Yelp. At the same time, respond to both positive feedback and negative reviews. Responses to reviews are seen and considered by prospects and customers. Responding is even more crucial for negative reviews. You can use the public response to recognize the issue, show that you hear them, and then provide the customer with the best way to contact a representative to resolve anything further.
3. Understand the multichannel experience
For a banking customer acquisition strategy to work, you must first understand which channels are most relevant to your target customer. Your target audience may switch from one channel to another when purchasing. For example, a new customer might learn about your services on a social media post, visit your website to learn more, and decide to call or visit your bank branch to open an account. Your bank can effectively drive customer acquisition by setting channel priorities and investing in infrastructure to deploy multichannel efforts.
4. Demonstrate thought leadership through content
Many bank customers are looking for better information about managing their money, insights into controlling spending, and better advice on how to be more thoughtful about saving and investing. Community banks can help bridge these gaps by offering better financial information. Your bank can use social media channels to provide industry insights and valuable information. You may also consider a series of videos on market shifts, articles or blogs on loan options, or posts on savings habits. Any non-marketing content that adds value to the customer’s experience can help your bank build trust and customer loyalty.
5. Invest in customer-centric transformation
Your bank can attract more customers without inflating acquisition costs by providing a practical, accessible, meaningful, and effortless experience. Your entire organization – from the C-suite to the frontline – must focus on becoming more customer-centric. Your bank should be able to handle customer questions, issues, and concerns promptly and show that you care for the customers and their needs.
Conclusion
To keep up with changing customer preferences, your bank needs to build a bank customer acquisition strategy that nurtures your brand’s digital presence, enables insights from review data and feedback, and puts the customer at the forefront. At the same time, you need to be aware of each stage of the customer acquisition process. This way, you can build the right content for your customers and present it at the right stage of their journey.
Key takeaways
- Increase visibility on social media
- Become a master at managing reviews
- Understand the multichannel experience
- Demonstrate thought leadership through content
- Invest in customer-centric transformation
