As shown in The 2025 Digital Banking Playbook, data is the foundation across the financial institution’s technology ecosystem. Research has proven that financial institutions who put data first and execute a modernization strategy represent the most digitally mature institutions in the market — and also report up to twice the annual revenue growth compared to the least mature.
That’s why at Alkami Co:lab this year, we brought together a group of leaders to discuss building a data-driven culture that drives return on investment (ROI) for their institutions. This panel discussion included representatives from several financial institutions: Chris Van Ausdale, senior vice president, marketing and communications director at Westfield Bank, Nate Tullis, senior vice president of digital strategies at Educators Credit Union, and Tom Poe, vice president and director of marketing and business intelligence at Tower Federal Credit Union. Leading the discussion was Sarah Mealey, lead client success manager at Alkami.
They shared strategies for using data to inform marketing and sales strategies, personalize content and identify new opportunities. Tom highlighted the importance of making data actionable and useful, while Nate underscored the importance of explaining the benefits of using data to stakeholders. Chris discussed using data insights to empower sales teams with potential wealth management opportunities.
The panelists also shared real-world wins, such as identifying thousands of account holders banking with competitive investment services and brokerages, and the potential for offering a similar product through their credit card program.
Key takeaways:
The session explored how financial institutions can use data analytics in banking and automation to improve marketing engagement. Chad Gramling, assistant vice president of business intelligence at 3Rivers Federal Credit Union (3Rivers), shared how the credit union shifted from seasonal, calendar-based campaigns to always-on, trigger-based marketing.
Instead of relying on demographics or product ownership, the team at 3Rivers analyzes transaction data and behavioral signals to identify when members need specific financial products. This allows them to deliver timely and relevant messaging, such as targeting auto loan offers to members who have paid off an existing loan or visited an auto loan webpage. Data-driven personalization doesn’t stop at just who is in the audience, but also the imagery used for the campaign.
“We’ve done campaigns to target specifically truck drivers,” Chad said. “We certainly want to present them with an image containing a Ford F-150… We need to show them we know them.”
Competitive intelligence from transaction data has been a key driver in recapturing share of wallet. 3Rivers can see where members hold accounts, make payments or receive direct deposits, helping them identify opportunities to win back business. This approach also allows them to understand members’ priorities, whether they care more about rewards, interest rates or convenience.
Chad said, “One of the things I marveled at when we launched Alkami Data & Marketing Solutions was our ability to identify microniches, even to the person level if we wanted to.”
Financial services marketing automation has significantly improved efficiency, replacing manual list pulls with data-driven triggers. Previously, campaigns followed a fixed schedule, but now they launch automatically based on members’ actions. This evolution ensures that marketing is personalized and responsive rather than dictated by a static calendar.
“Before implementing Alkami Data & Marketing Solutions, we had a seasonal calendar of marketing engagement. The reality is, though, there’s demand for all the solutions that we offer all year round,” Chad said. “It’s a matter of finding out who those microniches are and serving them at the right time.”
Alkami’s Digital Banking Solutions have become a primary sales and marketing channel for 3Rivers. “Before we were an Alkami customer, we really had no means of personalizing or even targeting within the digital banking channels,” Chad said. “Our online banking and mobile banking didn’t carry the right messaging at the right time to the right people. We really weren’t omnichannel like we strive to be. We’re a lot closer to that now.”
By integrating targeted ads and personalized messages within their digital banking solutions, 3Rivers captured 1,129 new auto loans worth $27.9 million in 2024.
Key takeaways:
Artificial intelligence (AI) in banking is changing the game for banks and credit unions fast. Most professionals agree—87% of financial leaders believe AI will improve banking, up from 85% earlier this year. Though predictive AI continues to bring a lot of buzz, many financial institutions are still struggling to implement it effectively.
In this breakout session, Rachel O’Neill, sales executive at Alkami, spoke with Mariah Martz, senior digital marketing strategist at Arkansas Federal Credit Union (Arkansas Federal), and Mark Leher, director of product management at Alkami about how banks and credit unions can use predictive AI and first-party data to create personalized marketing campaigns.
Predictive AI is a tool that works alongside human marketers rather than replacing them. While humans can create campaign audiences based on intuition and experience, AI can analyze a lot of data quickly to find the most predictive factors for success. The combination of human and AI-driven strategies leads to more effective, data-backed marketing campaigns.
To maximize their marketing engagement, Mariah and the team at Arkansas Federal have integrated Alkami’s predictive AI models into their campaign development and targeting strategies. The credit union starts by identifying the product they want to promote, then pulls data from multiple sources—including core banking data, SavvyMoney credit data, and AI-driven insights—to build an optimized audience.
For an auto loan campaign they ran last year using Alkami’s financial services marketing automation, Arkansas Federal created three separate audience segments:
These groups were targeted using email, push notifications, online banking and digital ads for seven months. By running campaigns to these three data-targeted groups, Arkansas Federal was able to track and compare conversion rates. Ultimately, the seven-month marketing campaign resulted in 493 auto loan conversions worth $15 million, including 85 auto loans identified by the predictive AI model.
“Prior to having the Alkami Data & Marketing platform, in a lot of cases the targeting would just be age range and which products members already have with us,” Mariah said. “The predictive AI cross-sell model allows us to hit members that we probably wouldn’t be able to identify on our own. It works as an easy button to unlock members that we may have missed otherwise.”
Key takeaways:
In this session, Alkami’s Data & Marketing Solutions Product Director Joan Clark and Product Manager John Redmond introduced new features designed to help financial institutions streamline marketing efforts, improve targeting and drive engagement using data-driven strategies.
Out-of-the-box campaigns: Achieve your marketing goals with prebuilt campaigns proven to drive results
One of the new features, Out-of-the-Box Campaigns, removes the guesswork from campaign targeting. These pre-built audiences are based on proven use cases, allowing financial institutions to quickly deploy high-impact marketing campaigns.
John said, “By sharing these proven audiences, we’re making it easier than ever for financial institutions to take advantage of the lessons we’ve learned from working with banks and credit unions across the industry. Our goal is to remove the guesswork, launch campaigns faster and ultimately drive higher ROI from your marketing engagement.”
For example, banks and credit unions can easily identify account holders using personal accounts for business expenses and prompt them to open a business account. Similarly, they can target account holders not making recurring bill payments, encouraging them to set up autopay. These campaigns require minimal setup and come with automated performance tracking, making execution easier than ever.
Integrations to Salesforce and HubSpot: Gain more value from your marketing tools
The Salesforce and HubSpot integrations allow financial institutions to sync behavioral data insights into their customer relationship management (CRM) system, making marketing engagement more precise and personalized.
“Salesforce and HubSpot are great sources for account holder data for financial institutions,” John said. “Where Alkami Data & Marketing adds value is with the targeted audiences you can build using insights from everyday spend data.”
For example, financial institutions can now identify parents paying tuition and offer them a home equity loan, or recognize homeowners making renovation purchases and suggest home improvement financing. These data insights create relevant, timely campaigns that drive stronger account holder relationships.
Automated engagement for abandoned applications: Trigger messages during account opening for more conversions
To recover abandoned account applications, the team created automated engagement triggers, sending real-time reminders to account holders who don’t complete their applications. This helps financial institutions recapture lost opportunities and improve conversion rates.
Automated daily audience exports: Get your data, your way: fresh, automated and ready to use on any channel
New automated audience exports allow institutions to schedule daily data exports, making it easier to sync targeting data with email, SMS and call campaigns.
“It’s a great way to integrate with really any existing martech investments,” Joan said. “Whether that’s your own email solution, SMS provider, or even to create a list of account holders to have your frontline team members contact by phone.”
Key takeaways:
Facilitated by Alkami client success leaders Sarah Mealey and Joy Rogers, this roundtable covered how marketers at regional and community financial institutions are using data to drive personalization, deliver measurable results, and clearly communicate marketing’s impact on institutional goals.
Attendees highlighted the shift from broad, one-size-fits-all messaging to campaigns rooted in account holder behavior—and the stronger engagement and conversion metrics that follow.
The conversation also explored the realities of executing omni-channel marketing with lean teams and limited resources. Leaders emphasized the need for smarter tools, streamlined workflows, and cross-department alignment to ensure consistent messaging and measurable outcomes. Many noted the importance of using data to prioritize high-impact efforts that support deposit growth and drive lending and retention.
The biggest takeaway? Data-driven marketing isn’t just about insights—it’s about action, alignment, and delivering measurable value.
