How hyper-personalisation is helping Indian fintechs to grow

The fintech revolution has disrupted the Indian financial services industry with the advent of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). According to BlinC Insights, the Indian fintech sector, presently valued at US$31bn, is estimated to grow to $84bn by 2025, at a CAGR of 22%. 

In a country like India, which is a mobile-first market, the fintech industry is not new to this phenomenon. Between January 2019 and March 2021, India witnessed 1.49bn installs of fintech apps, which clearly shows the massive demand. CleverTap’s Fintech Benchmark report 2022 found that fintech apps enjoy a stickiness quotient of 22%, which indicates nearly one-quarter of monthly active users (MAUs) consistently return to their fintech apps.

This further provides an opportunity for mobile marketers within the fintech space to get a granular understanding of their customers in real-time and personalise their marketing campaigns to suit this massive pool of users. Marketers must now place special emphasis on these granular insights instead of making universal reach the main focus of their campaigns. As such, it is important for marketers to be present where the customers are. This is where customer retention platforms and tools can step in to help devise strategies that ensure their brand stands out from the competition.

How can companies capitalise on the fintech boom?

With the following three steps, banks and fintech players can increase retention, customer activation, and serve hyper-personalised communication to increase loyalty and drive revenue.

Leveraging insights on the customer journey to drive personalised communication

A Gartner survey indicated that 70% of CMOs, CSOs, and over half of general managers see that their revenue is linked to existing customers. The value that banks and fintechs place on their current clientele and their capacity to create revenue differ significantly from their confidence in the current level of client satisfaction. Banks must therefore actively work to retain existing clientele. 

Companies have increased conversion rates by up to 100% by leveraging personalised messaging, and aligning with where customers are in their individual product/services journeys. Micro-segmenting the customer base gives companies the ability to deliver valuable insights and helps convert customers to get positive reviews and ratings, along with reaching new audiences. 

While some customers may be new, others may be frequent users returning to explore investment options/schemes. As each customer has a unique history and expectation from the product, marketers must be able to personalise communication to meet individual requirements. 

For instance, Mobikwik harnessed the power of personalised and triggered messaging throughout their customer journey orchestration. They began segmenting users based on due dates for utility bills, and through triggered reminders, helped them pay on time via the app. Furthermore, the company automated welcome campaigns to educate new users about key features and help them navigate through the app at ease. Thereby, doubling user engagement within the app and  increasing Mobikwik’s user retention by 20%.

Using contextualised messaging to drive customer engagement

According to CleverTap's Fintech Benchmark Report 2022, 95% of new fintech users complete a monetary transaction in the first month. This indicates that while users see value in fintech apps, it's crucial to implement customised user engagement strategies to boost retention on their apps.  

One of India's leading private-sector banking and financial service companies wanted to revamp their app to combine banking and payment features, offering these services to customers of any bank. This was achieved through a combination of the contextual segmentation and messaging. Providing demonstrable value to users by integrating with automation partners helped drive traffic in the right direction. Unique insights into user actions and post-purchase preferences helped create campaigns that convert. This shows in the results as this contextual approach increased in-app traffic from 1% to 25% and a four-fold increase in the numbers of users creating fixed deposits. 

A winning product always succeeds in gaining customer attention and interest. The challenge is keeping the conversation going between app sessions and over longer periods between renewals. 

Marketers can bridge the gap between app sessions and interactions by personalising and contextualising their messaging to drive engagement. In customer journeys that usually span over 12 months, it is vital to develop customised streams of information relating to the customers unique journey.  

For example, a customised stream of information helps customers decide whether it is cost-effective to invest in collision insurance for an older vehicle by explaining the differences between insurance deductibles and what makes sense on a budget.

Adopting a ‘consumer-like approach’ to build customer relationships

It is natural to take a 'consumer-like' approach when it comes to mobile marketing as a substantial proportion of fintech customers include e-commerce platforms, sole proprietors, and small businesses that are not very different from individual consumers. For example, through tailored communication, PayU India, which serves over 450,000 merchants in India with 100+ local payment methods, has been able to enhance their lifecycle management. With this approach, the platform’s customer acquisition has increased five-fold, and the number of clients completing so-called DIY journeys to connect their accounts and complete transactions has increased roughly by 20%.

It is no coincidence that platforms that have engaged users through hyperpersonalisation have seen a sharp rise in user retention and engagement. These numbers are testament to the fact that it is key to converting and winning over users. With over 20.5bn online transactions amounting to a combined sum of 36 trillion rupees in Q2 2022, the fintech revolution in India is clear to see. As such it is vital that service providers within the space take notice of the untapped potential of a hyper-personalised mobile and web experience, because one size does not fit all.

About the author

Abhishek Gupta is Chief Customer Officer for CleverTap, the modern, integrated retention cloud that empowers digital consumer brands to increase customer retention and lifetime value.