Language, Relevancy And Personalization: How To Build Trust In Banking Comms

When it comes to banking, trust is paramount. It’s crucial to a stable, thriving, and healthy banking and lending system. However, in an ever-changing regulatory environment—and following the news that the U.S. Treasury is planning to take a larger role in bank regulation—consumer confidence in banks is poised to take a major hit. In fact, recent data from Thales found 56% of consumers don’t trust banks with their data, meaning there’s a long road ahead.

The unexpected feels particularly scary for consumers in periods of economic turbulence. My advice to marketers at financial institutions is to lean into assurance-forward messages, emotional language, and personalized communications to reassure current and prospective customers that their needs and financial health are top of mind. Regardless of the subject matter or audience segment, prioritize both agility and responsibility in your messages while remaining compliant. Here’s how you can strike this important balance and maintain critical customer relationships through times of change.
 

Why Language Matters

Money elicits emotion. A recent study by Credit One Bank found that nearly two-thirds (59%) of Gen Z feel stress and anxiety about their finances, while only 29% of baby boomers feel the same (in fact, 61% of baby boomers actually feel confident and in control). Adopting an emotionally intelligent and contextualized approach to customer experience can strengthen customer relationships and encourage long-term loyalty. For example, the most successful emotional drivers in anxious times emphasize phrases that reinforce feelings of safety in financial decisions.

Check out these examples of messages related to credit card rates that emphasize emotions of safety:
 

1. You're covered with <bank> (safety)

2. We’ve checked and you have the best rate offered on the XYZ product (safety)

3. We're helping you stay in control with fixed rates (safety)

4. Rest assured <first_name>, we're dedicated to getting you the best rate (safety)

5. We are here to answer any questions you have about rates (safety)

6. We're making sure your information is up to date (safety)

Each of these messages covers unique topics—making them ideal for different audiences—but they share safety-based language, reassuring customers that their banks have their backs, promoting ease of use, and helping customers to feel heard.

Building Trust with The Right Tools

Everyone wants the same thing from their bank or lender: a clear understanding of their financial situation that doesn’t add to anxieties around personal finances. But creating messaging that conveys this understanding is challenging to achieve at scale. Specialized AI tools can step in as a copilot, generating relevant marketing content informed by the unique emotional drivers that motivate customer behavior.