The Potential of Emotional Marketing: Should Companies Be More Emotional?

For B2B services to see growth in the next decade, companies will need to work harder to create lasting relationships with their clients. What is the best way to do that? By tapping into their emotional side.

When thinking about B2B the word “emotional” isn’t usually top of mind. Often more closely related with the ideas of strength and tradition, B2B products/services and related institutions tend to focus on creating customer relationships based on rationality over emotionality. This is most apparent in customer surveys and collected data in which customers are qualified as either “satisfied” or “dissatisfied”. What many banks are failing to realise is that satisfaction does not equal loyalty. Customer satisfaction is only step one. Emotion-driven connection is the goal.

Clients Demand, Banks Deliver

The primary focus of most banking outreach initiatives of late has been focused on one group in particular: Millennials. The millennial generation is moving in as the financial decision-makers in the market, and for them, service and simplicity are top concerns. More technologically capable and open to digital finance alternatives, millennials will not remain loyal to a specific bank simply because they are satisfied with the service.

But emotion-driven connection isn’t only important for the millennials. When a market-leading brokerage firm in the United States looked at customer engagement amongst the affluent baby boomers, they found that “emotionally-connected” clients were more than twice as likely to recommend the firm than even the “highly satisfied” clients. Additionally, 49% of the “emotionally-connected” customers stated that they would like to increase assets with the firm as opposed to only 8% of the “highly satisfied” customers.

Studying over 100 customer touchpoints the firm was able to determine the impact of various marketing strategies in building an emotional connection with the client. Methods such as investment-centred podcasts and videos, proactive & personalized outreach from an advisor, and the ability to connect via video chat after hours or on weekends had the highest impact. In general, emotional connection was built when customers felt that they were being talked to, not at.

Finance and Empathy

For banks to survive in the new era, they’ll need to start looking towards a more service-invested and client-curated future. Banks can maintain their direction, staying true to their values, but build alternatives and seek out connections with their customers.

The new world of banking is faster and more agile. Technology has made it possible for banks to meet customers where they are, online, on Zoom, or in an app. Similarly, customers now expect this same level of flexibility in the services that a bank offers them.

To achieve this connection, several large banks have sought the help of FinTechs. As smaller companies, FinTechs are better able to build a product tailored towards a specific aspect of the customer experience and adapt it as the market demands. These tools can enhance and improve the bank’s existing products and services and establish new partnerships and alliances that will aid with future growth.

Opportunity Network, for example, partners with leading banks to offer their clients access to a global network of off-market business deals. Client engagement on the platform can help the bank discover their customers’ needs and enable them to tailor their product and service offerings to suit them. Building a deep emotional connection to better stimulate businesses’ growth and, as a result, increase bank revenue.

By supporting their clients on various levels, bank advisors can work more closely with their clients and can improve their proactive outreach. If done well, the bank can become the customers’ first stop for all their business needs, from asset management to digital transformation. This will mean opening up a new level of collaboration, where the banks become a global orchestrator of a multi-industry ecosystem.

A Focus on Growth

For corporate banking to see growth in the next decade, banks will need to embrace a faster, more agile, and client-centric focus. By building emotional connections with their customers, banks will drive organic growth and strong customer loyalty. Banks who go beyond satisfactory service and aim to deliver on their customers’ range of business needs and goals will see an increase in business from both new and existing customers.

Adapting to the evolving landscape, this is how banks can change the game. Taking both them and their customers to the top.