ESGeneric bank communications were hindering the sale of digital loans. We solved this by applying behavioral science.
[Challenge]
Increase digital loan acquisitions.
[You will be interested if…]
… you work in the financial sector, are involved in digital marketing or work in communications.
[Results]
We multiplied conversions by 5x and achieved an annualized economic impact of €6.4 million.
[Behavioral Insights]
Loss aversion. Mental accounting. Framing. Social influence. Reciprocity. Projection. Present bias.
How can you increase sales by personalizing content? By using behavioral science!
A bank sent generic push notifications to its customers to promote loans, then offered the option to apply digitally. While the process was straightforward and quick, the results were unsatisfactory. For this reason, the bank engaged our services.
BeWay approached the challenge by empathizing with the customers. Our initial analysis revealed that the recipient of the notifications formed a highly heterogeneous group with diverse motivations and behaviors. We also observed that the information provided did not clearly explain the benefits of the loans.
Would you sign up for a financial product you don’t understand? Neither would we!
How to Personalize Messages to Increase Sales
Faced with this situation, we hypothesized: “What if we provided more information during the sales process? Although this would lengthen the process (something, in principle, negative), it would reduce uncertainty and allow us to personalize the experience with new content tailored to each customer type”.
Our first step in testing this hypothesis was to behaviorally segment the bank’s customers. That is we categorized customers according to their implicit behaviors and motivations. We found that there were 4 types of customers.
The 4 types of customers
The indebted: Individuals with existing debts who paid the minimum. They did not want to incur more debt.
The entrepreneurs: Entrepreneurs with informal businesses living paycheck to paycheck.
Those in need of liquidity: Customers who became undercapitalized after making a purchase that exceeded 80% of their normal flow.
Those seeking outplacement: Customers with an existing loan who were pre-approved for a new one. The new loan would allow them to pay off the previous one, requiring only the difference to be deposited.
After behavioral segmentation, we deepened our understanding of each customer type using the COM-B model. That way, we got to know better their Capabilities, Opportunities and Motivations.
What is the COM-B Model?
COM-B is one of the most popular and effective behavior change Models. It has been successfully applied in countless interventions in different sectors: public health, finance, education.
It enables us to analyze and act on behavioral requirements. The three requirements are capability, opportunity, and motivation.
To perform an action, an agent must meet all three requirements. When we try to change a person’s behavior, we analyze the extent to which he or she satisfies them and intervene to make him or her meet them.
Each requirement is divided into two components:
Capability:
– Physical capability: What individuals can physically do, considering dexterity, strength, health, and related factors.
– Psychological capability: Mental capacities such as memory, knowledge, and attention.
Example: The bank’s customers had the physical capacity to apply for the loan, as it only required a few simple taps on their devices. However, they lacked the psychological capability to understand the loan’s benefits due to insufficient information.
Opportunity:
– Physical opportunity: External factors that facilitate or complicate an action to be carried out. Accessible spaces, resources, and available time constitute physical opportunities.
– Social opportunity: Set of norms, values and attitudes of a social nature in favor of and against something being done.
Example: The bank’s customers had the physical opportunity to apply for the loan since they possessed internet-enabled devices. However, the social opportunity was limited, as people generally distrust financial products and often prefer to avoid them when in doubt.
Motivation:
– Automatic motivation: Spontaneous response to do something in certain contexts.
– Reflective motivation: Willingness to do something after subjecting it to a certain amount of reflection.
Example: The bank’s customers did not have the automatic motivation to take out the loan. Our objective was was to prompt reflective motivation so they would be inclined to proceed.
Following the COM-B analysis, we developed 12 personalized push notifications – three for each customer type – that directed users to an informative webpage. Each notification, guided by the COM-B analysis, leveraged a specific behavioral science principle.
Examples of Customized Push Notifications:
Present Bias (Liquidity):
Do you want to get your cash back today? Your loan up to XXXXX is still available. Don’t put off your peace of mind any longer. Log in to your app to learn more 👇
Framing (Debt):
Good news! Taking out the XXXXX loan will help you pay off your debt. Payments and rates are fixed. Log in to your app to learn more 👇
Loss Aversion (Liquidity):
How much does your peace of mind cost? Get it back when you take out your loan. Payments and rates are fixed. Take it out today in your app and avoid losing money 👇
Projection (Entrepreneurs):
More and more entrepreneurs are building their credit history with the XXXXX loan. What are you waiting for? Take advantage of it! With a fixed rate and the freedom to pay it off whenever you want. Enter your app to learn more 👇
Reciprocity (Relocation):
It’s time to renew your loan! We listen to you, and we know you value your freedom. That’s why you can prepay your payments and make early payoffs without penalty. See more in the app 👇
With the new notifications ready, we launched an experiment. We divided the customer sample into two groups.
Control group:
– 1,718,305 people.
– Different messages were sent to each customer type.
– Messages were not optimized with COM-B.
– The messages did not lead to the informative web.
Treatment group:
– 59,445 people.
– Different messages were sent to each type customer.
– The messages were optimized with COM-B.
– The messages led to the informative website.
What happened? Our proposed intervention increased the conversions of the control group by a factor of 5.
[Control group]
2%
conversion
→
[Treatment group]
10%
conversion
[Annualized impact]
6,4
million euros
Personalize your Communications with Behavioral Science
As demonstrated, personalizing communications within campaigns and commercial processes has a very positive impact on sales. This outcome shouldn’t be surprising! It’s the logical consequence of genuinely, rigorously, and deeply caring about your target audience.
If you also want to communicate with your audience in a more personalized way, we offer various possibilities.
Behavioral segmentation!
You too can apply behavioral segmentation to improve the impact of your projects! You just need to analyze the data by applying a behavioral perspective. You don´t have the data? Don’t worry, we’ll help you get it!
Carry out an intervention!
Do you want to test the effectiveness of our proposal? We will design an intervention strictly adapted to your needs; we will take care of everything!
Transform your business into a Behaviorally Driven Company!
Train your teams to apply behavioral science in all your projects. Scientific support and experimental evidence are the best guarantee of success.
Don’t wait any longer! Discover for yourself how to boost sales by personalizing your content.
Are you interested?
Get in touch!
