4 ways financial institutions can increase wallet share and retain business.

Wallet share, or the amount members regularly spend with your finserv brand, rather than with competitors, is directly correlated with retention, lifetime value, and member satisfaction. The greater your wallet share, the more loyal your member base is. And the more loyal your member base is, the better for your business. 

While this metric is ultimately driven by sales, you don’t have to jump straight to aggressive, hard-sell tactics to improve it. Consider the following tips for providing value for your customers and revenue for your business. 

1. Implement surveys in the membership journey

Providing value with your services begins with a deep understanding of your members. And you can’t understand their needs, wants, and expectations without asking them directly. At the beginning of the journey, perhaps even on a landing page for leads, start by asking the right questions. Consider using a survey to discover as much as possible about your prospects. With the rich data they provide, you (as the product expert) can then direct them to the most relevant and valuable services for their unique membership.

Surveys can also be of great use throughout the customer journey, following key interactions and touchpoints. Over time, jobs change, financial situations shift, and the need for additional services may grow or differ from initial conversion. It’s more than likely that your current members could be utilizing more of your services. But with a host of offerings and financial jargon that everyday consumers may not understand, there can be a disconnect with the true value you provide. 

It’s your job to close this gap. Gain deeper insights to your members’ needs and evaluate their satisfaction with your current offerings and interactions through surveys. You can even automate this process with a post-appointment text linking to your survey. The top concern customers have when choosing a bank is customer service, so gauge how you’re doing via surveys.

2. Align the voice of your financial brand

Branding can be easily (but mistakenly) overlooked in an effort to prioritize sales, discounts, and promotional percentage rates of financial institutions. But the fact is that a clear alignment of your mission and service goals with the actual customer experience brings twice as much share of wallet from members.

Make an intentional effort to establish your core values and deliver on your brand promises with every interaction—on paper, in-person, and digitally. Your members will come to expect (and enjoy!) the consistency of your financial brand across every platform and interaction. Your tagline and promotional language can transform from words on a marquee to a meaningful standard throughout the member journey. 

Stick to your brand voice, represent your core values on every channel, and members will stick with your financial institution. 

3. Offer incentives for more member engagement

Market Metrics reports that selling to existing members is more probable and 6-7x less expensive than acquiring new ones. And your members want to feel rewarded anyway—one-third of millennials report loyalty rewards as the number one expectation they have from financial institutions. You can meet these expectations with valuable incentives that please current members and attract new ones.

Your branch can create its own incentives based on what you know will increase sales and adoption, serve members, and beat out the competition. This could include free (but valuable) gifts with a loan purchase, credit cards with interest rates that decrease over time, waiving fees in certain scenarios, or creating savings accounts with increasing interest rates over time. Whatever you decide, be sure it adds value for members and promotes the likelihood of member retention. 

4. Use web chat to communicate in real-time

The top two concerns customers across all generations have when interacting with banks is customer service and easy-to-use online services. Top-notch communication skills will ease both of those concerns and promote member loyalty. 

Consider adding a web chat feature on your website to enable 24/7 customer service as well as live chat options with local representatives. This form of on-demand help is exactly what members prefer but are not usually granted in financial services. This level of near-instant gratification can set you apart from the competition, boost word-of-mouth marketing, and encourage customers to stay with your brand. 

See how Podium can help you increase your financial institution’s wallet share—request a free demo today.