My Journey in Analytics

Analytics are a powerful tool. Industries rise and fall with data. At the end of the day, businesses need to begin to utilize analytics at some level to stay competitive, increase customer experience, and build their business.

However businesses are not using analytics to their true potential. As a digital marketer I was never largely interested in analytics or data. My thought process changed when I began to see real examples of how this data could be used to create positive insights for businesses.

At the end of the day, I believe analytics is still intimidating for many. However with training courses like Google offers, analytics is becoming more and more “normalized” in business, especially in digital marketing. I am fortunate to have gotten such a great headstart and peaked interest in this area of digital marketing. 

#Hashtag – FI’s & Social Media

Financial Institutions (FI) across the country are using social media now more than ever to communicate with their customers. FI’s largely are known as impersonal so their entry into the social media realm and activity in that realm is improving their relationships with customers worldwide.

FI’s are doing what you would expect on social media: communicating with customers, using it for marketing/sales messaging and monitoring customer concerns/complaints. However less than 30%, according to the ABA’s State of Social Media in Banking Research Study, of Banks are using social media for competitive analysis or to conduct research.

A wealth of knowledge is available through these platforms about customers. Facebook can even be used to provide predictive analytics. FI’s need to use social media to socialize with customers but also need to be sure to use it as a tool to further their business.  

Can Facebook Provide Predictive Analytics?

As many of you know, my tagline when asked what I do for a living is something along the lines of “play on Facebook all day.” Fortunately for me (and my employer) my job is much more involved than “playing on Facebook.” As my final semester in Grad School winds down, there has been a large focus in analytics and how they are used to make informed decisions, or in this case using predictive analytics.

Looking at the Financial Industry (FI), it’s no surprise that predictive analytics are being used. What may surprise you however are the way FI’s, no matter the size, can gain insights. In the article Predictive Analytics: The Future of Financial Marketing by The Financial Brand, eight “data sources” are laid out as means of gaining information to draw insights.

As data becomes increasingly more available and the need for predictive analytics becomes more important, we as digital marketers must search for the latest ways to gauge our customers. Believe it or not, Facebook or social media in general may help to achieve the data needed for these “new age” data sources below.

Data sources listed in the article include:

• Channel preferences
• Social media insight
• Mobile data
• Consumer ratings and reviews
• Bill payment behavior
• Personal Financial Management
• Geolocation
• Weather and other external elements

While this list may not be impressive to some, you’ll note that almost all of these data sources can be gauged through Facebook, or other social media channels. While Facebook and social media is often noted as something for millennials, it is becoming more and more intrinsic in all digital marketing efforts.

Next time you deem Facebook as a simple social media platform, you may want to take a second look – it may be telling you exactly what you want to know about your customers. 

Prediction: Predictive Analytics are Important

As Financial Institutions (FI’s) become more aware of the mass amount of metrics they have access to, the need to be able to analyze this data increases. Just as big data hits the limelight, “first-movers” have already moved on to bigger and better analytics, found in predictive analytics.

If you’re looking for a way to continue to push forward in terms of data, metrics and analytics – predictive analytics is for you. According to Predictive Analytics: The Future of Financial Marketing by The Financial Brand, here are four marketing trends marketers must take into account:

• A need to generate customer relationship revenue
• Evolving consumer behavior and expectations
• A continued focus on improved operational efficiency
• The need for competitive differentiation through digital engagement

While this may seem like elementary points in advancing in analytics, they are crucial in gaining “good” insights, which demonstrate a proper representation of your customer base or target audience. 

Predictive Analytics: Creepy or Helpful

There are a few “schools of thought” when it comes to predictive analytics. From the digital marketing perspective/data scientist perspective it’s an amazing tool to gain customer perspective. On the other hand, many consumers view predictive analytics as “creepy” or infringing on their privacy.

Today, many digital marketers and data scientists use predictive analytics to better “predict trends, understand customers, improve business performance, drive strategic decision-making, and predict behavior” according to Forbes.

So, what does this really mean? Is this an invasion of privacy, does it improve the consumer experience, or is it used to just drive sales?

The meaning is up to perspective. Many consumers credit great experiences to above average deals and friendly salespeople. While predictive analytics can’t entirely help your in-store experience, it can predict the type of sales you want/look forward to. Is this really a negative?

One Step Forward and Two Steps Back

In a recent article by The Financial Brand, publisher Jim Marous discusses some surprising statistics regarding the financial industry. The persona of most FI’s has begun to change as they, like everyone else, fully immerse themselves in the 21^st Century – part of which is understanding a communicating better with customers.

Along the lines of communication, it’s no surprise that in the 2017 Financial Marketing Trends survey, when asked “Which of the following will be a priority for your organization over the next 12-18 months?” personalization, mobile marketing, cross-channel/cross-device marketing were all selected as “very important” by at least 50% of respondents with content marketing chosen by 49%, all landing the top spots in the list.

What makes this notable, are not what was selected, but the fact that data analytics/capabilities, marketing automation, and predictive modeling/mapping analysis all fell into the bottom half of the list.

FI’s have noted the shifts in marketing from traditional mediums to digital and have rightfully adjusted their strategic goals and objectives. What many of these FI’s have overlooked is the important role data analytics will play in helping them achieve these goals.

Personalization, mobile marketing, cross-channel/cross-device marketing and content marketing are nothing more than “buzz-words” if there are no analytics to back them up. FI’s that can first concentrate on a procedure to gather, analyze and interpret data (if they’re savvy they’ll work with some type of automated platform) are those who will see the greatest impact to not only their strategic goals and objectives, but also their bottom line.

Based on this survey, it seems FI’s have their eyes on the “right” prize… but they may find themselves working backwards if they don’t use data along their journey.

CDs, Not the Only Item of Low Interest in the Financial Industry

In this digital age we live in, of ever-increasing data and analytics it’s no surprise that financial institutions (FI’s) and the financial industry overall are tracking analytics and using data to make informed decisions. However, what you may not expect is, the use of marketing automation platforms to assist in interpreting and making use of this data is extremely low.

According to The Financial Brand’s article, Achieving Advanced Financial Marketing Maturity, by Jim Marous, less than a quarter of FI’s surveyed in the 2017 Financial Marketing Trends survey said they use some type of marketing automation platform. More shockingly, more than half of respondents simply answered “No”, insinuating they had no plans of using any type of platform.

So the question is “why” – why do FI’s have such little interest in data analytics and general marketing automation platforms? Many FI’s, to their credit, have come a long way in “opening up” to the 21^st Century, from a time when they were typically thought of as a large, impenetrable brick building full of “suits”, to today where many customers now stop by to meet with their local advisor to have a conversation rather than for a business transaction.

FI’s are making great strides in becoming human and personable again; perhaps this is a reason why they lag so far behind when it comes to the use of data and automation? Whatever the answer may be, times are changing. While cash is still king, that king is getting younger – if your FI isn’t using some type of platform to interpret data, they will continue to fall behind.