The Customer Data Platform: How Business Insights Power Hyper-Personalized Banking Experiences

Consumers have a tremendous amount of options today for where to keep their money – from brick and mortar banks to credit unions and even robo-advisors right on their phone. How can you get customers to spot you in the crowd?

The key might be a personal touch.

In a recent study, more than 70% of banking customers reported that personalization in their banking experience is “highly important.” Consumers of all demographics want to feel seen and to build a relationship with their banks, but creating a hyper-personalized experience for each and every customer can feel impossible.

The solution to provide those personalized experiences is a customer data platform. In today’s article, you’ll see how a software system designed to unify your data can transform your bank’s ability to digitally innovate.

What is a Customer Data Platform?

A customer’s path from initial problem to final purchase isn’t linear – there are several different ways a potential client can interact with your bank and gather information before deciding to leap in. So how do you keep track of their journey?

That’s the first place where a Customer Data Platform (CDP) comes in. A CDP is “software that aggregates and organizes customer data across a variety of touchpoints and is used by other software, systems, and marketing efforts.”

It’s a true financial representation of each and every customer that your bank serves, from that first financial exposure that the customer has within the bank’s four walls. But a CDP goes a step further, coupling that internal view with an external financial view for each client.

Even if a bank might know where its customer data is, though, sometimes accessing that data is another story. And even when that hurdle is cleared, they often find difficulty in viewing a complete financial view for each household across all areas of the bank.

A CDP can identify unique household identifiers, make it easy to bring in data from different sources, and provide comprehensive views for any customer.

Why Do Banks Need a Customer Data Platform?

The biggest benefit of a CDP? It can drastically improve your customer experience by making your firm’s data attainable and actionable through Business Insights reporting.

When a bank fully understands how a client interacts across all divisions of their business, from opening an account online to calling their financial advisor, they can create a more positive relationship.

If a customer is reaching out to a financial advisor at their local branch, that advisor should have access to a clear view on any of the client’s previous interactions with the bank. What does the retail relationship between the bank and the customer look like? Is the client a business owner with a commercial banking loan or deposit account?

The answers to these questions can pave the way for bank employees to properly serve customers, find opportunities to drive additional revenue, and present more options for your customers.

What Sets a Customer Data Platform Apart?

A CDP differs from data warehouses or other system integrations in that it is actionable and intelligent. The data within a CDP is open and available – you can use it to create a personalized user experience through APIs that puts exactly the right information in front of a user that they need for curated interactions with your bank.

With open data that’s accessible in a variety of ways, you gain clarity and the ability to proactively identify opportunities and risks across your entire customer and prospect list.

In addition, a CDP can support an endless number of data sources, both internally and externally. It can pull data from other custodians and external institutions that otherwise might be pulled in by using third-party data aggregation platforms.

Another bonus? With CDPs, data permissioning is built-in, giving your employees access to the household and datasets they need.

What Can You Do with a Customer Data Platform?

Data is king – but organized and comprehensive data is even better. When you have detailed and complete business insights at your fingertips, you can drive growth by providing better advice and custom, roles-based experiences for each type of user in your organization.

When it comes to customers, organized and comprehensive data means your bank can deliver hyper-personalized interactions for each. You’ll be able to know the exact financial makeup of each person you work with, while also sharing that data with any internal employees who need to interact with your customers.

Financial planners, financial advisors, business bankers, and even executives – they all want to see that data. With a CDP, the limits are endless.

You can also feed that data into other accessible analytics engines to drive revenue generating opportunities. Think about what your bank could be doing with a CRM system – like Microsoft Dynamics or Salesforce.

A CDP can be fed directly into that CRM to present data to different households. Plus, your CDP’s data can be utilized within your CRM’s analytics engine.

Unify Your Data with Wealth Access

Wealth Access is a customer data platform that works with your banks’ existing systems to generate deeper insights and create hyper-personalized banking experiences.

If you’re ready to improve your customer experience, request a demo to see Wealth Access in action today.