By Valbona Guri, Head of Marketing at Credins Bank
Banks in Albania are adapting digital marketing technologies for several years now. Though not at the same pace and with the same level of involvement, almost all banks have created structures, hired staff, or outsourced services to marketing companies to offer/implement what is known today as digital marketing.
The involvement and the approach to digital marketing, as a novelty for the market and banks being a new journey to traditional marketing, had and continues to run into challenges coming from both by the internal perception and approach of the management structures and the staff of the bank of how to working with customers digitally. We were all unprepared for this marketing revolution, the options, and alternatives available through technology, but at the same time eager to experiment and implement it. Today, major banks are present in digital channels, including social networks, such as FCB, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram. They build certain/specific marketing campaigns on these channels, present Ads on social networks, use segmented targeting by setting criteria specific as to age, geography, demography, profession, etc., and use new channels such as e-mail marketing, Google Ads, etc.
Through this direct response marketing, many "leads" are generated by digital channels that create satisfactory pipelines for various business units that at the same time face challenges to understand how to continue the digital interaction to completely serve the customer.
The utilization of digital channels for communication and advertising is successfully implemented and used by banks. Digital marketing has a well-defined budget allocation, a difficult figure to obtain at the beginning that is now increasing year after year eating up traditional channels advertising budget.
The challenge banks have today is on how to better utilize the data obtained by digital channels to maximize business returns and the quality of service to customers. This requires an interpretation and analysis of the numerous data collected, the construction of certain business strategies to focus on personalized targeting according to the preferences and behavior of each customer. The most beautiful part of digital channels are the numerous and quite accurate data that are generated by providing information and building certain statistics: how many individuals have searched for a product, how many of them have clicked, how many have applied online, from which device, on what day or hour of the week do we have the largest influx of clients that follow us, how long they have stayed on the website for the information they are looking for, what geographical regions they are from, what sex, etc. Many of these data need to be analyzed, monitored, and translated into concrete steps for a new way of doing business to succeed by bringing innovations and business opportunities.
Marketing is no longer being perceived as a cost center, but as an important pillar of exponential business growth. The foundations of digital marketing are still under construction, and after that, the focus will remain on building systems that will accompany the digital journey of customers for business growth in these channels.
- Linking digital innovation with the banking system
The banking system has been and will always be the vanguard of innovative developments by embracing technological developments as the focus always remains the constant evolution to come to every bank customer in line with developments in consumer behavior. Today customers interact online and finalize a particular decision for an online product or service. This is also influenced by the extensive information available on the Internet, or various references and comments on the product, service provided by customers, etc. So customers today are active and not passive. Therefore, banks are building certain strategies by introducing in their short-term and medium-term plans an innovative approach to each work process at each department. However, there is still much work to be done, which begins with changing our culture of working and thinking, of the appreciation and importance that must be given to new developments, of specific proposals from each unit to embrace innovation, and compatible and associated with investments in systems and technology to automate processes, simplifying service to every customer where it is located and interacting.
- Are innovative data and analytics solutions ready to deliver a personalized digital banking experience to customers?
Current solutions are relatively limited in terms of data management, processing, analysis, and use. This is because technological developments have moved at a much faster pace, transforming the way and consumer behavior, and banks or many industries and corporations have found themselves in the face of an extraordinary innovative revolution, somewhat outside the traditional way of doing business. However, beyond the challenges, innovation has been embraced, and gradually step by step is moving in the right direction. There is still a lot to do, which is unquestionably related to investments in terms of technological solutions, but this starts in the first place by any institutional structure which must understand innovation within the unit, by every employee who has ideas for innovators and must be supported and evaluated, and subsequently, in approvals and managerial decisions. To provide a personalized experience, it is still required to invest in systems and applications to automate processes, collect data, create reports, analyze and evaluate behavior, and specifically target customers for their needs. Systems such as CRM, or artificial intelligence should be the focus. Also, customer segmentation should change according to preferences, behavior, need, and should be gradually supplemented with a portfolio of products that are related to each other, going beyond the traditional framework and moving towards a "one to one" communication.
- How will the digital strategy adapt to protect the financial health of customers and businesses against data breaches and identity fraud?
Banks are highly regulated institutions in terms of customer data protection, wherein in each case, the customer's consent is taken for their use. There are several cases that the strict regulatory framework limits the utilization of data that bank has on their customers. The collected personal data is stored with great care, and maybe in the future, in the context of technological developments, banks can also evaluate the provision of the service of being a trusted custodian of customers' data like they do with money.
- The revolutionary impact of digitalization of banking systems;
Digitalization and innovative tech services create new opportunities for banks, both in terms of products/services, as well as the various partnerships that can be built. They enable optimization of internal processes, reduction of operational costs, better sewerage of sales, more personalized offers, more satisfied customers, etc. Offering many traditional services online, completing transactions and services entirely online, supporting the client needs with personalized offers, loyalty schemes, or preferential products according to his behavior, are already a tangible reality, and very soon, the new generation of "millennials and younger" will be the clientele of every bank, which is used to interact only online, so we should welcome it with communication and message that speaks for them.
- Challenges of digital banking;
Adapting and coping with new technology developments, strategic planning, and staged execution towards the right direction having full alignment and coordination of top management remain a challenge. The transformation requires technological investments, process changes, and automation, support, and adaptation of regulatory and legal changes, top management commitment, and a passionate and diverse implementation team.
As of today, the physical contact processes happening in the branch such as payments initiation, loan applications, etc., are being offered either partially or completely in a digital manner. Customers are not visiting the branch for basic services. This is shown in several indicators that sharply increased towards digital servicing due to the pandemic. Nevertheless, the transition challenge remains for mass usage. Therefore, educating customers about the use of digital channels and their reliability are some of the key areas that banks are working to address.
Digital growth does not happen overnight. This is a long journey with its hurdles, but it is important to move forward in a structured manner and with careful steps. Digital challenges require reorganizing of marketing and sales strategies to transform the traditional way of doing business, putting the customer at the center of everything we do, and positioning ourselves in an empathetic way.
The challenges are also related to the development of Fintech who have built their business model as a "digital and mobile business", transforming the banking industry. So we need to find the right way to create our competitive advantages and continue successfully in digital travel.
- The methodology followed for the adaptation of advanced technology systems and services in this sector
The methodology followed within the banks is based on traditional project management models such as Six Sigma or PMI. Several banks have a centralized PMO office that coordinates work with all bank's internal units for preparation and execution of projects in line with the strategy, objectives, and priorities. It’s worth mentioning that banks are moving forward with the adoption of the AGILE methodology in the development of new services for having a faster pace and a more effective way of implementing innovation.
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