As the pandemic impacts come into sharper focus, most financial institutions understand that their need to foster growth is mission-critical right now.
Although COVID resulted in consumers using more digital tools for their everyday banking needs, the branch remains the top customer acquisition channel for banks and credit unions, delivering 7-10 times higher average balances than accounts opened digitally. Increasingly, smart growth-minded financial institutions are investing in key opportunity markets and reimagining the branch experience to serve consumers’ ongoing desire for branch banking – especially for more complex transactions and valuable financial consultations.
In the on-demand webinar How to Expand into New Markets and Thrive, Adrenaline’s Gina Bleedorn says, “The good news is that acquisition in general, opportunity is at an all-time high, U.S. consumers are considering switching right now, in 2021.” A trend that was on the rise before 2020, 4% of consumers did switch primary financial institutions. “Now we’re predicting upwards of 10%, post-COVID and 2021 has already shown movement towards or exceeding those numbers. So, COVID was a great catalyst for consumer consideration.” With many consumers relocating during 2020, this population movement has spurred even more opportunities for banks to grow and meet people where they are.
Although consumers continue their uptake of digital channels for routine banking transactions, more than six out of ten consumers still expect to use in-branch banking services for the next three-plus years. In fact, a Novantas analysis “finds the branch network is consumers’ most cited factor for new financial institution consideration,” according to Believe in Banking’s article on leveraging the local influence of the branch to grow. “The reality is that consumers open more accounts in person at the branch, have lower account attrition, and those accounts are worth more than those opened digitally.” While opportunities to attract and grow customers abound, deciding where to put new branches is the challenge.
Data as a Differentiator
In the on-demand webinar about branch growth, Adrenaline’s Gina Bleedorn and Sean Keathley demonstrate that its data makes a difference.“ Opportunities to acquire new customers and deepen relationships are all around,” according to Sean. “But they often aren’t able to see the full picture without real-time, relevant data to drive decisions for marketing and branch growth.” But it’s not data itself that matters most, it’s the ability to activate it. Gina says, “Making analytics accessible and actionable is critical for branching – to determine which markets, neighborhoods and potential sites have the most opportunity and what branch formats to put where.”
The ability to make the best decisions for expansion depends on a mix of smart data – market data, competitor data, and an organization’s own data. But the most dynamic insights come from mobility data. “While all other forms of data are fundamental to success, human mobility data brings real-time movement to an organization’s insights operation,” according to Believe in Banking’s article on activating data. “It’s not just data on where people are moving to live, but it’s where are they moving about day-to-day. Mobility data takes anonymous mobile phone data – with no personally identifiable information – and aggregates it into more macro trends to help banks make decisions.”
Additional topics in the webinar include how to infuse powerful location data and market intelligence into a smart physical channel strategy engineered to maximize every opportunity.
Learnings include:
- How to align branch and marketing investments with market opportunity for maximum ROI
- How to leverage mobile location data to understand where customers and potential customers are and how to reach them
- How to deploy targeted digital marketing in- and around branch locations
- How to more intelligently select sites to capture optimal market share
- How to determine where to deploy the right format — from self-service “micro mobile” concepts to full-service hubs and flagships
For more insights about building a powerful data-driven strategy for expansion and growth, watch the on-demand webinar Leveraging Location for Growth: How to Expand into New Markets and Thrive.
For more information and insights on decision-making from the brand to the branch, visit Adrenaline’s Insights channel and see Believe in Banking for the latest data on branch banking. To speak with one of Adrenaline’s branch experts about developing an optimization plan for your network, especially important in the post-COVID era, contact us at info@adrenalinex.com.
Adrenaline is an experience design agency that creates and implements end-to-end branded experiences through creative and environmental design. We enhance our clients’ customer experiences across digital and physical channels, from their branding and advertising to design and technology in their spaces. After transforming an organization’s brand, Adrenaline extends it across all touchpoints — from employees to the market to in-store environments. And, we focus on serving industries that sell human experiences including financial, healthcare, sports and entertainment.
