The rise of trendy fintech brands such as Monzo, Revolut, and Starling has disrupted and given the traditional ‘high-street’ banking sector a much needed push into the 21st century. Where customers once wanted a friendly handshake with their local bank manager, now they demand seamless digital journeys whilst keeping the best of the ‘traditional’ personal touch. 

This was the challenge that ABN AMRO, the Netherlands’ largest bank faced in 2018. With bricks and mortar being replaced in importance to pixels and clicks, ABN, and the banking industry, faced a new challenge: how to engage their customers and offer more personalised, relevant content to customers during their online banking journey?

ABN AMRO started this digital journey by using Tealium’s tag management solution so they could better understand their customers and what they wanted from their online banking experience. So far, so good. However, as with most things in life, it’s a lot easier to say than do. 

Come 2022 and the loss of third-party cookies, another more sophisticated solution was required. This came in the form of Tealium’s Audience Stream Customer Data Platform, or CDP for short. 

The CDP meant that ABN AMRO was able to bring its first-party customer data together and then offer better engaging content to its users in real-time. 

Yassine Mountassir, Product Owner at ABN AMRO said, “Building a single view of the customer with a CDP is an absolute necessity in today’s digital age. Clients expect easy-to-use digital services, a seamless online banking experience and personal, relevant content.” In short, the  personal conversations in branch have been replaced by a CDP,  as the way to get to know what customers and what they want.

So, how does it actually work?

ABN AMRO uses the 360-degree customer view provided by the CDP to improve its dialogue with clients through personalised, timely content on its online and mobile banking services. Stitched together by the CDP, ABN AMRO applies first-party data to drive engagement

For example, when a customer’s card is set to expire, they will receive a pop-up to confirm their address details are accurate before a new card is posted, minimising hassle and reducing the chances of fraud. 

In addition to regular interactive communications, ABN AMRO has used Tealium to personalise the content it produces. It can tailor banners that showcase the most relevant content for clients, based on products they already own or product pages that have caught their interest. By using Tealium to better understand their customers’ browsing habits, the bank achieved an uplift in click through rates as high as 280% on owned channels with e-commerce propositions – without the need for complex data science models.

Bobby van Groningen, IT Engineering Lead at ABN AMRO commented, “With Tealium, we can make the most of the data our clients share with us. By using first-party data, we can improve engagement by delivering personalised content while prioritising their data privacy.” He went on to say that, “this allows us to be there for them during the moments that matter most, whether they’re reporting a lost card or planning to buy a house. The with Tealium is helping us on our mission to make banking better, for generations to come”

The digital transformation of the banking sector will be a bit like ‘painting the Forth Bridge’, an ongoing journey. It will see banks, with the help of Tealium, continue to adapt their services to meet customers’ needs and improve the relevance of the digital content served to them. Fully integrating customer data into our decision making and maintaining high privacy standards are key components of any strategy to be the personal bank for the digital age.