Community banks are the connoisseurs of their local community. They’ve fostered personal relationships with their customers, understand the needs of their local residents, and are on a first-name basis with much of their clientele. Community banks donate to local charities and are more willing to go out on a limb to support the dreams of neighborhood business owners. It’s a recipe that works—community banks reign over national behemoths when it comes to customer satisfaction. While they continue to set the pace for white glove, in-person service, tech-savvy institutions are blazing the new trail towards digital using the powerful technology of hyper-personalization.
What is hyper-personalization?
Tear a page out of the traditional mega-bank marketing playbook and you’ll find an arms race of advertising: expensive ad buys luring customers with generic, aspirational messages about the bright future of their financial security. Whether a customer was interested in a small business loan or a home mortgage, banks inundated all customers with the same exact messaging. Hyper-personalization bucks the all-for-one messaging trend and uses technology to create more one-to-one conversations. By utilizing real-time data and tools like artificial intelligence, banks can hone in on a customer’s precise needs. Instead of treating a customer like a faceless member of a larger cohort, you can use technology to provide tailor-made products curated to their specific customer’s preferences. Combined with their relationship mastery, community banks can be a rainmaker of online experiences.
How is hyper-personalization different from traditional marketing?
Businesses across all industries have felt the consequence of years of plugging one-size-fits-all marketing initiatives. Advertisers jam-packed the airwaves with lists of miles-long options—after all, isn’t more always better? Instead (as revealed in 2010’s , customers experienced the opposite. The more options offered, the more inconvenient the process became, and the more hesitant they were to make a choice. Most times, overwhelmed customers refused to make a purchase all together. To combat the problem of “choice paralysis,” tech-savvy banks and businesses turned to the practice of hyper-personalization to create a more convenient and streamlined buying journey. By only offering a unique list of products or services relevant to that specific customer, marketers can achieve . Community banks have an unbeatable competitive advantage over national conglomerates when it comes to wielding the power of hyper-personalization. While larger banks clamor to find ways to connect with their customer base on a more personal level, community banks are already armed with the most powerful weapon—the human touch. Let’s dive into the many ways your community bank can use hyper-personalization to outbeat larger competitors and grow your customer base.
