Financial services marketing: strategies, tips, and examples

Financial services marketing: strategies, tips, and examples

Financial services marketing today requires a delicate balancing act. To reach customers where they are, financial marketing teams must adopt an approach that spans everything from websites to email to social media to SMS texting and more. However, fintech marketers must also stay within the bounds set by regulators, taking care not to prioritize prospecting over privacy and security.

In this guide, we'll share tips for creating an effective multichannel marketing strategy for financial services, which involves reaching customers on their preferred channels such as email, SMS, or WhatsApp. We'll begin with an overview of the financial services industry and the important role marketing plays. Then, we'll explore how a multichannel strategy works and consider use cases that illustrate the value of multichannel marketing for financial institutions. Finally, we'll share some tips for ensuring regulatory compliance when implementing multichannel fintech marketing campaigns.

Understanding the financial services industry

The financial services industry encompasses a wide range of monetary services, products, and solutions provided by banks, brokerages, insurance companies, and other institutions. Large providers dominate the financial services industry, but many small companies also provide financial services. Fintech providers serve customers of all income levels, and financial services may be delivered through brick-and-mortar facilities or digital platforms. 

The diversity of the financial services market requires a segmented marketing strategy. Each customer niche calls for unique content and delivery preferences, underscoring the importance of a multichannel approach.

Another key aspect of the financial services industry is that it's heavily regulated because of its importance to individuals, businesses, and the economy. Financial service providers must comply with privacy and security regulations when handling customer communications.

Types of financial services

Financial services broadly fall into a few major categories, including banking services, investment services, and insurance services. Within these categories, providers offer many specific services, such as:

• Consumer banking, checking, saving, and credit services

• Commercial banking services

• Mortgage lending

• Investment banking

• Underwriting

• Financial consulting

• Asset management

• Insurance

• Accounting

• Financial planning and tax preparation

These services come in multiple varieties, serving different market niches. For example, consumer banks may offer traditional and premium checking account services.

Products and solutions

Financial products and solutions are the goods delivered through financial services. Examples include:

• Checking and savings accounts

• Credit cards

• Loans and mortgages

• Real estate

• Stocks and bonds

• Pensions

• Life insurance plans

• Auto and home insurance plans

• Business insurance plans

• Financial statements and tax returns

These products also come in various forms to serve different needs. For example, consumer credit card products include reward cards, cashback cards, travel cards, and more.

Types of customers

Financial service customers fall into three main groups:

• Personal: Individuals and households using services or products to manage their personal finances, such as checking, investment planning, or retirement planning

• Consumer: Individuals and households using services or products to obtain or manage funds for personal use, such as consumer credit cards, loans, or insurance

• Corporate: Businesses using services to manage assets or funding, such as checking accounts or commercial mortgages

Challenges in financial services marketing

Financial services marketing plays a critical role in acquiring new customers and retaining existing ones. It requires a unique touch because of the many factors it must address, such as:

1. Lack of trust

Recent financial crises have created challenges for financial institutions seeking to command customer trust. The 2023 Edelman Trust Barometer found that globally, just 59% of consumers trusted financial service providers, marking the industry as the second least-trusted after social media. In 2024, this rose slightly to 62%, representing progress but still leaving significant room for improvement. 

Marketers face the challenge of overcoming consumer distrust to get their message heard.

2. Branding differentiation barriers

Financial services products often struggle to stand out because of standardization. For example, banks must follow the lead of the Federal Reserve when setting interest rates, limiting the options on offers they can extend to customers. This hampers brands' ability to differentiate on value, compelling marketing campaigns to focus on other factors, such as product variety or customer service.

3. Regulatory restrictions

Financial service marketers must comply with regulatory restrictions unique to the industry, enforced by both public and private entities. For example, Google requires financial products and services advertisers to provide contact information for a physical location, disclose associated fees, and link to any third-party accreditations or endorsements used to boost site reputation. Additional restrictions apply for specific financial products.

4. Industry-specific requirements

The financial services industry faces more marketing and legal considerations than most industries. For example, some states require parties soliciting mortgages and other loans to maintain licensing, and this requirement may extend to digital platforms and lead generators.

5. Digital transformation pressure

Since the rise of the internet and smartphones, and especially after the COVID pandemic, the financial services industry has faced pressure to accelerate digital transformation. According to the Credit Union Times, banks and credit unions doubled their digital investments in 2022, but only 30% of banks pursuing a digital transformation strategy have implemented it successfully, says consultancy firm McKinsey. 

6. Customer demands for personalization

Personalization poses one major challenge for teams implementing digital marketing for financial institutions. A 2024 study by marketing consultancy Vericast found that 70% of banking customers rated personalization as "highly important" to customer satisfaction. Additionally, according to the J.D. Power 2024 US Retail Banking Satisfaction Study, failure to deliver on personalization contributes to 13% of bank customers considering switching institutions. 

Multichannel marketing for financial services

Multichannel marketing addresses many of the challenges of fintech marketing. It enables you to reach customers the way they want to be reached, whether through SMS texts, chat, email, or other channels. This builds trust in your brand while allowing you to personalize your communications. 

A multichannel approach also helps financial institutions remain compliant by allowing customers to opt in to direct-to-consumer marketing campaigns.

Twilio Messaging illustrates how multichannel marketing strengthens fintech customers' trust. As a next-generation business text messaging solution, the Twilio Messaging suite helps build deeper customer relationships at scale by delivering quality, trust, and choice.

Let customers select the channel of their choice

The first step in personalizing your communications with customers is enabling them to select their preferred channel. Ideally, you should allow them to select a different channel for different types of communications, such as marketing messages vs. account updates. Twilio messaging enables financial institutions to message customers through SMS, MMS, chat, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger. Templates work across multiple channels to simplify message composition.

Additionally, Twilio's email services, powered by SendGrid, provide financial institutions with a reliable and scalable solution for delivering personalized emails to customers. With tools like sender authentication, Deliverability Insights, and easy integration, Twilio's Email API, which integrates seamlessly with existing systems, ensures that important messages are securely delivered to inboxes. 

Build trust with personalization and security

To further strengthen customer relationships, brands can optimize messages to match customer preferences through personalization. Messages can be segmented based on customer profiles, preferences, and histories. For instance, financial services providers can send targeted offers to customers meeting specific criteria such as geographic location, income level, or account history.

Channel selection capability and personalization improve the relevance and quality of messages customers receive through different channels. Coupled with strong security features, this strengthens customer trust. Twilio operates in 180+ countries and has more than 4,800 global carrier connections. We compile regulatory and compliance information on a global scale to help ensure you're communicating effectively and compliantly around the world.

Deliver multichannel experience for increased satisfaction

The growing popularity of digital services underscores the importance of multichannel marketing. By improving quality, trust, and choice, a multichannel marketing approach delivers a superior customer experience. This can be demonstrated measurably through methods such as customer satisfaction surveys, Net Promoter Scores (NPS), or increases in volumes and revenue.

Financial marketing use cases

Some of the most common uses of multichannel marketing for financial services providers include:

Welcome and onboarding

Welcome and onboarding campaigns can help grow your marketing subscription lists and set the stage for future success. By collecting invaluable data directly from customers, such as their preferred marketing channels, you can ensure future communications are on target.

Promotions and seasonal campaigns

Multichannel messaging can help you reach customers with timely sales offers. For example, you can alert customers to new account incentives, Black Friday cashback deals, or Cyber Monday discounts.

Product recommendations

Product and service suggestions tailored to your customers' needs can significantly enhance their overall experience, increase satisfaction, and drive brand loyalty. Reach out with upsell and cross-sell opportunities such as new credit cards, lines of credit, or loan pre-approvals.

Customer re-engagement campaigns

When customers end a transaction before completing it, a little extra effort can make the difference between a lost opportunity and a loyal repeat buyer. Promote purchases by delivering abandoned cart campaigns and sending behavioral nudges.

Loyalty and member programs

Rewarding your best customers can reap big returns. Increase customer lifetime value and reduce churn by sending exclusive access offers, rewards incentives, and new product introductions.

Surveys and market research

Collect invaluable data about your customers by sending surveys, requesting ratings, and soliciting reviews. Conduct market research to better understand their needs and preferences.

Sales campaigns and concierge services

By implementing targeted sales campaigns, you can optimize your marketing efforts and reach high-value customers more effectively. Use branded calls and two-way text messages to convert conversations into sales and maximize revenue potential.

Refer-a-friend campaigns

Loyal customers can be your best brand ambassadors. Turn customers into net promoters through refer-a-friend campaigns.

These use cases span the customer journey, illustrating how multichannel marketing can increase business success. Draw inspiration from these examples to use multichannel marketing creatively.

Marketing compliance for the financial services industry

Financial service marketers must take care to abide by compliance regulations that govern the industry, including all applicable federal, state, and local laws. These include requirements for financial offers and claim accuracy set by agencies such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the US Securities and Exchange Commission. For example, be sure to use correct language to describe interest rates, as well as appropriate qualifiers and disclaimers when using words such as free or guaranteed.

Your legal team should develop a checklist of compliance standards and review your marketing content for compliance before sending it to customers. Automated tools can assist with achieving compliance more efficiently.

Energize your financial services marketing with Twilio

Multichannel marketing for financial services lets you build personalized marketing messages that are sent to your customers' preferred communication channels. This ensures consistent engagement at every stage, from onboarding to referrals, ultimately boosting the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.

With Twilio’s communication APIs, software, and professional services, financial services companies can integrate email, SMS, MMS, WhatsApp, or Voice into their existing MarTech stack, measure and optimize marketing performance, and be prepared to iterate and adopt future technologies such as AI. 

Reach out today to talk with your Twilio account team.