The marketing communications (marcom) role in a digital banking conversion project is extremely important, particularly in managing the human aspect of change management. The emotions and reactions of account holders and personnel, alike, come into play with major projects like a digital banking conversion. Change may be difficult for some account holders, and effective marketing programs that explain and reduce concerns will help them with the transition and acceptance of the conversion, as well as educate them on the new advantages of digital banking.
Equally, FI employees’ emotions and reactions must be considered. After all, the conversion to digital banking can be a shock to some staff members, particularly those unaccustomed to being in an online environment. Accordingly, make sure your marcom focuses on preparing them for the change.
Deployment: scheduling and cadences
Q2 finds that from project kickoff to go-live, and months after go-live, multiple communications efforts are needed. Consequently, lots of scripting, scheduling, design, and execution likely will be involved in getting the word out, so an FI should plan well and budget appropriately.
Based on our best practices, both the internal and external marcom plans should be completed approximately one month after the initial conversion project kickoff meeting. Ideally, marcom assets for internal and external audiences should be created and deployment-ready approximately three months after the plans are completed. Generally, internal marcom is deployed one to two weeks prior to the release of external marcom.
The change taking place requires sustained communications over time. In the case of account holders, we find that a communications cadence prior to go-live should be established about 13 weeks out, with the cadence increasing right up to go-live.
Methods of communication
Communications should be delivered to internal staff and account holders using as many methods as possible. Some of the best methods are:
- Newsletters
- On-hold messages
- Phone calls (especially for commercial clients)
- Social media
- Blog posts
The next blog in our digital banking conversion series covers third-party management. In today’s digital banking universe, there are more third-party solutions attached to primary digital banking systems than ever before. Identifying key partners, making them aware of the impending change, and communicating with them throughout the conversion process is imperative.
These tips and more can be found in our report, Preparing for a Successful Digital Banking Conversion
