Winning Bank Merger Strategies Part 1: Engage Customers

Communicating effectively with your customers before, during and after a merger is critical to a banks success. The following offers tips for making sure your current customers will be your future customers.

Engaging your customers 
According to a recent Deloitte study, 36% of customers state “emotions” as a key driver for switching banks due to not feeling valued, loss of a personal relationship and lack of trust that the new bank is looking out for their best interests.

Now more than ever, it’s important for both merging banks to review their customer engagement strategy and determine how to alleviate the disruption of the merger. Having a strong merger communication strategy is critical to the bank’s customer experience throughout the transition. Both banks need to keep customers engaged in a consistent and relevant format across all channels.

Customers want the following during the acquisition:

• Clear, honest and simple communication
• A seamless transition
• To feel valued
• For the new bank to earn their trust
• Reassurance that they still have the same personal relationships
• No disruption to their accounts
• On day one, they want to be able to access, move or transfer their money
• An understanding of account changes
• Will their rates change? Will they still have no minimum balance?
• If some of their benefits are being taken away, what are they gaining in return? Will they be able to access old account information?