Providing consumers with their credit scores is table stakes in consumer banking. Now, banks and credit unions need to take this further by assessing where and when consumers are coming back — and how to ultimately use this information to foster deeper relationships and grow new products.
Enter Array.
Jacob Bouer, Director of Sales and Strategic Partnerships at Array, joins us to break down the concepts banks and credit unions need to understand to get the most out of new credit technologies and partnering.
The journey to providing the next best action
Promoting all lending products across the entire client base is ineffective and promoting products that don’t apply to customers can result in a detached and frustrated audience. A generalist approach can squash conversion and damage customer relationships.
Array has approached this problem by accessing and analyzing data points to provide the next best action for consumers.
Rather than creating products without foundation or simply assuming products are what customers need, Array has focused on establishing a solid positioning for each product offered. This laser-specific approach requires research and intention.
Consumers can be categorized by habits, needs and patterns. These categories are shaped by defining personas based on consumer needs and characteristics.
In addition, understanding where a consumer is in their financial journey can clarify the products that may be a better fit. The journey to providing the next best step based on data points and categorization is the foundation of creating a relevant and personalized experience for each consumer.
Offering relevancy and personalization in data
Credit scores are more easily accessible than ever before. In fact, consumers often now expect to have access to their credit scores through their digital banking system.
While credit score access and explanation have become commonplace and expected, in-app data requirements and expectations are steadily increasing. As a result, simple score provision is no longer adequate, according to Bouer.
By providing various data points and answering specific questions, a digital banking institution can better meet the needs of its consumers. Not only will this increase the odds of product conversion, but it will also shift the client experience.
When consumers feel they are being adequately served and the information they receive is relevant to their life, habits and needs, they are more likely to click an ad, start a conversation, or reach out for support.
Ultimately, providing consumer credit scores is no longer enough to create a cohesive and satisfying experience. Instead, credit scores should serve as a jumping point for digital banking services and work to gather specific data for sharpening relevancy and personalization in package offerings and promotions.
Engagement as the end-all value measure
Engagement is the most meaningful measure of value in digital banking apps. By boosting user engagement, Fintechs can capture more data points and increasingly personalize products and offerings for each persona. It is essential to increase engagement as organically as possible without overwhelming the user with too much information.
Bringing it all together
In the end, these factors are all interrelated.
Creating an environment where the customers can be engaged and interested helps establish more robust data points. These data points then provide a basis for analyzing gathered information and allow customers to be categorized based on wants, needs and habits. Finally, the establishment of personas helps fintech to target ideal customers better with a repeatable and automated system.
Each system ultimately benefits each customer's financial literacy and health on a personalized level while increasing the likelihood of product conversion.
