By Cassidy Jachcinski
More than 10,000 attendees, including Competiscan, traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada to attend the four-day Money 20/20 event in late October. Thought leaders, decision-makers, and influencers gathered at fintech’s #1 show to learn about the latest fintech news and innovations. This year’s theme, Human X Machine, sparked my curiosity as I sat in on sessions and learned how that can relate to marketing. Throughout the event, a common thread emerged, emphasizing the importance of centering on the customer and enhancing the overall customer experience. Read along as I share more about the key areas of focus and marketing lessons learned during Money 20/20.
Understanding the Customer
To genuinely understand customer needs, financial institutions must recognize consumer expectations and adjust to the varying generational perspectives on credit and banking. Trust, safety, and personal connections play a crucial role for most customers when considering their banking relationships. Currently, capturing the attention of younger customers represents the largest area of opportunity. To effectively engage this group, it is essential to communicate with intention, tailor approaches to their specific needs rather than relying on generic messages, and ensure that transactions are straightforward, convenient, and quick. Beyond merely meeting their expectations, today’s financial institutions are exploring ways to support customers in a more meaningful and impactful manner. Notably, only about 25% of Gen Z consumers consider themselves financially literate. By educating them on how to access credit, financial institutions can foster a more knowledgeable consumer base, ultimately enhancing the entire credit ecosystem.
Financial wellness tools are increasingly seen as essential for consumers to effectively manage their finances. Recently, BMO launched the BMO Real Financial Process Hub, equipping customers with resources to achieve their financial goals. This educational hub offers advice and insights on various financial topics, including spending, saving, borrowing, and planning. By implementing such initiatives, financial institutions can better meet customer expectations and strengthen loyalty. Financial institutions that prioritize educational initiatives demonstrate their commitment to customer success, which resonates strongly with both younger and older generations alike.
Removing Friction
A recurring theme of the event was “friction” and its impact on customer experience and loyalty. To elevate the customer experience, companies are continually working to remove the friction from payments and other transactional procedures. To do this, companies need to understand the consumer’s pain points, educate their customers, and/or find a solution to improve the process. One way the Golden State Warriors are trying to improve their payment systems is by sending out post-event surveys, asking attendees how their experience was after every event according to Daniel Brusilovsky, VP, of Technology for the Golden State Warriors. This initiative provides insights into customer perception of the payment processes and highlights changes that need to be made. Creating frictionless payments ensures patrons get back to their event faster and helps the venue earn more money. By continually gathering and analyzing feedback, organizations can identify specific areas for improvement and implement targeted solutions that enhance the overall customer experience. This proactive approach not only addresses existing pain points but also anticipates future challenges, fostering a more seamless interaction between customers and businesses. Competiscan observes a steady flow of marketing campaigns promoting enhanced features aimed at reducing friction. The campaigns use keywords like “faster,” “streamlined” or “simplified” to describe the benefits. For example, TD Bank promoted an easier way to view bills, Citibank revamped its entire banking solution now known as “Simplified banking,” and PayPal encouraged customers to use a passkey instead of a password for a faster more secure login.
Paze
The new online checkout experience, Paze, was another buzzing topic, particularly in relation to eliminating friction. Friction during an online payment experience leads to cart abandonment, according to Catherine Murchie, Head of Operations at Paze. Murchie cited that 70% of consumers have reported abandoning an online shopping cart within the last year. By introducing an alternative online payment option, Paze hopes to create a new standard for digital transactions, ensuring that both businesses and consumers benefit from a frictionless payment experience. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, solutions like Paze will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of commerce, where ease of use and security are paramount. In recent months, partnering banks of Paze have offered bonus incentives to drive
adoption ahead of the peak shopping season.
The in-store experience also matters. Long lines at brick-and-mortar stores can cause friction, often leading to customers leaving the store before they can check out. Delphine Herve, CFO of Sephora, shared the ways they are changing the shopping experience to create a frictionless in-store experience. With store employees carrying tap-to-pay machines, they stay with customers throughout their shopping journey, allowing them to check out on the spot. This innovation eliminates long lines and point of sale systems, freeing up space for more products to flourish. This shift towards frictionless retail is a testament to the importance of understanding and addressing customer pain points. By prioritizing ease of use and efficiency, retailers can create environments that are not only more enjoyable but also more profitable. As the retail landscape continues to evolve, innovations like these will be crucial in setting new standards for customer-centric
shopping experiences.
Use of AI to Improve Customer Experience
Financial institutions are increasingly embracing AI as a means to enhance the customer experience, freeing up the time of customer service agents to better address customers’ needs while utilizing AI chatbots for simpler queries. In a podcast session, Laura Miller, the Executive VP of Strategy & Digital at Frost Bank, shared insights into how the bank is harnessing AI to craft a “People-First Experience.” Frost Bank emphasizes the human touch in AI, striving to “take the hype out of it.” Rather than merely deploying a chatbot for quick answers, the bank utilizes AI as a tool to empower its agents, enabling them to engage in deeper, more meaningful conversations that truly resonate with customers’ needs.
Cleo recently improved its AI with new features to provide easier ways to manage money. Features included: personalized insights, smarter conversations, spending challenges, and savings. Cleo’s AI helps it provide a personalized experience to the customer and gets the customer involved with their bank account. This approach encourages users to actively participate in their financial journey, making them feel more connected and in control. By offering tailored advice and interactive challenges, Cleo enhances user engagement and fosters a sense of accomplishment as customers meet their financial goals. Such advancements in AI not only streamline processes but also build trust and loyalty by demonstrating a genuine understanding of individual customer needs.
Meanwhile, in October Better Mortgage announced the “first Voice-Based AI Loan Assistant” named Betsy. The tagline used on the landing page for Betsy states “We made home loans easy. Betsy makes them effortless.” Notably, audio demonstrations were provided on the landing page to show customers or prospects how they can interact with Betsy.
Closing Thoughts
As these topics and marketing examples illustrate, financial institutions remain focused on leveraging modern technology to simplify everyday banking tasks and increase efficiency, while also providing services and experiences that are more personalized and enriching. This balance between human and machine interaction is key to redefining customer service in the digital age, ensuring that customers feel valued and understood in every interaction.