As fintech companies shift their marketing efforts toward brand authenticity and customer-centricity to earn customer trust, loyalty, and market share—how do they translate, measure, and analyze results in a meaningful way?

Last month, we launched a new blog series titled, The State of Fintech Marketing in 2019 and Beyond. In it, we asked a question that has the power to transform your fintech company from the inside out: In an industry that has thrived on physical, face-to-face interactions to establish trust, relationships, and integrity—how do fintech companies adapt their marketing strategies to capture the hearts and wallets of their target customers?

Today, we pose a related question with even greater implications: As fintech companies shift their marketing toward brand authenticity and customer-centricity — to earn customer trust, loyalty, and market share—how do they measure, translate, and analyze results?

Step One: Understanding a Virtual Audience

As mostly web-based, fintech brands are tasked with the responsibility of establishing, growing, and fostering trust with an online audience.

Traditional financial institutions have physical storefronts allowing them to build customer relationships face-to-face, while fintech companies typically do not. To make up for the difference, virtual businesses have to find ways to better understand and connect with their audience.

And they are only one half of the equation. You, your company, and your fintech brand are just as questionable to the consumer or prospect as they may be to you. Which is why establishing brand authenticity through customer-centric marketing is so important to the continued evolution and success of your company.

But unless you understand how to measure, interpret, and adjust your fintech marketing strategy—none of it actually matters.  

Step Two: Measuring the Effectiveness of Brand Authenticity

Interaction, engagement, and participation. These three metrics are key to unlocking an audience’s perception of your company, your brand, and the evolution of your marketing efforts.

Before diving into the nuances of how interaction is used to measure brand authenticity in fintech marketing, consider this: When a consumer visits a bank, insurance provider, lender, or mortgage broker—how do they determine the legitimacy, reputability, and worthiness of trust of the company or professional behind it? For most, it’s as simple as visiting a physical location, sitting across the table from an actual person, and making an informed, experience-based decision.

And banks, insurance agents, lenders, or mortgage brokers know whether their marketing efforts are effective by tracking traditional loyalty metrics like in-person meetings, revenue, churn rates, referrals, and customer satisfaction scores.

While that dynamic still exists to some extent in the market, the majority of fintech companies do not have a  physical, customer-facing storefront. Which makes capturing your target audience’s attention, convincing them to trust your brand, and measuring the effectiveness of your marketing strategy more difficult, but not impossible.

In fact, a poll conducted by Instantly Brand Monitor and Statista found that Americans have more trust in the financial services of companies like PayPal, Amazon, Apple, and Google than the country’s largest banking institutions. Only 36% reported feeling positive about Bank of America’s offerings, while 73% of Americans said they trust the financial service products of PayPal.

A different study conducted by San Francisco venture capital firm, Blumberg Capital, found that 57% of Americans have a positive view of fintech startups and the same number of people believe physical financial institutions will soon be obsolete.

Step 3: Get to Know the Interaction Metric

The importance of establishing brand authenticity through customer-centric marketing cannot be disputed. But those who choose to accept this new marketing approach yet minimize the relevance of tracking consumer or prospect interaction will miss the mark.

Interaction is the launching off point of any relationship. As best-selling author and marketing-guru, Seth Godin said, “The goal of a marketing interaction isn’t to close the sale, any more than the goal of a first date is to get married. No, the opportunity is to move forward, to earn attention and trust and curiosity and conversation.” With that baseline goal in mind, here are some things to remember as you begin to measure and analyze how your audience is interacting with your brand.

Marketing Interaction IS:

• Where the relationship between your brand and your target customer begins
• A game of big numbers (i.e. likes, clicks, views, etc.)
• A surface-level glimpse into audience perception
• How a potential customer gets a feel for your brand without committing

Marketing Interaction IS NOT:

• Engagement
• Indicative of true emotional-value, but a starting off point
• A commitment to your company, product, or service
• Enough to capture wallets

When someone interacts with your brand, they’ve made a conscious decision. You’ve captured their attention and they want to learn more about your company. It is a top-funnel behavior that, if properly nurtured, will be followed by engagement (middle-funnel), and participation (bottom-funnel).

Grow Your Fintech Company in 2019 and Beyond

Marketing interaction is the starting off point for the current state of fintech marketing. Recognizing what it is and how to interpret consumer interaction with your brand is the first key to growing your fintech company in 2019 and beyond.

Ready to get growing?  Schedule your FREE consultation with CSTMR today to ignite your company’s growth tomorrow.