Move beyond buzzwords and turn financial wellness into a growth strategy

A version of this article first appeared in the September Executive Report: Better banking for all through financial wellness. Additional articles in the issue explore how education and tools help secure solid financial footing for customers and members while creating competitive advantages through distinct products and services.

For some financial institutions, supporting financial wellness for their customers and members has always felt like more of a buzzy marketing tactic than an actual strategy for growth and retention.

But as the competition focuses on promoting flashy features and trendy tools, the community banks and credit unions hopeful to catch up with this strategy have an opportunity to reinforce a fundamental commitment to fostering financial wellness. And as the financial services industry becomes more crowded and complex, that ethos will continue to be what sets them apart.

While it’s impossible to ignore consumer demands for digital tools and modern experiences, it’s equally important to remember that those consumers aren’t saying they no longer want personalized services or relationships with financial professionals who understand their needs and goals.

So, how do value-driven organizations deliver more personalized, hyper-relevant education and guidance to the right person at the right time, without making customers and members feel like they’re being sold a product instead of being provided with a service? By building a tech stack that supports authentic human engagement and provides insight into each contact’s financial situation.

Proactive, personalized engagement is a strategic imperative

Ask consumers what they want from their financial institutions, and you’ll get one clear answer: trusted guidance. People widely report wanting to improve their financial literacy. But most of them need an expert in their corner who not only understands the market and financial best practices but also understands their personal needs and goals to provide personalized recommendations.

Here’s the kicker: consumers also widely report not getting that kind of help from their current financial institutions (FIs).

That may be frustrating for banks and credit unions that have invested in building out robust financial wellness resources on their websites. Some have even created entire microsites and mobile apps focused exclusively on this kind of educational content.

So, where’s the disconnect? Many consumers don’t have time to seek out this information on their own, while others feel that it is an FI’s responsibility to be more proactive with this type of ongoing education and guidance. They want a trusted partner that knows them, looks out for them, and wants to help them navigate their important financial decisions. This is what community banks and credit unions should strive for if they want to compete with larger traditional competitors and fintechs.

The good news is that this isn’t a matter of creating more content. Most FIs already have a rich offering of financial education and wellness media. The crux of the challenge is in how and when they deliver that content.

It’s about nudging when needed, coaching when possible, and showing up in the moments that matter.

Prioritize education and assistance

Most community banks and credit unions arguably lack a stereotypical sales culture, or at least they aim to build this into the culture. That’s because “sales” is viewed as antithetical to their fundamental goal of serving and supporting their customers and members. But this can sometimes become a psychological and cultural barrier to proactively engaging customers and members to provide guidance or personalized offers because “that’s what salespeople do.”

But the truth is reaching out to your customers or members should never be about making a “hard sell” on a product or service. It should be rooted in providing them with information and options, then (when necessary) offering guidance or recommendations. That requires you to understand their full financial picture and can recognize signals that indicate when they have a financial need. These may be traditional signals, like changes to their debt-to-income ratio or how much credit they’re using, or big life event signals like graduating, getting married, starting a family, changing jobs, or retiring. These are all critical moments when people are either looking for help or simply need the reassurance that they’re making the right choice.

Ultimately, this is about building a stronger “sales” culture, but one that prioritizes providing meaningful solutions that lead to positive financial outcomes—because there’s nothing wrong with selling someone something they actually need. This reframing is critical: When you help someone consolidate high-interest debt with a lower-rate loan or guide them through the process of saving for a down payment, you’re selling them a solution that demonstrably improves their financial health, not just a random product that pads your bottom line while providing no tangible benefits for them.

Strategy in action: Scaling personalized, proactive engagement

So, how can community banks and credit unions effectively provide proactive, personalized educational engagement? Start with three key moves:

Get a full view of each customer or member: Every FI today sits on a trove of customer/member data, from transactions and spending habits to communication preferences and personal information. But that data is typically siloed across systems, tools, and teams. Aggregating all that data to create a single source of truth will lay the foundation for everything else in this data-driven engagement strategy.

Pull the signal out of the noise: FIs should be looking for all the traditional intent signals, but they also need to identify early indicators of key life milestones that signal changing financial needs. These are the critical moments when FIs have the greatest opportunity to showcase their value as trusted partners that proactively look out for their customers/members.

Use automation to scale personalized engagement: Without automation to scale your engagement activity, the “right message–right person–right time” window is easy to miss in the modern world. But generic automation tools provide generic engagement. FIs need purpose-built tools that dynamically adapt to how your customers/members engage and ensure more personalized experiences.

Reinvent the local advantage

Community banks and credit unions still hold a tremendous competitive advantage: their reputation for providing a different level of service and partnerships focused on genuinely helping customers and members thrive. But community FIs need to reinvent how they deliver that personalized experience. In-person interactions aren’t dead by any means, but the majority of consumers now choose digital channels for most of their financial activities.

Digitizing proactive engagement means bringing together three core capabilities: a complete view of the customer/member, analytics-driven intelligence on what customers/members need and want right now, and the automated workflows to make those perfectly timed connections at scale.

This shift turns “sales” into a mission-driven operation focused on using data to deliver meaningful content and helpful education that helps build trusting relationships that prioritize financial wellness.

Joe Welu is the founder and CEO at Total Expert.