Good conversion rates require effective client engagement, particularly in FinTech. This topic was the center of a panel discussion during the FinTech-Aviv Annual Summit, with panelists from Facebook, Solitics, Equitech and TeleMessage.
Let us cover the insights of the panelists: Shlomi Orgad (Head of FinTech, Facebook), Harel Falk (VP of Sales & Business Development, Solitics), Gil Shapira (VP of Business Development, TeleMessage), and Nir Netzer (Founding Partner, Equitech) the moderator of the panel discussion.
After moderator Netzer’s welcoming remarks, Gil Shapira noted that TeleMessage enables employees in regulated firms to use mobile communication channels like WhatsApp, WeChat, Telegram, Signal, SMS, and calls in a compliant manner. The trends in communication between employees and clients saw a significant change with the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic. When traders, wealth managers, and private bankers and others were asked to suddenly work from their homes, they relied on their existing communication channels.
Mobile calls increased up to three to five times and the SMS traffic also increased by two or three times depending on industry and geography. Facebook reported an increase in WhatsApp usage by 40%. But the WhatsApp usage in regulated industries saw an increase of 100–180%. In firms that already allowed their employees to use WhatsApp for business communication, WhatsApp became the preferred mode of communication.
During the first phase of the pandemic, financial regulators across the globe relaxed their stance on the regulatory compliance expected from financial firms. With an intention to allow the continuance of day trading, regulators asked firms to continue working from home, initially without having to comply with all the regulations that were present while working from the office. But when they understood that the pandemic was going to be a prolonged phenomenon, regulators asked firms to implement new compliance measures, especially in the areas of recording, archiving, and surveillance of mobile conversations.
After several months, the SEC issued its first fine against a broker-dealer for failing to retain text messages relating to the firm’s business. FINRA also expelled a broker who used WhatsApp messenger to conduct non-compliant securities-related business with customers. The FCA also issued a special notice warning firms to record and archive the business communications through mobile phones. The HKMA also highlighted the need to record WhatsApp and WeChat messages owing to the increase in employees using such channels. Similarly, regulators in Australia and India have also advised financial firms to record and surveil the business conversations of their employees. The overall approach from the regulators shows that the initial regulatory relaxations given were gradually being withdrawn and the regulators expect the firms to be compliant, even if their employees are working from home.
The varying preference and evolution in the mode of business communication thus require firms to adopt an omnichannel compliant approach for client contact.
Shlomi Orgad, Facebook Head of FinTech shared his views on client engagement, where he focused on the less discussed topic of client pre-purchase engagement. Facebook is a product discovery channel where people are exposed to new products for the first time. Hence, the company has a role in converting platform users to customers, and understands the importance of user engagement before purchase.
Companies regularly overlook the pre-purchase user engagement phase, neglecting lead quality and acquisition costs. Unlike e-commerce or simple products, complex financial products have lead quality risks, with consumers in the B2B funnel channel. The acquisition funnels that companies design are usually built for demand harvesting and they are intended for suitable users that know exactly what they want, which is not necessarily those responding to redirected product pages.
Hence, companies must learn to engage their potential customers before they sign in, register, or leave their details. This method allows companies to achieve two things; demonstration of the company’s service to the users so that users can assess if the product is fit for them, and second, companies can learn more about their potential customers. Ensuring that the user understands the product clearly and learning more about the user allows companies to target more promising clients. Hence, the data collected can be factored into a predictive lifetime value (LTV) model, which allows companies to focus on more promising users and ensure better user engagement.
To focus on the right customers most companies focus on users with higher LTV. While most companies try to shorten the initial engagement time, FinTech companies must extend their engagement so that more data on the users can be gathered by adding user-oriented questions. Users must be willing to test-drive the product first and provide information about themselves.
LTV models can either be formulated by the company or entrusted to a third-party vendor. Live demo or live test drive of the product or service can be given to the users. Some companies use the tactic of giving model calculations also. If FinTech companies can come up with innovative ideas to educate the users about the product, like providing a few free services in the beginning, then companies can easily convert potential users into customers.
Orgad also added that business communication must switch to easier channels that are practical in everyday life. Hence, the most important shift that companies see will be the use of mobile messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or iMessage.
Harel Falk from Solitics, addressed the importance of data in client management and expressed his views on how FinTech companies must treat the data they receive in an efficient manner.
FinTech companies receive a lot of data from their customers like digital banks, payment providers, exchanges, and trading companies, where the data is critical. The data thus collected will be used for improving customer experience, customer engagement, process automation, personalization, support automation, sale, and other different aspects of the business. Even though a lot of data is available, this data is available in a distributed fashion, where accessibility is hard. Some financial firms go on to spend millions of dollars on building complex data products and end up with a very print solution that doesn’t answer their needs in real-time.
Hence, it is wise to invest in a FinTech solution that can integrate all the different data sources of the organization so that the data can be used easily and smartly in real-time. The execution time of such data projects can be brought down to days and weeks, instead of years, and that too at a minimal cost. Using an efficient FinTech solution can help financial firms have a centralized data management system that they can use to engage their customers on a one-on-one level, rather than treating all the customers in a similar manner.
Falk also mentioned the effectiveness of relying on real-time data to improve client conversion rates. Using the right data to give the right experience at the right time will create a one-on-one, relevant, contextual experience for the customer. FinTech firms can provide their solution as a canvas with some advanced tools like customer journey builders. The tools must have the ability to create personalized segmentation and manage campaigns on a one-on-one level, and on the fly decision-making abilities, based on the data the firms have. By doing this FinTech firms can help financial firms address the user at the right time at the right place. This could either be for the conversion funnel, retention, ongoing return customer satisfaction or even churning prevention or reactivation.
Considering a digital bank as an example, if a customer that comes into the bank’s website to look at a certain loan offer or a mortgage doesn’t engage with it and doesn’t continue leaps, then an email tailored for that customer, having the relevant numbers and information can be sent for better engagement. If the customer engages with that email, he/she will come back into the bank’s app or website. If an action is not formed even after two-to-four minutes, then pop-ups can be displayed with educational materials or additional offers. Another method is to ask them to fill a sign-up form or even an offer to connect them with a customer service agent to help them out. Identifying customers based on their historical data with the companies and providing them with the right service helps customers have a more personal experience, which can eventually turn out to be a successful business.
Falk also added that smart communication — where companies can be present in a communication channel preferred by the customers — will make the customers happier. This helps in improving the client engagement experience.
All the panelists in the discussion shared the common idea of using modern communication channels to ensure effective client engagement. Most companies have started using WhatsApp, WeChat, Telegram, and Signal for their enterprise messaging requirements. But ensuring compliance while using such services is of paramount importance.
TeleMessage provides a unique solution for the seamless collection of text messages, multimedia, and voice messages. The archiving solutions offered by TeleMessage allow financial firms to perform actions like WhatsApp recording, WhatsApp archiving, WeChat recording, WeChat archiving, Signal recording, Signal archiving, Telegram recording, Telegram archiving. With TeleMessage, information retrieval and retention are much easier as it does not need one to spend time and effort manually archiving information that is shared over the mobile instant messaging apps. With all the recording processes automated, it eases the user of the burden of ensuring zero loss of data.
Click here to view the recording of this online panel discussion.
About TeleMessage
TeleMessage captures and retains mobile content, including mobile SMS messages, voice calls, and WeChat and WhatsApp conversations from corporate or BYOD mobile phones to ensure compliance with various data protection regulations. The messages are securely and reliably retained within TeleMessage servers or forwarded to your choice of data storage vendor.
Our mobile archiving products securely record content from mobile carriers and mobile devices for various ownership models (BYOD, CYOD, and employer-issued). With our multiple archiving solutions, you can always find the right tools or blend for your requirements:
- Network Archiver
- Enterprise Number Archiver
- Android Archiver
- WhatsApp Archiver
- WeChat Archiver
- Signal Archiver
- Telegram Archiver
TeleMessage offers cross-carrier and international mobile text & calls archiving for corporate and BYOD phones. Visit our website at www.telemessage.com to learn more about our mobile archiving products.
