Three actions for financial institution (FI) leaders to take right now for digital banking success

Never before have regional and community financial institution (RCFI) leaders faced the challenges they are going through right now, from a global pandemic and looming threat of recession, to rapidly evolving consumer expectations and ever emerging competitors. It is critical for FIs to take decisive action with their digital banking strategy now to ensure their success in this increasingly competitive marketplace. Time is of the essence when it comes to meeting the expectations of today’s account holders—across all generations.

Our 2022 Digital Banking Transformative Trends Study with The Center for Generational Kinetics, provides the data, context, and recommendations RCFI leaders need for success. This national study shines a bright light on exactly what leaders need to know now in order to inform their account holder roadmap, technology plans, investments, and strategy for years to come.

At a high level, this national study uncovers numerous unexpected and important insights that can be applied to RCFIs of all sizes, customer or membership base, and geographies. The insights create the context, understanding, and confidence for FI leaders to design and act on a strategy that unlocks the potential of digital banking across generations. 

Our last blog on this topic explored two strategies that RCFIs should prioritize to attract and keep account holders regardless of age. Now we’ll explore three actions they should take to drive account holder engagement. 

Three Actions for RCFI Leaders to Take Right Now 

1. Create a generational snapshot of your current account holders

• Determine the percentage of your members or customers in each generation (Generation Z, Millennials, Generation X, and Baby Boomers). 
• Create a pie chart to visualize the generational birth years as a single snapshot. 
• Now create a pie chart that shows the generational snapshot or composition of your members or customers that are using digital banking. 
• Compare the two to see any trend differences. 
• Last, create a generational snapshot of your new customers or members from the last twenty-four months. See how your newest customers or members are the same or different from your overall customer or membership base. 

2. Assess your current digital banking experience with our 3-step approach to find your strengths and areas for the fastest gains. 

• Benchmark user satisfaction with your digital banking experience against that of neobanks, megabanks, and other RCFIs by conducting primary research to measure strengths and gaps against key competitive cohorts. If your institution uses a third-party digital banking platform provider, ask this partner for evidence of the same. 
• Benchmark digital banking feature and functionality availability against megabanks and neobanks. If your institution uses a third-party digital banking platform provider, ask this partner for this type of benchmarking analysis. 
• Use iterative testing methods, like the system usability scale (SUS), a proven tool to measure the usability of experiences across multiple categories and that has been linked to net promoter score (NPS) gains, to measure the functionality of new digital banking features before introducing them to the market. 

3. Create a digital banking roadmap based upon your generational mix, digital assessment, and financial institution’s growth goals. 

• Develop a 3- or 5-year vision based on your data, goals, and the insights in this research report. 
• Based on the vision, set milestones for each year that are achievable and align with your investment priorities. 
• Gain alignment within the executive team and the boardroom before activating your plan across all levels of the organization with defined milestones and key performance indicators.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line for RCFI leaders: The bank or credit union of the future does not look or feel like the bank or credit union of today. A larger majority of consumers are very clear that they expect their future FI to be largely (if not exclusively) online, which only makes the importance of digital banking experiences in all forms more important and essential to navigating and thriving during the changes to come in the next several years. 

Are you ready to take the steps necessary to drive account holder engagement and growth? Click below to download the full report.