Helpful or hollow? Why every financial services message needs to prove its worth

A few weeks ago I added an employee card to one of my business credit card accounts. It was easy and seamless. Several days later my team member received the physical card in the mail with instructions on how to activate it. As is standard, there were a few options given, including doing it through the QR code on the card carrier, through the bank app, or via the phone. As is also standard the letter included marketing language about “activate now and start earning,” and the ease with which he could get started.

I’ll cut to the chase: the QR code didn’t work. The bank app implied the card didn’t even exist, forget about trying to activate it. When he finally called the bank (last resort of course) he was told that he actually didn’t need to do anything as the card was automatically already activated since it was attached to my existing card account.

So. Not. Helpful.

And this experience is hardly an isolated incident. In our Finsights study of US adults 46% of digital channel users report at least one problem, like confusing layouts or unhelpful chatbots. That means on average almost half of your audience is having an unhelpful experience. Being helpful needs to be job #1 for any financial services brand, because helpfulness engenders trust, and trust is critical to building long lasting customer relationships. And too often marketers slap hollow marketing language on experiences that simply don’t live up to their promises.

Erase the fluff

Across all industries, but especially in highly commoditized ones like financial services, brands land on language that works in certain channels, and then that becomes the anchoring communication for most touchpoints. The challenge with that approach is that different touchpoints are designed to do different things, and whomever you are trying to motivate needs different help in those moments. For example:

• I am an existing credit card customer and have a servicing need. Do I need to be reminded front and center about my card’s earn rate in the moment?
• I am deciding between different checking account options for my business. What I need is a clear understanding of the interest I can earn and deposit requirements. Do I need to see smiling business owners and fluffy language about the benefits of the accounts?

Part of the fluff factor is believing that the financial product’s product benefits are what should take center stage throughout someone’s journey, even after they’ve become a customer. That’s a false narrative as at times product details are the least helpful information we can communicate to help people accomplish their goals.

Focus on outcomes, not vanity metrics

Every marketer knows this: no single financial services product is the best answer for everyone. We need to communicate product benefits effectively and provide information and tools throughout the customer’s journey that helps explain and validate the value. I imagine you are nodding your head at this – it’s an obvious statement. So why does that not happen consistently?

One reason is that we get focused on measuring the wrong things. I’ve talked about this before but the continued use of metrics like CTR don’t let us know anything about whether the person that was motivated to click through found the help they needed once they landed on the site. So in addition to adding more meaningful metrics (like application completions) it’s also informative to look at things like usage of tools, scrolling and heatmaps, things that help us better understand what happens when our prospect is in the moment on the site, and whether we are delivering the help they need, when they need it.

Maintain the helpful filter

The fastest way to solve for this is to be ruthlessly focused when evaluating all marketing materials and experiences and ask this simple question: “Are we being helpful?” If the answer is no, you know that there is more work to be done to cut the fluff, get sharp on what helpfulness looks like for your customer in that moment, and construct the work so it delivers against that.

What to do now

A few steps you can take to start ensuring that all your communications are as helpful as possible:

• Know your audience(s). What are their pain points? Where are they in their personal financial journey, and what does helping them look like? A solid, insights-based persona can be a great foundational tool to articulate this and keep their needs front and center. A solid, insights-based persona can be a great foundational tool to articulate this and keep their needs front and center. Read more on that here.
• Get inspired by other companies…the good and the bad. Undertake competitive research to not just know what your competitors are doing, but also to see how companies outside of your space with complex audience needs are solving for that. What brands are being helpful that can inspire the right solution for your audience? What are examples of brands falling down and how do you avoid that pitfall? Learn more about the value of digital expectation research here.
• Ruthlessly look at what you have in market and in development. Bring in an outside perspective to take a hard look at how you’re helping your prospects and customers. Push hard and be honest about whether what you’re doing is truly helpful, or just hollow marketing. Undertaking a target state vision exercise can be a great first step in setting a path of true helpfulness throughout your customers’ relationship with your brand..

Being helpful isn’t the easiest path, but it is the surest to building that critical trust your prospects and customers need to have in your brand.