The older I get, the more I realize I must plan for both the expected and the unexpected.
I’ve always loved traveling, and having a trip on the calendar gives me a tangible savings goal. Still, knowing what I’m saving for doesn’t always make taking the next step easy.
Recently, while logged into my digital banking app, a relevant ad for a savings account caught my eye. The financial institution wasn’t simply promoting a product; it offered a solution to a need I already had: setting money aside. I tapped, and that simple interaction led me to open a new account.
That’s the power of personalized engagement.
Many banks and credit unions struggle here. Despite investing in digital channels, they still send generic messaging that ignores the individual needs and interests of prospective and existing accountholders. This creates an engagement gap – a disconnect between expectations and reality that leads to missed opportunities to connect, convert, and deepen relationships.
How do you know if you have an engagement gap? Watch for these five signs:
1. Your Website Delivers the Same Experience to Everyone
Most bank and credit union websites deliver the same experiences to every visitor. A first-time user researching mortgages, for example, sees the same content as an existing accountholder exploring home equity options. Offering static product recommendations and generic messaging makes it harder to guide either visitor toward the next best step. But personalized website experiences help you present more meaningful content, offers, and recommendations, increasing the likelihood that visitors engage and act.
2. Your Website and Digital Banking Experiences Are Disconnected
Accountholders don’t think in channels; they focus on getting their immediate needs met quickly. When your website and digital banking operate as separate experiences, it becomes an obstacle for users. Consider someone researching auto loans on your website. Their behavior can signal intent before they ever apply or log in. If they return later or enter digital banking, that context shouldn’t disappear. Treat each interaction as a new encounter and connect experiences across the journey, making each one more relevant and useful.
3. Your Customer Data Isn’t Driving Engagement
Data alone doesn’t drive engagement – what you do with it does. Relying on broad audience segments, manual lists, spreadsheets, and one-size-fits-all campaigns can limit how effectively you use insights from website behavior, digital engagement, product usage, and service interactions. By connecting behavioral and relationship data, however, you can better understand what consumers are interested in and what may be relevant to them next.
4. Your Products Are Hard to Find
People are busy, and they don’t want to hunt for relevant products. If product discovery is a problem for your website and digital banking app users, signs include:
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High digital banking usage but low cross-sell success
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High website traffic but low account applications
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Flat product-per-household growth
Instead of placing the burden of discovery on prospective and current accountholders, give them a clear path to next steps by providing a personalized experience with relevant educational content and recommendations based on their interests and relationship with you.
5. You Measure Activity Instead of Business Outcomes
Page views, clicks, opens, and impressions show you what people did, but not what happened next. Leaders needs to understand whether those interactions contribute to outcomes that matter.
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Are more prospects opening accounts?
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Are accountholders adopting additional products?
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Are marketing efforts deepening relationships?
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Are campaigns contributing to growth?
Engagement is a signal, not the end goal. Connect your engagement data to strategic outcomes so you can understand how personalized experiences contribute to account growth, product adoption, and deeper relationships.
How to Close Your Financial Institution’s Engagement Gap
Closing an engagement gap doesn’t necessarily mean you need to generate more traffic, launch more campaigns, or increase digital adoption. You just need to make the interactions you already have more relevant. You already have the digital channels, accountholder data, and product information. Now, connect it all so that every interaction builds on the previous one and makes it easier for prospects and accountholders to understand their options and how to move forward.
Turn Engagement Into Relevant Experiences
Discover how Banno Marketing™ helps you connect data and engagement across the Banno Digital Platform™ to deliver more relevant experiences throughout the accountholder journey by contacting our team today.
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