Financial institutions that adopt a “marketing mindset” for digital transformation schemes deliver a better-than-expected return on investment (ROI) from cloud-based initiatives, according to new research published by Metia Group.
The study, which is focused on the financial services industry, found that banks and credit unions would be better placed to meet the needs of their customers if they applied a marketing-centric approach.
This mindset involves putting marketing professionals front and centre in the planning and implementation of institution-wide digital transformation efforts.
Almost half of banks that did this said that they were able to exceed the originally estimated ROI from the switchover and campaigns that digital was now directly able to support.
In contrast, just 23% of institutions that adopted a general approach to digital transformation were able to deliver ample returns.
The study also found that institutions with a marketing-led approach were generally much deeper into transformation efforts and able to deploy more mature strategies and services than direct competitors.
“Marketing experts are the most customer-centric personnel in any organization, and their absence from the digital transformation process in the majority of financial institutions is a missed opportunity,” Metia’s VP of insight and strategy Liz High said in a statement.
The study noted that bringing marketing teams to the table really helped financial institutions with their crisis response following COVID-19 as they were better equipped to serve customers across a variety of digital touchpoints.
The marketing mindset has enabled 60% of these firms to create digital experiences that go above and beyond those offered by competitors.
This figure falls to just 35% for a non-marketing-led approach.
Customer acquisition and other key metrics also increased in tandem with a marketing mindset.
While the benefits are plain to see, just a third of marketers say that they have been able to influence the decision-making processes related to digital transformation.
