Fintech and e-commerce are two branches of the tech industry that are often intersecting with each other. However, there are ways that these two sectors are operating differently.

Despite their differences, Liam McCance, Chief Marketing Officer at Singlife, believes that there are several points that fintech companies can learn from their e-commerce counterpart, particularly in the matter of customer retention and engagement.

“They have experienced teams who analyse vast collections of purchase data and have a deep understanding of how and why people buy things online. Even with consumers having a plethora of places to order food and groceries, or buy apparel and gadgets, these insights produce effective marketing campaigns that pull customers back to their platforms time and again,” he explains to e27.

“E-commerce companies are also effective at offering seamless purchase experiences across devices, especially with mobile-first strategies in mind,” he added.

In this interview, McCance further elaborates the challenges that fintech companies face nowadays in customer retention –and how learning from e-commerce companies can give them an advantage.

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The following is the edited excerpt of the interview.

What are the challenges that fintech companies face in customer retention and engagement?

As a financial institution, we are much more regulated than e-commerce companies. The nature of our products and the space we operate in requires a massive effort of due diligence with an extensive amount of work that goes behind each product we launch.

Also, in contrast to e-commerce, fintechs don’t have an exhaustive supply of new financial products to offer and pull customers back to their platforms frequently.

Fintech companies typically have inventories that are limited to the same types of products and services. As most financial products are intangible, communicating the real value of products to customers before they buy and finding ways to purchase more can be a challenge.

This means strategies for promoting products and services must be creative, responsive, and relevant in order to attract customers who aren’t actively looking for new offerings.

What exactly can fintech companies learn or copy from e-commerce companies? Do you have any examples of success stories in your company?

It all starts with the team you hire. Insurance companies hire people who know insurance, but a digital-first insurance company also needs specialists in digital innovation. We need a team who understands how to deploy best-in-class analytics tools and to uncover insights on customer behaviour and demand. These experts must then translate this information into a user-driven purchasing experience that offers continuous value for new and existing customers alike.

Also Read: Think like a fintech company: How banks can capitalise on the digital banking revolution

Fintechs have plenty to learn from e-commerce businesses. For a start, a sales process and product that is portable to other marketplaces through APIs is a strategy worth exploring and building up, so that the full journey is not limited to just one domain. Singlife, for instance, works with PolicyPal to sell a select range of our financial products on their platform. Offering Singlife’s product via PolicyPal’s website and app makes our products more accessible to a wider audience – especially so if they have not interacted with us before.

In certain cases, this method of customer acquisition may be more cost-effective than paying for advertising dollar to get online conversions.

What are the factors that fintech companies need to keep in mind before implementing such a strategy?

Be realistic.

You cannot expect insurance and financial services or products to generate the same levels of enthusiasm that e-commerce sites or super apps achieve.

Having said that, taking on successful e-commerce strategies can still benefit fintechs and their businesses. Fintechs should aim to make a product or technology relevant to customers’ lives.

For us, that meant introducing the Singlife Account, a life insurance savings product. We’ve heard from Singaporeans that what stops them from maximising the potential of their money, is the reluctance to be locked-in to a financial product. Designing with customers in mind by shaping product features to their needs and delivering the solution with the focus on user experience is what Singlife sets out to do.

What is the most unique user behaviour in Asia that you learned recently?

In Singapore, many people simply leave their money in current or savings account. This is due to their reluctance of being locked-in and prefer to keep their money accessible. Unfortunately, this way might not be able to meet their future needs.

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Singlife wants to help people get more out of this money they have with the Singlife Account, an everyday insurance account. Our customers can earn up to 2.5 per cent per annum returns, and always have access to these funds with no lock-ins. In future, customers will even be able to invest within the Singlife app, as well as to enhance their insurance coverage seamlessly, making it a one-stop solution for customers to manage, grow, and protect their money.

What are the most notable trends in marketing in 2019? What is going to be big in 2020?

We see a decline in the effectiveness of social media advertising. People are bombarded with ads from the moment they log onto their social media accounts, and most of these ads are ineffective. Modern consumers are looking for authenticity and transparency, and chats and messengers will help offer that.

Through real-time chats and interaction with the business, customers can resolve their immediate pain points, technical issues or give thoughtful feedback, while companies can keep in touch with the customers. Increasingly, companies will want to establish a presence on popular messaging platforms, like the Dutch airline, KLM, that sends customers booking information, check-in times, and flight delay notifications over WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, and WeChat. Through feedback gathered through this communication channel, companies can shape future products and even enhance existing services to deliver quality for customers.

While we have been offering life insurance solutions since 2017, we are a fintech company, and by virtue of that, a digital-first financial services provider in the eyes of customers. As an innovative financial provider, we have the opportunity to work in tandem with our customers to develop products that they genuinely want and need.

Some brands have built a cult following because of this simple customer-focused strategy, and I expect more businesses will be trying to create products that actually resonate with consumers instead of pushing products they already have.

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