Category: Financial Brands

Financial Brand Loyalty Marketing: It’s All About Gratification

Financial brand loyalty marketing: It’s all about gratification

Instant. Constant. Consistent. Paving the way for true top-line growth

Grace Alexander

MarTech Blogger | May 4, 2022


Loyalty marketing for financial brands can be a tricky thing. Banks are inherently distrusted by one set of consumers, typically younger generations who view them as self-serving and unsupportive of their goals. In contrast, fintechs are given the side-eye by older generations who value longevity and a track record over digitized, mobile-first interactions.

Both sets of consumers want a financial brand experience driven by transparency and a clear motive to gratify their needs and wants. Whether they are traditional banking institutions or budding fintechs just getting a foothold, brands that achieve this will be able to drive top-line growth and lasting, active, and engaged brand loyalty.

Properly done, financial brand loyalty marketing boosts earnings, increases sales, and enables long-term expansion. A well-planned and implemented loyalty and rewards program can assist you in retaining existing customers, attracting new customers, and growing revenues. This happens through last-mile engagements, which can rise by 12 times with a modern and tech-driven program.

Brand Stickiness vs. Brand Loyalty

Any brand that caters effectively to the needs of its customers enjoys some level of free customer stickiness and retention because switching brands — especially financial brands — can be a hassle.

However, most brands take this free element and don’t build on it to lasting advantage. For example, banks have incredibly high customer stickiness, but very few implement effective customer engagement marketing to transform that stickiness into true brand loyalty.

On the other hand, fintechs may be knocking it out of the park when it comes to customer engagement, but haven’t sufficiently aligned their messaging and brand loyalty marketing to lock in their more fickle customers and make them truly stick in the face of an ever-expanding market of options.

Instant Gratification in Your Bank Loyalty Program

Today’s banking customer expects and demands instant gratification at each touchpoint. You can leverage these opportunities by providing instant gratification, so that interacting with your financial brand becomes a normalized part of your customer’s lifestyle.

The rewards offered at these interactions should be flexible to provide customer choice and match each consumer with a personalized bonus. In addition, these instant rewards should be visible to other members of the person’s social circle, keeping the brand top of mind and providing a positive incentive to come back and earn more.

Account opening

Customers want instant access to benefits, from a ready-to-use ATM, debit, or credit card to loan application and line of credit options.

  • Potential reward: An instant large reward (a one-time reward for each account opened, the scale of which may vary based on the opening deposit amount.)
Account balance checks

Customers expect instant information without jumping through hoops to access their accounts and repeatedly prove who they are.

  • Potential reward: A token or bonus reward if over a certain balance (a recurring reward, given every day checked, the amount may vary based on target balance tiers.)
Account transactions

Customers desire the ability to complete a deposit, transfer, or bill payment instantly and receive real-time confirmations and notifications.

  • Potential reward: An instant reward given when a predetermined milestone is hit (a recurring reward, given every time a new milestone is achieved, the amount may vary based on milestone type and size.)
Set up direct deposit

Customers want to take advantage of time-saving benefits and receive their reward (typically a discount on bank fees or a cash bonus) right away without waiting for 30, 90 or 120 days.

  • Potential reward: An instant reward is given when a new direct deposit is set up (a one-time reward for each direct deposit, the size of which may vary based on the average deposit amount.)
Check or cash deposits

Customers demand instant availability of funds without waiting for them to clear. This includes funds from regularly scheduled, automated deposits that fall on weekends or holidays.

  • Potential reward: A token or bonus reward every time a deposit over a certain amount is made (a recurring reward, the amount may vary based on the amount of the deposit)
Referrals

Customers want immediate rewards for “helping their brand out” by referring other people who become customers as part of a customer loyalty scheme.

  • Potential reward: A large instant reward (a one-time reward for each successful referral, the amount may vary based on the type of account opened or amount of initial deposit.)

These interactions provide the ability to add touchpoints to an ongoing customer journey and provide instant gratification as part of a customer rewards and brand loyalty program.

Constant Gratification in Brand Loyalty Marketing

Don’t drop the ball. You have your customers’ attention, and the way to keep it is through constant, consistent reiteration.

The customer journey is ongoing

You can’t depend on “set and forget” vanity programs that simply count shares and likes. Every time you have the chance to reach out to a customer, whether it’s to congratulate them on hitting a new milestone or encouraging them to complete a journey leg, you need to take it.

The customer journey is unique.

Personalized experiences require constant monitoring, tracking and check-ins to drive additional opportunities for engagement, and data analysis to ensure you are providing ultimate rewards customers actually want to collect.

The customer experience should be fun!

Add gamification for an even more engaged customer base. You don’t have to build everything in-house to develop customer experience ecosystems with which your customers will love to interact.

Consistent Gratification in Customer Engagement Marketing

Banking customers are discerning and aware. Customer loyalty systems and rewards programs that aren’t consistent will soon be dismissed. It’s a big mistake to offer a 100-point incentive for an action one time, then offer half the incentive a few months later. Be consistent, and constantly improve and expand.

How Perx Drives Bank and Fintech Brand Loyalty Marketing Via Experiences

The Perx Loyalty and Engagement Platform (LMP) transforms how banks and fintechs engage with their customers, and helps you instantly, constantly and consistently provide gratification through personalized experiences and rewards.

With this platform, you can maintain customer engagement marketing as you scale, bringing in new business and retaining high-value customers while driving revenue-generating actions. It allows you to:

  • Prevent waste associated with legacy brand-building and marketing.
  • Make the customer journey frictionless, instantly gratifying and socially viral.
  • Provide rewarding experiences that drive real revenue and keep brands top of mind.
  • Create a seamless and gratifying online to offline customer experience.
  • Automate processes so loyalty processes can evolve with minimum time and labor.
  • Design programs that allow legacy organizations to compete with mobile-first and digital-first financial brands.

Your financial customers are waiting to be wowed by your commitment. Are you ready to take your brand loyalty marketing to the next level? Ask for our free demo today.

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Does Your Customer Loyalty Program Need Resuscitation

Does your customer loyalty program need resuscitation?

How to keep your brand loyalty initiative from gasping its last breath

Grace Alexander

MarTech Blogger | April 26, 2022


Brand loyalty may not be dead, but it’s barely clinging to life. Maintaining customer retention and growth is ultimately down to how well your brand manages hygiene when it comes to customer engagement. Being able to engineer the customer journey with seamless transitions from touchpoint to touchpoint combined with meaningful rewards and continual opportunities for further engagement is key.

Traditional loyalty programs are where customer relationships go to die

Many traditional customer loyalty programs in use today are glorified ledgers. They:

Serve as not much more than a records keeper

Customers have advanced beyond being satisfied with mere point-tracking systems. Adding points as they are earned and deducting them as they are spent or redeemed is like logging blood pressure without doing anything about whether it’s low or high.

Aren’t clear about the worth of points to the customer

Lack of transparency about how much points are worth and what they can be spent on or redeemed for is comparable to giving a patient in crisis instructions for care in Latin — it’s unhelpful, to say the least.

Bury rewards and benefits so they aren’t easily accessible

Programs that keep information about rewards and benefits hidden away in an obscure page on their website can be almost pointless. That’s like prescribing medicine but hiding the bottle.

Don’t drive constant customer engagement

Not focusing on constant, continual customer engagement is as helpful as telling a patient to eat light during annual festivities but not bothering to remind them to take their daily medication.

Don’t nudge or track customer actions aside from when a point is earned or spent

Customer loyalty programs that only become active when the customer initiates contact and then goes dead again are similar to a pacemaker that doesn’t kick in until someone turns blue.

Don’t provide additional ways to incentivize the customer

Suppose your loyalty program isn’t coming up with new ways to get your customer motivated about interacting. In that case, you may as well call the time and sign the certificate because the slow death of your relationship has arrived.

Don’t build additional loyalty

Customer loyalty is like a barometer of health. If you aren’t doing regular checkups and making it easy for them to see you on-demand, you might find their loyalty DOA.

Deliver poor results and poor ROI

Not tracking metrics and analyzing the results of your customer loyalty program compares to sending off their samples to the lab and never bothering to follow up. Who wants to wait around forever? By the time you check back, your customers will be gone, gone, gone.

Modern loyalty programs breathe new life into customer interactions

When appropriately designed and implemented well, customer loyalty programs can become the primary driver of your customer engagement, growth, and retention initiatives. A great customer loyalty program will:

Build a tribe of loyal customers

The constant attention and care you show will create a strong relationship between you and your customers — and they’ll reciprocate with word-of-mouth accolades, resulting in holistic referral marketing.

Continually set customers up for yet another touchpoint

When you do repeated follow-ups that provide gratification and brand value realization, customers become more likely than ever to be receptive to your recommendations and advice. It’s almost like going to a doctor that treats you like a family member.

Build highly active customer journeys

Making your customer’s journey feel more like one long-lasting interaction instead of isolated events is how you become a necessary part of their everyday lives. So make sure you’re delivering an ongoing experience studded with actions and rewards to engage them further and keep the brand/customer relationship in good health.

Present personalized experiences

A patient who realizes that their doctor never learns their name quickly finds a new provider. Making sure your customer loyalty program makes every member feel special with tailored experiences and customized rewards will encourage them to make and keep regular appointments with your brand.

Clearly present the “why” of belonging to your program

The customer only turns to an “urgent care” version of a loyalty program when they hope to get some fast help. That initial reward for signing up can be a much-needed shot in the arm, but don’t forget to hand out the brochures that explain your point worth, benefits, and rewards to drive repeated customer actions.

Engage customers on a level that impacts their lifestyle

Patients who aren’t invested in their health tend to eat better and walk around the block for a few days after a doctor visit, then give up. You need a program that sets a reminder to keep walking daily, suggests healthy recipes, and offers a free meditation suggestion they can access at bedtime every night.

Perx transforms customer loyalty programs into lifestyle augmenting tools

Are your customer relationships clutching their chests and gasping for air? You need help, stat. Don’t sit by and monitor the situation while it bleeds out on the floor. Instead, take steps to proactively address the bond between brand and customer and extend its lifespan for years to come.

The Perx Loyalty and Engagement Platform (LMP) changes how your customer loyalty program impacts customers. With Perx Platform, You can:

  • Power customer interactions with constant opportunities.
  • Increase customer retention by providing an ongoing journey.
  • Enhance customer engagement by tracking customers and leveraging extra opportunities.
  • Improve customer loyalty with highly personalized experiences.
  • Maximize referral marketing opportunities by turning customers into brand ambassadors.
  • Reduce your customer acquisition cost and maximize lifetime value (LTV).

It’s time to invest in a customer loyalty program with endless potential for personalization and the capability to develop endless customer journeys packed with actions, rewards and enjoyment. Perx helps you turn your brand loyalty system into lifestyle augmentation tools that keep customers active, engaged, and constantly watching for the next opportunity to play, win, save or be surprised with your next communication or offering.

Are you ready to do more than put a bandaid on your customer relationships? Request a free demo today.

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Global businesses have driven over 5 billion customer-brand interactions on Perx.

Ready to join them?