It goes without saying that COVID—and the resultant changes in business models across industries—have permanently transformed the way in which businesses connect with their customers.

Among FIs, this culture shift has been especially visible. 

While in the past, consumers visited their local branch to take out loans, finance a new house or car, or establish a new line of credit, that’s no longer the case. You can attribute this to the 2020 pandemic or the emergence of online banking solutions–more likely, both–but the simple fact remains that only 10% of consumers want to bank in person anymore.

For major financial institutions like Citizens Bank or Bank of America, Chase Bank or Fidelity Investments, this isn’t a problem. These organizations, with their extensive resources, have already built out online and mobile banking solutions that promise convenience and rapid response. Not to mention, the substantial share of mind that comes with hefty marketing and advertising budgets to ensure they are top of mind for consumers at every turn – from billboards to commercials to search engines. 

In the past, these offerings might have seemed unnecessary, just an added benefit. For local and small banking institutions, they might have seemed like an expensive indulgence. 

That’s no longer the case.

Local FIs who want to hold on to their clients need mobile-first solutions—not simply to provide the convenience their consumers demand, but to continually re-establish the personalized relationships that distinguish them from their juggernaut competitors.

Using mobile to embody the promise of community FIs

The reason consumers choose local institutions over larger national chains is pure and simple: they trust that your institution cares about them. Whereas they might be one in 69 million at Bank of America, they’re confident that, with you, they won’t be lost in the crowd.

But, in order to reinforce that confidence and trust, you need to meet them where they are; you need to provide them with flexible and adaptable banking options that let them know you’re there whenever they need you. If working with you requires schlepping out of the house to sort out an issue that another, larger bank promises can be done digitally, your clients will ultimately feel as though you’re putting the onus of their banking on them.

In contrast, investing in a mobile-first engagement approach puts your clients’ comfort and convenience at the forefront of the relationship. It gives them the resources they need to manage their finances whenever they need, no matter where they are. 

Their financial institution—and, by extension—their local banking community, is always there for them.

Mobile-first engagement deepens relationships

The power of mobile-first engagement solutions that work through your digital banking app doesn’t start and stop with basic consumer convenience. 

In fact, they expand the ways in which community FIs are able to interact with consumers, understand their needs, and ensure deeper and more personalized relationships.

The ability to build a data-based portrait of your client, leveraging insights into their needs and behaviors is necessary to recommend additional services and banking options through the lifetime of your banking relationship.

For instance, rather than forcing them to search how their credit score will affect their ability to get a mortgage, you can drive them to the mobile app for financial wellness information available whenever they need it.

Furthermore, with each and every interaction, you’re better positioned to offer keen, unique insight into whatever questions they may have. They won’t need to drive through rain and snow, stand in line until their feet get sore, wait for an attendant specialized in their specific question to be available, and reiterate their banking information over and over again.

With mobile engagement solutions, you can provide timely, relevant information and promotions, making your consumer feel understood and taken care of, just like the branch experience of yesteryear.  Perhaps even better, because the convenience of mobile means consumers are “visiting” far more often than they did in those branch-centric days.

Mobile-first means consumer-first

Client relationships are the backbone of community financial institutions. The reason your consumers choose you is because they refuse to be lost in the shuffle. They trust you, and believe you’ll be attentive to their needs in ways that larger FIs won’t be.

But you need to prove that, and prove it often.

Mobile banking solutions provide a direct line to your client. Using that line to communicate with them helps community FIs engage directly with their consumers, offering the friendliness of a kind teller without demanding that the client walk into a branch to experience that friendliness.

With the deluge of new tailor-made banking technology, it’s more important than ever for smaller financial institutions to meet their consumers where they are, to meet their rising expectations. No matter how small your institution is, the ability to communicate through mobile banking expands your reach further than the branch ever did. 

No matter how far away your client may be, mobile-first consumer engagement will always make you feel local to wherever that client is.

About Pulsate

Pulsate is a mobile consumer engagement platform that helps community financial institutions deliver personalized outreach at the moment consumers need it most. 

Community financial institutions use Pulsate to curate push notifications, in-app messages, and other communications triggered in real-time by a consumer’s behavior, timing, and location. 

More than 270 credit unions and community FIs use Pulsate to bring the right products and services to their members’ fingertips at exactly the right time.

Book a demo today to see how your FI can win in your consumers’ moment of need.