With a trillion-dollar generational wealth transfer on the horizon, financial services marketers need to prepare to meet the varying needs and priorities of Gen X, Millennial and Gen Z beneficiaries.
Baby Boomers are expected to pass down trillions of dollars in wealth in the coming years, estimated to be in the mid $60’s to $90’s. The Gen X, Millennial and Gen Z heirs to this wealth may have less experience in traditional wealth management than their elders, but they will have solid yet varying priorities and goals. While the dollar amounts are impressive, these consumers will have specific wants and needs for housing, managing and growing their resources for their own heirs. Knowing what is important to them is necessary in order to create meaningful customer relationships, and key to developing a successful financial services marketing strategy.
Digital Dynamics
Digital-first will be top of mind for younger generations. With access to dynamic tools and methods for tracking and managing their portfolios, these consumers will expect much more from them, both in performance and benefits. As standard banking practices continue to morph into increasingly digitised experiences, Gen X has the benefit of understanding both worlds and can navigate a traditional analogue experience and keep pace with their Millennial and Gen Z counterparts. All three put value on seamless technology, customised suggestions and knowledge recommendations.
When you tailor a customer experience, it makes it easier for your client to make a decision about what’s best for them. Depending on what they need, an in-depth, face-to-face conversation may be exactly what’s needed. For quicker answers, a video or article from a subject matter expert provides the information they’re looking for within a fraction of the time it would take to sit down face-to-face at a brick-and-mortar establishment. Providing the options for the experience that best meets their needs best is the differentiator.
To establish those experiences, digital, marketing and creative teams have been adapting to:
- Predictive Analytics that use data to predict consumer behaviour and needs based on life stages. Think: college or high-yield savings for young families or estate planning for older families. The same for predictive planning can also be used for major life events like marriage, home buying or retirement. This function ties in hyper-personalised portfolios and risk assessments using machine learning.
- Omnichannel-Connected Experiences integrate the “in-person” advice component of service through dynamic mobile apps, chatbots and immersive video. This personalised service engages customers at any time and anywhere, on demand, delivering payment and customer service options, information, and offers in an always-on environment.
Loyalty Lifestyle
Loyalty programs are everywhere — from airlines and their partner credit cards that give frequent flyer miles and status a boost to hotel brands that tout luxury vacations, upgrades, and select tourism experiences. You name it, you can probably find it. Banking is right in the middle of this mix, and today’s marketing strategies have begun integrating partnerships between banks and lifestyle brands to offer exclusive, interconnected experiences. These connected loyalty opportunities will appeal to consumers, connecting them with the biggest brands, essentially intertwining banking with lifestyle, perks and services.
Often sculpted around “rewards”, these added benefits can include travel, fashion, redeeming points for gift items, personalised offers and discounts. Many consumers are choosing banking products that yield points for experiences like concerts, sporting events and restaurant reservations. From those big-ticket buys to the everyday needs from your neighbourhood grocery store, gas or oil change service, or favourite pharmacy chains, the opportunities to maximise banking services and retain customer loyalty continue to expand. These aren’t your parents’ loyalty programs. They’re better.
Up for the Challenge
It all sounds fantastic and as glamorous as the advertisements promise. For financial services marketers, keeping a solutions-based mindset can help position organisations to stay ahead of the challenges.
Challenges and Opportunities for Financial Services
- Compliance and data security. Privacy, data and regulatory compliance has to be front of mind. Brands want to be at the leading edge of the industry, being first with consumers, but not at the cost of putting customers at risk.
- Marketing and creative collaboration. Product, loyalty and technology teams must come together to plan for the best data capture and seamless delivery of connected experiences.
- Real-time personalisation. Delivering campaigns or offering rewards exactly when the consumer needs them is imperative. Your service is ready to go in the moment when your customer needs a solution and anticipates their questions.
- AI-automated engagement. From chatbots to hyper-personalisation, automated and data-driven functionality that learn from customer behaviour make digital wallets, websites and apps places where your customers can find exactly what they need to make financial transactions and decisions.
Engaging with generational audiences is a nuanced process and an increasingly complex one. However, engaging each of them where it matters most and in the moments when decisions are made is a new level of customer engagement and service. Engaging with generational audiences is a nuanced process and an increasingly complex one. However, engaging each of them where it matters most and in the moments when decisions are made is a new level of customer engagement and service.
To achieve this, marketing, digital and creative teams must take a more integrated approach to their martech stack and investments, working in close partnership with product and data teams.
By optimizing data capture, leveraging AI and automation, and pushing the boundaries of personalisation, brands can create more meaningful, real-time connections. Yet, as these capabilities evolve, maintaining a customer-first mindset — ensuring transparency, security and ethical use of data — will be critical in building lasting trust and loyalty.
Source: THE FINANCIAL BRAND
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