Digital helps IndusInd Bank ensure its ‘customer first’ mantra

IndusInd Bank is focused on customer experience and its “customer first” mantra translates into meaningful and comprehensive product development, service, and product delivery through digital, simplifying the process of adoption.

Anil Ramachandran, EVP and Head, Marketing and Retail Unsecured Assets, IndusInd Bank believes that as banking gets simplified, the communication too moves towards showcasing convenience and simplicity as important attributes that underpin the approach towards providing banking services.

To Ramachandran, continuing to be relevant to the diverse set of customers means creating solutions that simplify customers’ lives and the delivery of their banking requirements.

“Communication with the client, therefore, integrates itself into the entire delivery process. Marketing and distribution thereby become more interlinked. Hence, digital transformation becomes a part of every process, every product, and as an outcome, of every piece of adoption-driven communication. Leveraging innovations, to create differentiated products and platforms, will continue to be the key to our communication plank,” he affirms.

Providing holistic customer experience

A digital revolution is reshaping the way brands connect, engage, and communicate with their consumers. Empowering rural India, and bringing the large unbanked population within the ambit of mainstream banking, continues to be a focus area for IndusInd Bank. “Riding the digital revolution wave, we have worked tirelessly towards ensuring that all the benefits and privileges of digitisation also manifests itself in rural and unbanked markets, as well,” he says.

The focus on digitisation in both customer-facing applications, as well as internal processes, have seen strong adoption and implementation. “In our endeavour to stitch up the fragmented but fast-growing payment ecosystem, we have also entered into partnerships with fintech and other entities to provide seamless payment experience for clients,” Ramachandran says.

Effectiveness of social media
The bank targets customers via a diverse set of digital channels available. These include emails, mobile app notifications, websites, net banking, ATM, and others. IndusInd Bank has full-fledged analytics and campaign management platforms to target and plan outcomes effectively. The digital strategy is based around comprehensiveness, convenience, and quick turnaround time.

Social media is helping the bank understand and service the millennials much better. “Today, most of our followers are our customers who use social platforms to communicate effectively with the bank. Our marketing is focused on all channels, such as net banking, mobile, emails, social media, YouTube, among others. We have a large followers base on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and connect through LinkedIn as well. Our video branch and WhatsApp banking channels have been a big success. Thereby, social media has been effective in keeping topicality and connectedness in our communication,” he explains.

Acceptance of new tech initiatives
It’s usually challenging to find the right technology that customers can happily adopt and will become a part of their financial landscape. “While brands can create technological products, you have to find a sweet spot of launch and communication so that you find the customers who are ready to accept and use the same. Too early or too late is both detrimental,” he adds.

Further, Ramachandran highlights the ways IndusInd Bank has been integrating technology with marketing initiatives, over the years. IndusInd Bank has constantly leveraged the latest technologies to bring forth some of the most unique and state-of-the-art innovations that cater to the dynamic needs of its discerning customers. The bank’s marketing and communication strategy has always been aligned with this vision, wherein campaigns were designed to understand the stakeholders’ interests and engage with them in their world.

The bank has launched the ‘DUO’ Card, India’s first Debit-cum-Credit Card, which comes packed with a plethora of double benefits. To launch the campaign, they did two television commercials and also placed substantial digital media advertisements on popular websites and social media platforms.

“We also launched the Nexxt Credit Card which is the country’s first interactive credit card with buttons, and which provides flexible payment options to the customer. This particular launch was backed by an extensive digital and print media campaign which garnered a tremendous response,” he says.

Last year, IndusInd Bank turned 25. To commemorate the milestone, the bank announced the launch of a multimedia campaign which also comprised five television commercials. Christened ‘#Just25’, the campaign reflected the goal of becoming India’s most ‘convenient bank’.

“We understand the importance of interacting with the customers at multiple touchpoints and hence, we have significantly leveraged traditional, digital as well as social media channels to reach out to the world at large,” states Ramachandran.