In recent years, changing consumer expectations have driven a seismic shift in the financial landscape. With an increasing demand for digital solutions from across generations, financial institutions have risen to the challenge, providing consumers with digital tools that offer convenient and secure ways to manage their finances. Consequently, it’s important to create awareness and educate consumers on the value of these solutions, encouraging utilization of the digital banking capabilities consumers are seeking.
Digital engagement is not just a buzzword; it drives business revenue.
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According to our recent study conducted with Boeing Employees’ Credit Union (BECU), digitally engaged consumers generate 45% higher net profit and carry 30% higher deposit balances than those who are not digitally engaged with their financial institutions. Another study highlights that 39% of digitally engaged consumers exclusively use mobile banking, leaving ample room for expanding the adoption of other digital banking capabilities through the mobile channel.
How can financial institutions, creatively incentivize consumers to embrace these digital solutions?
One effective approach is through charitable giving campaigns.
How Charitable Giving Campaigns Work
Charitable giving campaigns provide consumers with a unique opportunity to give back and make a positive impact while managing day to day finances, such as paying bills, transferring funds, and making P2P payments. Typically, a charitable donation is made for every transaction completed, up to a predefined total amount. Some campaigns enhance the appeal by incorporating a sweepstakes component, where each transaction earns customers an entry to win prizes.
Factors for Driving a Successful Campaign
To guarantee the success of a charitable campaign, a comprehensive approach is paramount. First, understanding the audience demographic and unique needs is a foundational step, as customized, targeted marketing is more likely to effectively engage and retain consumers. When a campaign effectively aligns with an institution’s core values and the messages are relevant and resonant with the audience, it fosters a more meaningful connection. Choosing to support causes with which an institution shares community ties, or those already championed by the institution, can increase the campaign’s overall impact.
To maintain lasting relevance and keep the audience engaged, strategically aligning campaigns with seasonal themes is another invaluable strategy. Campaigns can span the entire year, including the holidays, spring cleaning, and back-to-school, and encompass an extensive selection of product options, such as bill pay, auto pay, transfers, mobile card management, and person-to-person (P2P) payments such as Zelle®.
The Value of Charitable Giving Campaigns
Charitable giving campaigns serve as vital catalysts for financial institutions, driving customer engagement while making a positive impact in the community. Among the success stories that underscore this significance, financial institutions that participated in the 2022 ‘Season of Giving & Receiving’ campaign with Fiserv experienced up to a 49% increase in engagement with digital solutions while generating significant donations for the charity Good 360.
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Regions Bank, one of the nation’s largest full-service banking, wealth management and mortgage product providers, has seen consistent success with charitable giving campaigns, running several such marketing campaigns from 2019-2023. These community-focused campaigns, which encouraged bill payments, account transfers, and P2P payments, made a significant impact. There were impressive increases in active users and transaction volumes during these campaigns, along with a reduction in dormant users and improvement in new user retention. Additionally, these campaigns successfully engaged traditionally hard-to-reach demographic groups; for example, 29% of new bill pay users during the campaigns were millennials, a demographic known for typically lower bill pay adoption. Since 2019, Region Banks’ charitable giving campaigns have raised nearly $300,000 for Children’s of Alabama and for the Mike Slive Foundation for prostate cancer research.
The Impact of Charitable Giving Campaigns on Consumers
Charitable giving campaigns help build product awareness and excitement among consumers. They not only encourage giving back but also offer a chance to explore new financial tools and discover solutions that enhance their daily financial lives. Beyond increasing product adoption and usage, these campaigns strengthen a financial institution’s brand identity and client relationships. Campaigns tied to philanthropic causes have the potential to build goodwill and enhance an institution’s reputation, fostering a stronger sense of loyalty.
Charitable giving campaigns can level the playing field for smaller financial institutions that might not have a dedicated marketing team, providing access to new capabilities and creative materials. Marketing campaigns should be an integral part of a broader marketing and communication strategy to ensure ongoing awareness and education about digital features.
By fostering a sense of purpose, togetherness, and excitement, charitable giving campaigns can help financial institutions build enduring consumer relationships while driving digital product adoption.
[To share your insights with us, please write to sghosh@martechseries.com]
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