In plethora of countries, the financial sector is facing major challenges as new online services are formed. The government is aggressively searching to encourage new entrants, and the executives are looking to upgrade their legacy systems so that the never-ending expectations of digital savvy customers can be met. Well, this is only possible by implementing the proven strategies of digital marketing for finance industry.

In this blog post, we will be exploring the key trends, latest digital innovations and developments, and how they relate to both business and consumer markets that range from reputable brands and new startups to IFA intermediary market for financial services.

The Change in AdWords Affects Financial Services

Google AdWords and Display Advertising, often referred to as Paid Search Marketing or PPC, is not new for most financial establishments, and it still holds critical importance to new customer acquisition in the financial services sector. Throughout the year, there has been a drastic change in the financial keywords, and it may be wise to alter your bids and campaigns accordingly.

Here are some important trends for financial services brands using AdWords; Google's new re-design, the aggregating importance of quality scores, the increasing significance of negative keywords, and increased AdWords spend that grows the bids up.

The Importance of Apps and Great mobile UX for Financial Services

Financial transactions through mobile apps have showcased enormous growth, screening a key trend in how customers handle their finances.

When it comes to digital marketing for finance industry, data reflects that the customers in the UK have downloaded banking apps on 22.9 million occasions by the end of March 2016, which is a rise of 8.2 million in just a year (Source BBA) as mobile banking overtakes branches and desktop as one of the most popular ways to conduct banking.

This trend is not confined to just banking, mobile apps are now being used to renew policies for insurers, serve interactions between the company and intermediaries/suppliers in the insurance sector and different pay platforms are transforming the mobile payments at the point of sale.

New technology is starting to make a major impact on the functionality of mobile app for financial services. New features such as biometric logins, mobile alerts and AI in mobile apps are all starting to be used by the most innovative companies in the marketplace.

User Experience (UX) and Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

Perhaps the most major change within digital marketing for finance industry is its approach to UX and product design. The Financial Services Industry has traditionally created UX and design experiences from an expert point of view but this has significantly changed with a greater understanding of UX being about the digital customer combined with a data-driven process of customer insight.

As a consequence, banks, insurance companies, and financial institutions are now building strong in-house design capability which is shaping new product design and development. Examples of this change include Direct Line, Nationwide and Old Mutual who have both invested heavily in recruited design and UX skills in-house.

UX and design should be included at a strategic level of product development because FS brands lose a valuable opportunity in framing the problem from a customer’s point of view. Make sure you have invested good in-house resource for design and robust user experience research up front.

Additional Key Trends

Other key areas where financial services companies need to be aware of major trends for 2017 include:

• Emerging Technology, such as digital share dealing.

• CRM trends, such as single customer view, channel integration.

• Changing in Social Media Channels, such as increased use of video and social messaging platforms.

• Digital investment advisors.