Given the widespread embrace of online and mobile services, it may seem branch banking is a thing of the past. However, from same-day cashier’s checks to personalized help, branches offer services customers can’t find online, research continues to show that customers still rely heavily on branches as part of their financial services experience. For example, a Deloitte survey found that most customer prefer to open new accounts for simple products like savings and debit cards and complex products like loans in person. And 75 percent of respondents to a Jefferie’s survey said they visited physical branches at least once per month. (This includes millennial respondents, who indicated branch and ATM proximity as the number-one factor in choosing a new bank.)
Though bank branches are evolving in the digital age—most notably adding more self-service options and keeping staff dedicated primarily to more complex transactions—they’re here to stay. And one thing that hasn’t changed? If financial services institutions want customers to keep taking advantage of their brick-and-mortar outposts and all they have to offer (especially in a post-COVID world), they need to consider the in-branch customer experience. A big piece of that customer experience puzzle is in-store marketing. After all, a strong multichannel marketing campaign doesn’t end at the front door; rather, it pulls the messages and visual branding customers have seen online and in their mailboxes all the way into the branch.
Here are three ways banks and other financial services institutions can use print marketing to enhance customers’ in-branch customer experience.
Welcome Them In
Start with the basics: signage and literature that welcomes customers into the branch and guides them to the products and services they need. This could include overhead directional signage telling them exactly where to go within the branch, or highly visible instructions for using the ATMs and interactive teller machines. It could also include brochures, postcards, and signage detailing current interest rates, seasonal promotions, and new services.
Bank customers need to feel confident in how their chosen financial services institution is going to manage their money, and a positive in-branch experience goes a long way in building that confidence. Uncertainty about how to get the help they need, how to operate the self-service options, etc., isn’t a great start. But when customers can walk through the door and, with the help of in-store marketing materials, learn exactly what to do and where to go, they’ll feel confident that they—and their hard-earned money—are in good hands.
Keep It Touchless & Paperless
Today, there are two primary drivers of the desire for touchless interactions with any business: environmental sustainability and COVID-inspired sanitation practices. For many businesses, this has led to a renewed embrace of the QR code. Restaurants are using them to give diners access to digital menus, minimizing both waste and contact. Real estate companies are using them to deliver virtual home tours to buyers. And financial services companies are embracing QR codes as well, upgrading signage with links to their service offerings to online loan applications, appending codes to brochures that will take new users directly to sign-up pages, and allowing customers to access and fill out forms on their own personal devices instead of on paper.
QR codes are a powerful addition to a financial services marketing strategy, blending print and digital to enhance safety, minimize paper waste, and provide a more streamlined in-branch customer experience.
Take It Outside
Finally, with many banks taking advantage of drive-through lanes and lobby ATMs and ITMs, be sure to extend your marketing and branding reach into these ancillary areas. Make both the drive-through and the lobby “brand beacons” rather than simply utilitarian spaces by adding signage in both areas, posting scannable QR code stickers to your drive-through stations, and setting up eye-catching product menus that will entice customers who stopped by for a simple ATM withdrawal to stop in (or scan the QR code) to learn more about your other offerings.
For inspiration, look around you next time you drive through somewhere like Starbucks, where the drive-through is an extension of the in-store experience, offering product recommendations and more to loyal customers.
With customers still relying heavily on brick-and-mortar branches for their banking needs, effective financial services marketing leverages in-store displays — from floor stickers to QR codes and beyond — to extend their multichannel marketing efforts into their branches and create powerful customer experiences. OneTouchPoint can help maximize these experiences by creating effective consumer engagements at every touchpoint, culminating in powerful in-branch marketing displays that increase both brand awareness and revenue. We invite you to learn more about these capabilities and the other ways OneTouchPoint helps financial services institutions power brand engagement. Then, when you’re ready, request a quote on your next project. Our experts will provide insight and ideas to deliver phenomenal results at a great price.