How Fintech Companies Improve Customer Engagement with Text Messaging

Fintechs are sprouting up daily, and keeping track of them is hard. Estimates put the number of Fintech startups at 26000. Offering convenient, safe, and rapid financial transactions, it is no wonder that more than 65% of the global population uses these apps. Fintechs open users to other financial instruments such as stocks, crypto trading, investments, and loans. 

The Fintech space is very competitive, and it is increasingly difficult to keep customers. One way to get a leg up on the competition is to nurture close engagement with customers. You can increase engagement with customers with SMS, which is shown to have a 43% click-through rate. 

In this blog post, you will see the benefits of SMS engagement for fintechs. You will also see the fundamentals of customer engagement and winning strategies to attract and keep customers. 

Why Should FinTech Companies Start Using SMS Marketing?

SMS marketing has great benefits and has been proven to be one of the most effective means of creating brand awareness. Bulk SMS for financial companies include the following benefits. 

Effective marketing channel

It is not enough to send mass messages to customers. Opening the messages is more important. The comparison in the open rates of email and SMS is quite stark. 

For emails, the rate is 20%, while SMS has about 98% open rate. More to this is that SMS typically doesn’t need an internet connection, unlike emails. Hence all classes of customers can receive SMS. 

Measure customer engagement

SMS marketing allows you to measure the performance of your marketing campaigns. 

It provides you with metrics to analyze the SMS’s open and click-through rates. Analysis from the SMS campaigns helps you with targeted content for future marketing purposes. 

Cheap marketing 

Every business is looking to cut costs while maximizing profits. SMS marketing significantly helps you minimize costs due to its cheap cost. 

In contrast to marketing channels like billboards and TV ads, sending bulk SMS to thousands of people is more budget-friendly. 

Greater reach

Every mobile phone user is a potential receiver of branded SMS.  Statista puts the number of mobile phone users at over 7 billion. 

Not all phone users have email accounts or social media accounts. But all phones support SMS, which only needs the service of a network provider. 

Fintechs usually operate across countries, and reaching billions of potential customers for their services is only possible with SMS marketing. 

Fundamentals of Customer Engagement. 

Before beginning your SMS marketing, there are principles to note for effective customer engagement. 

Authenticity 

The end goal of customer engagement is to establish an emotional connection with the customer. If your message is fake or copied, the customer may not connect with it. Emotional relationships are built on trust and credibility. It helps to craft a brand message that speaks to the customer’s heart. 

Detailed Contents

You must add all the relevant information when sending bulk SMS to your customers. Insert details such as URLs to your website and CTAs for comprehensive messaging. Ideally, you want the customers to act on the messages; hence these details are important. 

Relevance

The message must be relevant to the needs of the particular customer. This is where personalization comes in. Use Customer’s information and past behavior to send targeted messages relevant to them. 

Timing 

You must factor in the best time to send out messages. A message about discounts or promos may work poorly on a busy morning. Customers will likely react favorably to such engagement messages in the evenings or on weekends. You can use a bulk SMS marketing software to send SMS at favorable times.  

Gamification 

Fintechs are more patronized by the Gen Z population than any other demographic. To keep them interested in your message, introduce fun elements into the messages, such as text-to-win or scratch-to-win contests. The upside to this is that you associate fun and entertainment with your brand. 

Engaging Customers with SMS: Top 7 Strategies & Tactics for FinTech

So how do you keep customers with engaged SMS for your Fintech? We will provide SMS customer engagement strategies to help you. 

Use Customer Loyalty Programs

Loyalty programs are designed to reward consistent customers and show how much you appreciate their patronage. Ask these customers to provide their phone numbers and notify them of an upcoming gift for them. 

For instance, you can promise them a certain amount for completing some transactions within a month. When they are one or two transactions away from their prize, send them reminders to complete the transactions. The customer feels appreciated and is willing to engage with your brand. 

SMS Competitions

This is a fun way to increase customer engagement using SMS. In this tactic, the Fintech company provides words like ‘CASH’ or ‘CREDIT’ and asks customers to text those words to a shortcode. 

For instance, text CASH to 55555 to win cash prizes or interest-free loans of up to $1000. This tactic leverages peoples’ desire for free things. Stats show that brands gain an average of 17500 new fans from these competitions. 

However, when sending these engagement text, include the terms and conditions for winning the prize. Also, allow customers to opt-in to receive newsletters and updates. 

Send educative information 

One way to improve customer engagement with your brand is to send them educational content on your services. Help your customers understand your product better through useful tips. Fintechs can use this tactic to send tips about investments and savings.

Most people are financially illiterate and may need help understanding how to use some financial tools properly. SMS can bring Fintech users up to speed on their finances. 

Polls and surveys

Feedback is important for a brand to know how it is doing and for customers to have their say. Polls and surveys provide a smooth way to aggregate customer experience and expectations. 

Engage them by creating interactive polls on your services. Ensure that the survey form is simple enough to avoid boring the customers. Also, you can impact on customer relations with 2-way SMS messaging to receive feedback.  

Personalized content

People are more receptive to engagement text messages that use personal details like their names or addresses. Instead of a mere ‘Hi’ or ‘Hello,’ use Hi John or Hello April for maximum effect. 

You can go beyond that to tell of products they might find useful based on past behavior. Or you can direct them to the nearest stores based on their addresses. Personalization has been proven to work, with 80% of customers preferring to patronize brands that use personalized messaging. 

Utilize SMS for Customer Support 

Contacting a customer care agent is one of the most frustrating activities. It is even more frustrating when customers try to enquire about their accounts. 

Fintechs can eliminate those worries by using SMS as customer support. Users can get account summaries, payment reminders, or charges through SMS. You can provide more details in the SMS to build trust with the customer.

Use SMS for updates 

Customers will connect with you if you carry them along with happenings in Fintech. Updates on new products or the latest trends are important to keep engagement high with your customers. 

To Conclude 

Customer engagement is critical to the growth of any business. If done correctly, it increases the customer base of the company. SMS for customers is a very effective strategy to keep customers interested in the Fintech brand. Its benefits make it useful. 

To put it to good use, you need the right partner with experience in successful SMS campaigns. BSG is a partner with a proven track record to help you win new customers and keep the old ones.