Banks Fail at Personalization: Mastercard to the Rescue, not GenAI!
GenAI will not magically solve banks' inability to provide personalization!
Banks are failing to personalize their services and blame the data. Mastercard (MC) is an expert at personalization and says banks just don’t get it!
Banks have done a terrible job of personalization—in fact, they’re so bad at it that MC is calling out their failure!
Making matters worse, banks are expecting GenAI to create a personalized experience magically! This is BS, and your BS detector should sound an alarm, as mine does!
GenAI can personalize, but Banks don’t know the basics so how can they train an AI?
Regular readers will know I rarely say anything good about Visa or MC, but in this case, I agree with MC! Banks can learn a lot from them!
👉TAKEAWAYS
❌ WHY BANKS FAIL:
🔹Misconception #1: Personalization requires a ton of data
FIs commonly overestimate the amount of data needed to meaningfully personalize.
🔹Misconception #2: Personalization is the same as marketing segmentation
Today, 1:1 personalization has become a standard in the marketing world but you don’t need to manually build and manage dozens of micro-segments to achieve individual relevance.
🔹Misconception #3: Personalization is set it and forget it
While machine learning can help scale experience delivery, marketers must regularly analyze each campaign’s results to ensure continuous performance optimization.
🚀 WHAT BANKS MUST DO:
1. Reframing acquisition
Beyond bringing in new visitors via paid campaigns, acquisition should focus on optimizing the experience all the way through to the site until the consumer actually converts.
2. Personalizing for all users
Just because you don’t have any prior interaction with a consumer, doesn’t mean you can’t tailor their experience. First impressions with a website can make or break potential relationships.
3. A/B testing experiences across the customer journey
Never assume that one personalization tactic works for every audience, or that one always works better for one audience. Consistent testing of experiences allows FIs to incrementally optimize them over the long term.
The benefits of personalization
👊STRAIGHT TALK👊
Most bankers see GenAI as a magical tool for creating personalized experiences for their clients or potential customers.
I have news for them they will be sorely disappointed and should read MC’s report!
MC is a master at personalization and, with every new marketing campaign, works to attract you and your money to the MC universe.
I’m no fan of MC, but I recognize their genius!
MC’s ability to use personalization as a tool is as impressive as banks’ failure to personalize anything.
Talk to bankers and you’ll receive the response: “We don’t have the data.”
MC refutes this excuse and makes it clear that personalization is not data-dependent but instead depends on lots of serious A/B testing!
That makes banks’ reliance on GenAI magic a significant error, they need to get in the trenches and think like MC.
Thoughts?
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