80% of customers
consider the experience a company provides
to be as important as its products and services
SOURCE: Salesforce, What Are Customer Expectations and How Have They Changed?, 2024
Enhancing Customer Engagement
How digital experiences can make or break your financial institution’s engagement strategy
Consumers have embraced the immediacy, convenience and ease of conducting their business online. New technologies also mean people have become used to increasingly sophisticated digital experiences — from personalized recommendations from streaming services to curated shopping lists from online retailers.
These new and enhanced digital experiences are raising the bar for financial institutions and FinTechs as their customers understandably expect more from online interactions. The ability to meet these heightened digital expectations is now a primary driver of customer engagement.
Keys to improve customer engagement
What is digital customer engagement for banks and why does it matter?
In the financial services industry, customer engagement references how banks, credit unions and FinTechs interact with their customers to encourage greater trust, loyalty and satisfaction. Organizations most effective at customer engagement have successfully incorporated their strategies in every interaction — whether at the branch, on the phone or online.
Customer reliance on online and mobile banking makes an organization’s digital customer engagement strategy critical to its ability to compete successfully and thrive.
How have FIs historically encouraged digital engagement?
At one point, simply making products and services available online was considered an acceptable digital engagement strategy. Providing consumers the ability to digitally complete loan and credit card applications; manage checking, savings or investment accounts; and make mortgage or other bill payments online — these were all good enough for a long time.
But as customers encounter more sophisticated, nuanced digital experiences from other sites, they’ve come to demand their financial service providers meet their higher standards of personalized, proactive and empowering capabilities.
How important are digital experiences to customer engagement?
The quality of a bank’s customer experience influences the overall satisfaction and brand loyalty of its book of business. Satisfied, loyal customers are more likely to continue to use the institution’s products and services — and in a sector dominated by similar products and services, that can provide a competitive edge.
Just as importantly, a poor experience can hurt the organization’s reputation, driving away existing customers and dissuading prospects. Research shows the vast majority of customers now consider the experience a company provides to be as important as its products and services.
Can personalization strengthen online customer engagement?
Adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), gamification strategies, recommendation engines and other technologies in other industries have demonstrated how delivering dynamic, personalized experiences to customers enhances satisfaction, loyalty and retention.
Put simply, a personalized experience is often viewed as a positive one.
That’s why customers increasingly expect customized guidance and support from all their online interactions, including their financial institutions and apps.
Benefits of delivering personalized digital experiences
Higher conversion rates
The data used to empower customers with a personalized digital experience can also be used to help the organization better understand their behaviors, preferences and financial goals. The organization can curate offers made to customers to ensure they’re relevant. This targeted approach can lead to higher conversion rates and increased revenue.
Targeted educational programs
Similarly, financial education efforts can be tailored based on where the customer is on their journey. Providing personalized credit education — reinforced with interactive tools like a credit score simulator — can help customers improve their creditworthiness. As their financial standing improves and they qualify for more advanced products, tailored offers can be presented.
Informed product development
Such insights can also guide development of the organization’s future products and services. Understanding the specific needs and preferences of its customer base enables the organization to make better-informed decisions, helping ensure investments made result in offerings that have ready and willing audiences.
64% of customers
prefer to buy from companies that tailor
experiences to their specific needs
SOURCE: Qualtrics, Increased Expectations, Declining Loyalty; Qualtrics Announces 2025 Consumer Experience Trends, 2024
How does customization enhances customer engagement?
When your digital banking platform or app enables customers to customize their experiences, they feel more in control. Customizable dashboards, alerts and preference settings give them the ability to get the information they want, the way they want it, which increases customer satisfaction.
By empowering customers with better access and greater control, the organization is often seen as a more transparent and trustworthy partner — one dedicated to helping customers achieve their financial goals. That brand affinity can lead an organization to become the customer’s provider of choice.
Financial empowerment is critical to a successful customer engagement strategy
When allowing customers more control over their digital experiences, a financial organization should consider how they can add the most value. Designing the experience to improve credit literacy and financial knowledge delivers multiple, mutual advantages.
After all, educated customers make smarter decisions along their financial journeys — and organizations positioned to help them along are apt to generate greater brand loyalty.
What type financial educational content encourages online customer engagement?
Infographics and slide presentations
Video demos and tutorials
Webinars (either live or on demand)
Interactive tools and games
Customer polls and surveys
How can interactive tools like credit score simulators help financial education programs?
A credit score simulator shows customers how different financial actions can impact their credit scores so they can test different scenarios in a controlled, safe environment. Customers gain a better understanding of the factors that contribute to their credit scores and how they can improve them.
Such interactive tools enhance the learning experience for consumers, making tested scenarios easier to visualize and remember. The challenge of trying to raise their scores in a simulator adds a gamification element to the educational program — which keeps customers returning to the platform.
Embedding interactive tools like credit score simulators helps create a dynamic, effective financial education program that drives engagement and fosters a sense of financial empowerment.
Benefits of adding a credit score API to your financial education platform
Greater personalization
Insights are based on the customer’s personal credit details, making them real and relevant. Customers can better understand their actual financial situations.
Enhanced engagement
Unlike static content, interactive tools encourage customers to actively participate in the process, making lessons learned more enjoyable and memorable.
Empowered customers
Simulators help customers understand how their financial decisions will impact their credit scores — whether paying off a loan or getting a new credit card.
Improved trust
When customers see their financial providers are invested in their success, they typically become more loyal and engage with additional products and services.
Repeated usage
Combining gamification tactics with personalized and relevant insights makes credit tools incredibly useful, repeatedly drawing customers back to the platform.
Increased insights
The data used to enhance customers’ experiences also provides insights into their behaviors and preferences, enabling the organization to best tailor its offers.
3X
Consumers who self-monitor their credit are
three times more likely to open a new account
SOURCE: TransUnion, Turn Digital Engagement Into Success for Consumers and Financial Institutions Alike , 2025
Does an identity education service enhance customer engagement in banking?
Just as educating customers about their credit scores through interactive tools can increase engagement, informing customers why protecting their identity information is vital to their financial well-being can be an effective component of an organization’s digital experience and customer engagement strategy.
Embedding an identity theft protection solution can deliver many of the same engagement, gamification and personalization capabilities as a credit score simulator.
How do identity protection solutions encourage customer engagement?
A dynamic identity risk score based on their unique breach histories provides personalized insights into the specific threats they face.
Personalized action plans help them counter threats and lower their scores — creating a feedback loop that keeps them coming back.
Why is identity theft education important to a financial provider’s digital experience?
Identity safety is an integral part of financial wellness. A person’s financial well-being can be measured by their control over their finances, ability to absorb financial shocks, being on track to meet financial goals, and capacity to make financial choices to enjoy life.
Identity crimes, such as having financial accounts taken over or fraudulent loans taken out in the victim’s name, can severely disrupt any of these measures of financial wellness, potentially causing financial loss, credit score damage and denial of financial products.
By integrating identity safety education and protection into its digital experience, a financial institution or FinTech demonstrates its commitment to the customer’s well-being — which builds trust and loyalty while encouraging greater customer engagement.
What are best practices for your digital engagement strategy?
Analyze customer data for insights
Examine the data collected on customers to identify behaviors, preferences and needs. This data-driven approach enables you to deliver more personalized and relevant interactions — enhancing the customer experience.
Deliver hyper-personalized interactions
Today’s customers expect personalization in their online experiences. Leverage the insights gathered from the customer data analysis to tailor offers and educational content based on their individual spending habits and financial goals.
Apply an omnichannel approach
Your organization should provide a seamless and unified experience everywhere online. Whether a customer is connecting to your mobile app, website or social media account, the digital experience should be consistent across all touchpoints.
- Simplify the user experience (UX)
Create intuitive and user-friendly interfaces that enable customers to get done exactly what they want. Navigation should be streamlined and platforms accessible for all. Ensuring the UX is easy to use can help ensure customer satisfaction. - Offer interactive content
Interactive tools are more engaging than static content. In addition to calculators and simulators, consider offering tutorials and webinars customers can actively participate in. Giving customers an active role can increase their engagement. - Prioritize privacy and security
While customers conduct a lot of business online, many are concerned about their data being misused or stolen. Build customer trust by ensuring robust cybersecurity at all touchpoints and being transparent about your data privacy policies. - Solicit and act on customer input
- Let customers know they matter by regularly collecting customer feedback. This can be done through surveys, online reviews and user groups. Incorporate their pain points and suggestions when planning enhancements to your digital services.
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