Every year, financial services firms invest billions of dollars in marketing and customer experience improvements that do not produce significant results. Products and services are commoditized and innovations are short-lived. Cross-sell ratios are stagnant, and aggressive sales tactics and quotas are no longer a viable strategy. Institutions have no choice but to attract more customers and serve more of their needs. But how?

The key to differential growth is connecting with clients at an emotional level. Appealing to customers’ deepest emotions is far from a new idea – but big data and technology now allow what was once marketing art to become business science. To do so, customers’ emotions must be objectively defined, measured and modeled to predict the most profitable behaviors.

Emotional connections can drive increases in customer lifetime value of as much as 800% for financial services firms. An emotional connection occurs when customers connect their deepest motivations, values and aspirations to a brand.

When customers feel a financial institution helps them realize such personal values as achieving social acceptance, attaining freedom and independence in life or simplifying life in a complex world, they have an emotional connection to the institution. These types of unspoken emotional needs – typically not captured in traditional market and consumer insight research – are the strongest drivers of customer value in the industry.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: thefinancialbrand.com