2024 Predictions for Financial Services Marketers

Power Campaigns With 2024 Marketing Predictions

With the end of 2023 in sight, it’s time for marketers to start gearing up for next year. To help you increase performance in 2024, Movable Ink’s financial services strategy team has predicted six key trends that will drive marketer and customer decisions in the coming year. Note these patterns for your own marketing strategies and get ahead of the curve with campaigns that drive results.

Financial Services Marketing Trends

To begin, let’s unpack three predictions that will shape the financial services industry as a whole, from consumer behaviors to overall product trends.

Consumer Spending Will Start To Decline

In the midst of sky-high interest rates, returning student loan payments, and a slew of other macroeconomic factors that are affecting the US financial landscape, consumers will continue to respond with less discretionary spending.

Following consumers’ lead, businesses will shift away from costly acquisitions and hone in on loyalty and retention marketing in the hopes of claiming more consumer share of wallet. Financial services marketers: expect loyalty and retention metrics to be your primary KPIs in the coming year.

Product Diversification Will See Slow Growth

Despite decreasing spending habits, product diversification will continue to grow slowly but surely, with companies continuing to expand beyond their core product offering (e.g. credit card, banking, or investments) into secondary product offerings (e.g. loans, BNPL, banking) in an effort to become a one-stop shop for all of customers’ financial services needs.  

While customers who are currently taking advantage of these offerings are highly satisfied, only a small percentage are even aware they exist. As a result, marketers have major opportunities in this area and will be tasked with driving awareness and cross-selling customers who only use core products. Senior-level marketers, on the other hand, will have to evaluate the feasibility of their diversification strategies, and some will instead choose to roll back newer product offerings—as Wells Fargo did when they exited the mortgage market.

Verticalized diversification, however, tells a different story. In this case, we predict another year of high growth as credit card companies continue to acquire travel partners to drive incremental spend.

AI Powered Personalization Will Drive Account Growth

Despite the constant buzz about AI across martech, in financial services the solution is still primarily used for customer service, tracking fraud, and analyzing behaviors for security purposes. However, that’s set to change in 2024, with AI becoming a more valuable tool in a marketer’s day-to-day toolbelt, specifically in instances related to driving account growth.

Expect to see a wave of AI adoption for scaling marketing endeavors, increasing profit margins, and streamlining workflows and QA processes. These benefits will be especially key in the investment space, specifically for asset managers with large portfolios. With a shrinking profit margin on trades, the ability to scale personalization will be a key driver of performance.

Credit Card Marketing Trends

As a sizable pillar of financial services, the credit card space warrants industry-specific predictions. Here are the top three trends that are set to influence credit card marketing in the upcoming year.

New Credit Cards Rewards Will Need Reinforcement

Historically, consumers have gravitated towards credit card programs with straightforward cashback options, where customers receive one to two percent back for every purchase. But as branded rewards systems continue to develop, customers' expectations are increasing and many now feel dissatisfied with the amount of rewards they earn from traditional cashback cards. 

Credit card issuers are already trying to get ahead of the problem by introducing Cashback Calendars, where customers earn a higher percentage on a specific spend category—such as gas, grocery, or retail—on a rotating quarterly basis. While customers in this new program are reporting accelerated use, the majority of credit card holders are not aware of this new value proposition and aren’t taking advantage of its benefits. 

This means that marketers will need to hone in on benefit reinforcement with clearly visualized explanations of the Cashback Calendar for the broader customer base. Brands that prove unsuccessful in this venture may see card holders seeking new products with simple, enticing rewards in the travel space. 

Retention Marketing Will Accelerate

With both consumer spending and reward satisfaction on the decline, retention plays will be at the forefront of credit card marketing strategies in 2024. 

As most marketers know, it’s far more costly to acquire a new customer than retain an existing one. Combined with tighter budgets for marketing teams, we will see resources shift to retention marketing. Expect a focus on cross-selling and benefit reinforcement campaigns to combat customer churn.

Subscription Models Will Take Center Stage

Subscription offerings are already popular in other industries, but expect this model to accelerate in the financial services space in 2024. 

Some major financial brands are already embracing this strategy. TD, for example, recently launched a subscription-based credit card called Clear. With Clear, customers pay $10 towards their principal every month to access a $1000 credit limit, avoiding late fees or interest on their outstanding balance.

With this new product, TD is attempting to create a paradigm shift in the US credit card industry. While currently a niche offering, competitors must monitor the performance of Clear and prepare a go-to-market strategy for their own subscription based product if Clear proves to be scalable.

Stay Ahead Of The Curve In 2024

With these predictions in mind, marketers should create their strategies accordingly so they can hit the ground running in 2024. Build your strategies around these predictions for growing engagement and revenue all year round.