In today’s ever-changing economic environment, it’s more important than ever for credit unions to prioritize developing and executing a solid deposits growth strategy. And with evolving member expectations for data-driven, frictionless, and personalized digital experiences, institutions that understand the market landscape and are prepared to deliver will stand above the rest.

For financial marketers, this requires a real-time understanding of buyer intent to better determine where your current (and prospective) members are in their journeys. They can then offer every consumer targeted, personalized information at just the right time.

Business intelligence + marketing automation = better business decisions

Financial marketers have massive amounts of internal and external data flowing into their organizations every day. Using business intelligence and marketing automation to analyze this data will help them develop insights to make better business decisions, improve member outcomes, and remain competitive.

"Nearly 80% of marketing leaders say data, analytics, and insights are very important to winning and retaining customers," according to a CMO Council study. "Practically every marketer says direct access to customer data provides them with a competitive advantage."

That includes marketers at financial institutions.

But even as credit unions collect substantial data about their members, they often don't have the means to analyze that data to turn it into meaningful insights.

Unique challenges faced by financial marketers

• Data silos. Consumer data is often siloed in separate business units, making it difficult for marketers to access.
• Unstructured/unusable data. Many credit unions collect enormous amounts of unstructured data they never access—data that’s unusable because it’s never stored in their data warehouses.
• Limited reporting. Reporting can be challenging to access, making it difficult to determine impact and return on investment.

To address these challenges, an increasing number of financial marketers are turning to advanced analytic and data intelligence capabilities to gain deeper insight into buyer intent. Powerful business intelligence tools allow financial institutions to harvest more actionable insights from their data, enabling executives to make more informed decisions.

Credit unions that that use traditional marketing strategies to reach members will never deliver on the expectations their members have for relevant and personalized communications. Merely generating real-time insights isn't enough. To succeed, financial marketers need a way to take advantage of all their member data.

Amplifying business intelligence with marketing automation

Business intelligence tools give credit unions access to their information quickly so they can create key dashboards and visualizations to represent their information dynamically. When lenders use these tools in conjunction with marketing automation, they're able to:

• Employ data faster and more effectively. Layering business intelligence on top of powerful marketing automation software allows lenders to take action on the data stored in their data warehouses.
• Better understand and communicate with consumers. The combination of tools also enables financial marketers to analyze data so they can better understand and communicate with every consumer.
• Offer personalized products and services. Tapping into analytics and insights tools to personalize and improve the member experience can boost loyalty and increase profitability in both the short and long term.

It’s time to reimagine how you understand and communicate with members to help them overcome financial hardships and find solid financial footing in 2023 and beyond. 

Joe Mearn is director of product management at MeridianLink.