An important goal for financial technology businesses, and any business for that matter, is to be able to connect with their audience in a highly personalized way. Though there are a plethora of marketing tools and strategies that allow such engagement, nothing compares to the longevity of email marketing which has always been one of the best performing marketing practices for businesses to date.
Email works well for fintech businesses, especially when it is highly targeted and personalized. A report shows that 89% of consumers would more likely do business with fintech companies that offer personalized customer experience while 55% would prefer email as the channel to receive such experience.
What is Email Marketing?
According to Automizy, email marketing is the process of creating and executing email strategies, sending highly personalized and targeted emails to your clients. Data collected by HubSpot shows that 79% of marketers see email marketing as one of the most effective marketing channels.
In this article, we are going to give you six reasons why email marketing is an essential component of the digital marketing strategy of fintech businesses, as well as how you can develop an effective email marketing strategy for the growth of your fintech business.
Reasons Why Email Marketing Can Help Grow Your Fintech Business
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Email marketing allows you to manage customer data
A lot of businesses overlook the value of getting to know their customers. Customer data allows you to provide more personalized services and content specifically for them. Enhancing the customer experience, in turn, allows you to build personal relationships and deeper connections with your clients.
Having an email marketing strategy allows fintech businesses to manage their customer data to tailor content to their customers’ needs and preferences and deliver targeted emails, as a way of personalizing the email experience even further.
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Regular communication with your customers
As they say, communication is key to any relationship. You need to consistently communicate with your customers to maintain and enhance your relationships with them. This is important for the success and longevity of your business. Through an effective email marketing strategy, you can keep your customers informed about your latest products, services, events, or activities.
You may also occasionally send emails that have nothing to do with promoting your business and its services. You can send surveys, ask for customer feedback, or get a sense of where your customers are generally through the form of check-in emails. If you do this, not only will your customers feel and appreciate how you genuinely care for them but―from their responses―you will also be able to gather insights to further improve their experience.
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Personalizing customer experience
Giving a personalized customer experience is important for any business, especially for financial services providers. Email marketing is a great channel for such purposes. According to Automizy, 40% of banking customers prefer financial service providers that give more personalized service. Enhanced customer service leads to enhanced customer relationships.
It is important to develop your relationships with your clients, establishing a sense of mutual trust and understanding. As a financial services provider, you can give a personalized customer experience with banking emails by recommending plans, advising customers, retaining customers, and upselling customers.
You can personalize your customers’ email experience by designing your emails in a way that resonates with your customers. Email marketing platforms such as one that HubSpot offers, for instance, provide businesses the right tools and resources to personalize their emails and even obtain customer data to help them create better emails in the future.
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Email marketing drives conversions
Email is a powerful channel for conversions. According to Campaign Monitor, an email campaign’s average click-through rate is 3% (of total recipients). On the other hand, the average click-through rate of a tweet is around 0.5%. This means that you are six times more likely to have someone check your website through email than you will through Twitter. Additionally, 4.24% of visitors from email marketing buy something whereas, for visitors of search engines and social media, it is only 2.49% and 0.59% respectively.
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Email is the preferred channel for communication
As financial service providers, it is important to uphold an image of professionalism, formality, and credibility. While social media is a popular platform used by a vast majority of people, email is still a more professional channel and people still expect to receive information about products and services through email, especially when it comes to financial matters.
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Email is effective in driving ROI
According to Campaign Monitor, email marketing renders an average of 3,800% ROI for businesses. For every $1 spent on email marketing, the average return of investment is $38. Why does email marketing perform effectively when it comes to ROI? It’s because emails give you the ability to send personalized and relevant content for your customers. The more customer data you have in your email marketing, the more targeted and relevant your emails will be for your customers. Relevance is what will make people click-through and make purchases, increasing your ROI.
How to Effectively Use Email Marketing For Your Fintech Business
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Onboard New Customers
It is important to give a great first impression in your onboarding email. Doing so will grab the attention of your new clients and have them engage with your future emails. An effective onboarding email always has a value proposition. Use data to determine what services your customers would love or services that would help resolve their financial problems.
Here is an example of an onboarding email from PayPal that exhibits a value proposition:
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Longer Subject Lines
Yes, you read that right. LONGER. You may think that shorter subject lines are better given the common tendency of people to skip long texts. But that is not exactly the case for email marketing. According to Step Change, longer subject lines outperform shorter ones because it is the tendency of the modern digital consumer to automatically dismiss and ignore sales messages— which are typically short, whereas informative messages are longer.
Step Change recommends having 65 characters for your email subject line. However, if you know that your customers access emails through mobile devices, ensure that the first 25 characters already convey your main point as a lot of mobile devices only show about 25-30 characters on a subject line.
Of course, aside from the length, the subject should have some substance. According to HubSpot, it's recommended to use clear, actionable, enticing language when creating the subject. It's also recommended to make it more personalized and aligned with the body of the email.
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Emails should either be entertaining or informative
In this digital age, it is a common practice of a lot of people to multitask. Many people would be checking their emails while doing something else and so you are competing for their attention. It is important that your emails be providing entertainment or information that is relevant to your customers. A lot of people are not familiar with financial concepts or tools and have trouble understanding it. As a financial services provider, educating your customers through email marketing can position your company as a trustworthy financial advisor to your customers.
- Send notifications emails
According to Automizy, notification emails generate a higher email open rate and engagement as clients expect updates regarding an action they performed. You can also send newsletters, updates, or announcements regarding new products, services, promos, activities, or events.
Here is an example of a banking email sent by OTP Bank informing their clients about a new service feature:
- First and foremost, customers expect you to attend to their needs. When engaging with your customers, you have to offer something valuable and relevant to them right at the start of the email to get their attention and keep them interested (e.g., special content, personal consultation, a bonus offer, or added service).
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Make your emails conversational
While it is ultimately important to present your fintech company to customers in a professional and formal manner, using a casual tone in your emails gives off a sense of friendliness and humanness. Remember, your customers are people and they would appreciate it if you talked to them like one.
In relation to making your email conversational, you should also ensure that it's personalized to your subscribers' tastes. As HubSpot pointed out, personalized emails have higher open rates, with 83% of customers willing to share their data to enjoy a more personalized email experience.
With the prevailing need for businesses to enhance customer experience and build deeper and personal relationships with customers, it is essential for fintech companies to invest in email marketing. The discussion in this article shows how an email marketing is an effective tool for such a purpose and it would definitely contribute to the growth of your business.
- Written by Rachel Rustria