Driving Growth in a Digital-First Era Data Should Be the True North Star Guiding Your Decisions To Drive Better Results By PRESTON AFRANK, Senior Executive Vice President, Haberfeld In the age of analytics and informed decision-making, financial institutions have a largely untapped source of internal data. We know where our current customers live and operate their businesses, and we have access to internal product and service utilization. Given this wealth of information, how can community banks utilize it to improve marketing results and ROI? With so much data available, it’s easy to lose track of the purpose. It's crucial to first establish clear objectives and outcomes. In the current environment, most banks are focused on acquiring more customers and growing deposits. This is apparent from the lucrative offers from Chase, Wells Fargo and others, with incentives ranging from $300-$2,500. Their seemingly infinite marketing budgets more than rival those of community banks. Given this reality, every dollar of your marketing budget must be spent strategically; data should be the true North Star guiding your decisions to drive better results. Despite the prominence of and focus on online account openings, proximity to a physical branch is still the best indicator of which bank someone will choose. In fact, more 21 WEST VIRGINIA BANKER
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