We all know that the banking industry is quite fond of its old ways. But, guess what’s shaking things up lately? Marketing automation. Oh yes, we’ve discovered the art of letting technology do the heavy lifting while we sit back and enjoy our coffee. Sounds quite appealing, doesn’t it?
Part 1: The Magic of Marketing Automation in Banking
Imagine being able to deliver the right offers to the right customers, at the right time, without lifting a finger. That’s the magic of marketing automation. It’s a powerful way to nurture relationships with customers, optimize marketing ROI, and keep up with the fast-paced banking industry. For banks, marketing automation is more than just a buzzword; it’s a key to success in a world where personalized customer experiences are becoming the norm.
Part 2: The Technical Challenge — The Juggling Act of Channels, Campaigns, and Integrations
Alright, let’s dive deeper into the nuts and bolts of it. Targeted marketing is not just about knowing what your customers want, it’s also about delivering it effectively and efficiently. This means you need a tool that should be user-friendly for campaign managers and allows them to create and maintain a multitude of campaigns, both regular and ad-hoc.
Moreover, it’s not just about managing campaigns. The tool needs to play well with multiple channels — from mobile apps and SMS, to call centers, web, WhatsApp, you name it. And we’re not just talking about the channels we’re using right now, but also potential ones we might want to use in the future. We need a tool that’s forward-thinking, one that can seamlessly integrate with other channels as they come into play.
And remember, we’re doing all of this in an environment where cloud tools aren’t an option because we’ve got top-tier security standards to meet. That’s the challenge we’re staring down: a high-functioning, multi-channel, campaign-managing, forward-thinking tool, all operating securely on-premise. Yep, it’s a real jigsaw puzzle!
Part 3: The Solution — A Practical Implementation with a Leading Customer Lifecycle Management (CLM) tool
Let’s transition from theory to practice and discuss an actual case of a multi-branch European bank. Here, our goal was to implement an omnichannel platform that is one of the leaders in the market. This platform was installed on-premise, adhering to the bank’s stringent security protocols. It also should be easily adjustable and universal — starting as an MVP in one branch, we were aiming for other branches as well.
The main data source is a comprehensive marketing datamart. The datamart gets its data from a Data Warehouse (DWH), which serves as the primary data repository. The DWH not only populates the datamart but also archives meaningful communication history data, which is transferred back from the tool’s operational database each day. This database, in the meanwhile, stores real-time communication history for the last 3 months, it allows to use of up-to-date information in the marketing campaign strategy and contact policy.
To streamline the creation and management of communication messages, the CLM tool was integrated with an external Content Management Tool (CMT) system. This integration significantly improves the efficiency and ease of managing the bank’s communication strategies.
Channel outputs were classified into two primary categories. Inbound channels were managed through a Kafka integration that directed them to an internal custom tool. Outbound channels, conversely, were first directed to integration tables, before proceeding through the selected integration pathway, whether it was table-based, Kafka, or file-based.
To bring a strategic approach to channel selection, we incorporated channel prioritisation logic into the post-process. The system, guided by configurable attributes, selects the most suitable channel based on pre-established rules.
A noteworthy aspect of this solution is the user-friendly integration of external lists that may include results from AI models. These models can generate personalised offers, taking the bank’s marketing efforts to the next level by ensuring that each customer receives offers tailored specifically to their preferences and behaviours.
By consolidating segmentation, contact history, contact policy, and channel prioritisation within the CLM tool, the integration of new channels becomes a straightforward process. We follow a standardised integration approach with a flexible junction, allowing for the addition of any type of integration as needed.
What’s Next?
So, what lies beyond this successful implementation of the CLM tool as an MVP? There are numerous opportunities for further enhancements that could significantly increase the platform’s capabilities.
The real-time tool could be incorporated into the system, which would be seamlessly embedded into the internal data model and contact history. This type of tool can use predefined algorithms to instantly react to changes in customer behavior, enabling the bank to communicate with their customers at the most opportune moments.
Another possible addition could be a marketing optimisation solution. This tool would help the bank strike a balance between the effectiveness of specific marketing campaigns and their associated costs. It would allow the bank to optimize its marketing efforts, ensuring the best possible return on investment.
Furthermore, a data visualization platform could be added to provide a more in-depth understanding of marketing operations. In our solution, this tool is set separately, built atop the marketing data mart, offering an at-a-glance view of marketing performance metrics.
The end result of these enhancements would be a robust, comprehensive, and highly efficient omnichannel marketing platform. This platform would empower the bank not only to streamline operations and personalize communication but also to optimize marketing ROI and gain valuable insights into marketing performance.
The journey doesn’t end here; in fact, we’re just getting started!
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