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The future of banking: how to improve client engagement

By Rachel Saltsgaver — On September 29, 2022

In the past, banks reached most of their clients through brick-and-mortar branches, networking events, and word-of-mouth marketing. Like many other industries, there has been a digital transformation in banking that requires financial service firms to think and operate differently, especially when it comes to how they engage with clients.

Gaining and maintaining client trust has always been an important task for financial advisors. But given today’s changing client preferences, coupled with the challenging market conditions, banks need to embrace new ways to deepen client engagement, improve retention, and attract the next generation of clients. And, in order to improve banking client engagement, it’s important for them to demonstrate a level of trust and expertise that meets and exceeds expectations. So, how can advisors do that?

In this post, we’ll take a look at three ways to rethink your relationship banking strategy in order to improve client engagement.

Clients want personalized advice they can trust

Clients have access to more information and resources at their fingertips. In fact, more than half of clients read financial content and frequently conduct their own research. However, during challenging times, clients often look directly to their advisors to provide guidance and support. And when they reach out, they expect advisors to anticipate their needs and provide a highly-personalized and impactful experience.

In order to better educate clients through the decision-making process, financial advisors need to leverage content across a broad range of financial topics. Remember, clients can be overwhelmed with content, so be sure to provide relevant information that addresses their unique financial needs and challenges. Instead of pushing products and services, deliver educational content that’s insightful and easy to understand. This will build a more authentic relationship that’s made of trust and one that clients will want to keep engaging with.

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Meet clients where they are

Delivering personalized content to clients doesn’t matter if advisors aren’t providing it to them when and where they need it. And while clients seek guidance and support from advisors in various ways, social media has quickly emerged as a preferred channel for many clients.

Social media is bustling with both current and potential clients who are ready to have conversations. Social media provides advisors with an opportunity to share content that captures their client’s attention and spark further conversations. In doing so, advisors will be able to identify where a client is at in their financial journey and provide additional information. By doing so, advisors are better able to improve engagement and build long-term relationships based on their expertise.

If you’re wondering where and how to get started — consider this: A 2020 study shows that LinkedIn was the most widely used social media platform used by advisors, followed by Facebook and Twitter. Additionally, 94% of successful advisors use direct messaging on social platforms during their interactions with clients. So while there are a number of different social media sites and strategies you can take, it’s important to consider your expertise, brand, and client demographics in order to maximize your s o cial media engagement efforts.

Leverage technology and data

Delivering content to clients is great, but you need to understand how and when clients interact with that content. What content did they view the most? Are there certain items that they didn’t interact with at all? By tapping into this data, you can identify what types of content clients want more of and what areas of your strategy may need to be revised. As you gather more data and review analytics, it will be easier to create and deliver more useful content and accelerate the buying process.

To do this, financial services companies need to embrace new technology that helps advisors deliver exceptional experiences during every interaction. By investing in modern enablement tools that feature content management, customization, and social selling capabilities, firms can equip advisors with everything they need to address their clients’ needs and grow relationships over time.

How we can help

The new world of client engagement in financial services requires new tools. The Seismic Enablement Cloud™ is trusted by thirteen of the largest U.S. banks and 300+ financial services organizations to deliver better engagement and experiences to banks, investment bankers, and their clients. Our platform includes tools like social selling and content automation to help bankers meet clients through email, social channels, and virtual rooms with personalized and interactive experiences.

If you’d like to learn more about client engagement in the digital-first era, check out our ebook, Rewriting the Rules of Engagement for the Modern Financial Services Client.