Primacy is shifting: Data-powered growth is the key to long-term relationship banking

For regional and community banks and credit unions, growth depends on acquiring new account holders and deepening relationships with the people they already serve. However, there are plenty of places along the banking journey for that momentum to stall.

Legacy account opening processes can create friction before a prospect becomes an account holder. Siloed platforms and fragmented data make it harder to guide applicants to their next action. Disconnected marketing tools leave teams relying on manual list pulls, broad campaigns, and guesswork instead of timely, relevant engagement marketing.

Megabanks and neobanks are actively leveraging data, artificial intelligence, and larger marketing teams to personalize engagement to maximize reach while delivering intuitive digital-first experiences. Even with this level of automated marketing in place, only 47% of digital banking Americans say the products their primary financial provider recommended became more relevant over the past 12 months; meaning 1 in 2 consumers still feel like their financial institution does not truly understand them or their financial needs.

According to Alkami’s The Generational Trends in Digital Banking Study, 2026, the average number of financial relationships account holders maintain increases in younger generations, from 3.3 in Baby Boomers to 3.7 in Gen Z. Being the primary financial relationship no longer means being the only banking relationship. This insight emphasizes the need to proactively engage account holders through diverse product offerings to meet their changing needs and maintain relevance.

Regional and community banks and credit unions need a way to compete and maintain relevancy without adding more manual work or building a dedicated data science team. MANTL Onboarding & Account Opening and Alkami Data & Marketing connect omnichannel account opening, account holder data, and marketing automation to help financial institutions grow from the first ad click to the primary relationship.

The gap between account opening and relationship growth

Many regional and community banks and credit unions have invested in digital account opening and marketing technology as separate capabilities. The result is often a disconnected journey and missed opportunities for expansion along the way.

A prospect may respond to a campaign, start an application, and abandon it. A new account holder may open an account but never take the next step toward funding and activating it. An existing account holder may be ready for a loan, deposit product, or business relationship, but turn to another financial institution before their current provider recognizes the need.

The signals are there, but the challenge is putting them to work. The data needed to identify these opportunities often exists in siloed systems across the organization without the right solution to activate it. Marketing teams are left pulling lists, reconciling data, and coordinating campaigns across multiple platforms. Campaigns take longer to launch. Frontline employees are left in the dark.

Convert more prospects into funded accounts

Every additional step or friction point between expressed interest and funding is another opportunity for a prospect to drop off. MANTL helps financial institutions deliver a streamlined omnichannel application experience with real-time funding and core booking. A marketing campaign can create interest, but the application experience determines whether that interest becomes a relationship. Immediate funding capabilities reduce the number of steps between application and active relationship, helping financial institutions get more value from their acquisition campaigns.

When a prospect does not complete an application, automated follow-up helps recover the opportunity rather than letting that initial interest disappear.

Automation can also reduce the operational work behind account opening. On average across MANTL customers, 85% of applications opened on MANTL are fully automated and require no review or action by bank or credit union employees.

Make the first days count

Opening and funding an account is an important milestone, but the steps that follow are just as important to achieve primacy.

Does the new account holder enroll in digital banking? Set up direct deposit? Activate their debit card? Start using the account as part of their everyday financial life?

Engagement marketing helps financial institutions use account holder data and out-of-the-box campaigns to support onboarding from day one. A new account holder may need help enrolling in digital banking, setting up direct deposit, activating a debit card, or understanding which products are relevant to their needs.

Turn data into growth

Activating audiences using real-time data and behavioral signals leads to successful outcomes like growing deposits and loans. As account holders’ needs change, audiences and campaigns update without requiring marketing teams to rebuild lists manually.

These insights can reveal opportunities across the relationship lifecycle. A retail account holder may reveal a small business need. Changes in deposit or loan activity may signal an opportunity for more timely engagement.

Marketing teams can use these insights to build more precise audiences and relevant campaigns. The same intelligence can help bankers, branch staff, and service teams identify relevant opportunities and have more informed conversations with account holders.

From first click to primary relationship

Regional and community banks and credit unions already understand the value of long-term account holders and differentiate on their relationship-first approach. Leveraging data, these financial institutions are able to act on that relationship-first approach more consistently and across channels.

MANTL Onboarding & Account Opening helps financial institutions turn more prospects into funded account holders. Alkami Data & Marketing helps them engage those account holders with relevant next-best actions.

Together, the solutions connect acquisition, onboarding, cross-sell, and retention in one growth journey. Key capabilities include:

• High-converting digital application with immediate funding: Maximize marketing performance by turning more prospects into funded account holders in a single, streamlined experience. Enabling funding during the initial application helps reduce drop-off and accelerates the path from prospect to active relationship.
• Automated re-engagement for incomplete applications: Recover more opportunities with automated follow-up emails that prompt prospects to return and complete the application process.
• Immediate post-opening engagement: Trigger timely, personalized onboarding and next-best-product offers as soon as an account is opened and funded, helping transform new account holders and indirect borrowers from one-time transactions into engaged, primary relationships from day one.
• Automated audience management powered by daily data refreshes: Eliminate manual segmentation with automatically updated audiences and insights, enabling more relevant targeting and more efficient campaign execution.

Converting, engaging, and activating new accounts through personalized campaigns and automation is essential for scalable growth. Actionable data is the path to achieve this growth, from first click to primary relationship.

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