Personalización en la banca digital

Opinion piece from Moneythor CEO, Olivier Berthier

When done correctly, personalisation in digital banking can increase customer engagement, reduce support costs and drive real revenue. Technologies like AI and advanced data-analytics are making personalisation possible and financial institutions around the world are putting their best foot forward as they implement personalisation strategies.

While the benefits are obvious and the implementation possible, data-driven personalisation still comes with its challenges. It is a fine balancing act between embracing data analytics, behavioural science and respecting customer preferences, which can be difficult for techies at times.

In my experience, it is when you focus too much on the technology and forget about the customers and their behaviours, that you run into problems implementing effective personalisation strategies. Practitioners like us have sometimes learned the hard way that the customer must be at the centre of personalisation initiatives and financial institutions (and fintechs) must not get carried away with data analytics, fancy machine learning models and technology at the expense of a meaningful experience for the end user.

At Moneythor, we follow a simple checklist to make sure that data-driven personalisation delivered by our software is being implemented effectively. This checklist has become crucial to guarantee that our banking and fintech clients see strong results and more importantly that their customers enjoy a positive personalised experience.

 

 

• Transparencia

Consumers and businesses want a better digital banking experience and are generally happy for their data to be used to get it, but only if they have visibility over how this data is being used. Without context and background, personalised content can seem out of place even if technically true according to your underlying machine learning model. By being transparent with the data used to power notifications and alerts, financial institutions can not only build confidence and trust amongst their customers, but it will lead to higher engagement as customers will interact more with a notification when they understand why they are being shown it.

 

• Pertinencia

All customers are unique. Their spending and saving habits are different as are the ways they interact with financial institutions. Customers want to know that you understand their individual needs and wants and by showing them relevant content you can do just that.

When used intelligently, data allows banks and fintech firms to create unique contextual experiences which can grab and hold a user’s attention, generating engagement and loyalty towards a financial brand.

 

• Privacidad

Customers expect curated experiences which are personalised and valuable, while at the same time they are increasingly skeptical about how their data is being used and cautious about giving it away. There is a fine line between knowing about your customers and being creepy or making them feel as though you are spying on them. Respecting privacy both in the eyes of regulators and the customer are key to making customers satisfied with how their data is being used while enhancing the user experience.

 

• Control

Customers should feel like at every point that they have the choice and control to decide how their experience is personalised. Engage in feedback with them and let them decide what content they enjoy seeing and what content they don’t. Establishing feedback loops gives customers control over their experience and helps financial institutions figure out which content works, and which content doesn’t.

 

• Localización

Entregar el mensaje correcto en el momento y lugar adecuados es fundamental para las estrategias de personalización. Adaptar el contenido que se muestra a los clientes en función de su idioma, afinidad cultural y ubicación es clave para lograr experiencias sólidas, incluso aquellas que implican marketing contextual o promoción de ofertas comerciales.

 

• Consultivo

La forma en que se presenta el contenido y el tono de voz que se utiliza afectarán la eficacia del mismo. Se espera que el contenido que aparece en los canales bancarios agregue valor intrínseco a la forma en que los clientes administran sus finanzas, como por ejemplo, aconsejándoles si deben o no realizar una compra. El uso de la personalización exclusivamente para el contenido de marketing en frío no tendrá tan buenos resultados y, con el tiempo, provocará la frustración de los clientes.

 

• Regulación

Si bien esto puede parecer obvio, cuando se trata de utilizar análisis de datos, personalización y estímulos, es importante que cualquier iniciativa que se implemente se encuentre dentro de los límites de cualquier marco regulatorio local, por lo que debe asegurarse de cumplir con las regulaciones establecidas en sus geografías relevantes. Un elemento particular al que debe prestar atención es lo que se considera "asesoramiento financiero" en la jurisdicción local.

So, that is our checklist for personalising customer experiences in digital banking. When data is used intelligently to provide relevant and personalised messages, the entire user experience with financial institutions can be transformed. Relationships between customers and their banks can go from purely transactional to relational, helping banks to stay relevant and increase digital engagement.

 
Blog post updated September 2020