Situation

After acquiring several banks in key regions of the country, a financial institution recognized that there was an opportunity to gain marketshare and increase profitability by engaging an emerging market segment. With no little previous experience with this segment, SmartThink was called upon to assist in developing an end-to-end solution.

Action

The involvement extended over nearly two years. It started with understanding the internal organization’s “readiness” to engage and deliver. Key stakeholder interviews were conducted with C-Suite executives and key managers within the organization extending to individual interviews with customer-facing employees. Additionally, a mystery shopping element was added to gain a different perspective and create a baseline.

Simultaneously, consumer qualitative that included both focus group and ethnography was conducted followed by segmentation research and target identification. Internal workshops led to the development of a targeted marketing strategy followed by an implementation plan that was “tested” in key geographies.

Result

The financial institution was not only able to hold on to the marketshare that it gained from the acquisition, it was also able to grow share by 4% in an extremely competitive environment.