"Relevant content in consumable format across media a must in Fintech"

The demonetisation drive has brought into prominence the role of banks and financial organisations – be it offline or online. BankBazaar.com is one such neutral online financial marketplace that provides instant customised rate quotes on loans, credit cards or any other personal finance products. It simplifies the loan application process and chalks out tailor-made offers for users. 

BankBazaar recently tasted success with its ‘Diwali Bonus Wali Programme’, which was launched in association with India’s 18 leading financial institutions to offer best deals to customers for Diwali. 

With an objective to encourage consumers to use the paperless platform for financial products and services, the programme provided cost efficient platform for banks to drive deals for consumers. 

To promote the programme, BankBazaar had launched a digital campaign on social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, besides print, radio, and outdoor media. A movie integration was done with ‘Aye Dil Hain Mushkil’. 

Watch the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLRipDdHr0c

In conversation with Adgully, Navin Chandani, Chief Business Development Officer, BankBazaar.com, shares more on the campaign, marketing trends in the fintech space, BankBazaar’s brand journey and more. Excerpts: 

How has BankBazaar’s brand journey been so far?
BankBazaar.com, established in 2008 by Adhil Shetty, Arjun Shetty, and Rati Shetty, is the world’s first multi-brand online marketplace that offers end-to-end instant services across leading financial institutions of India for instant paperless disbursal of financial products. Born out of personal struggles of the co-founders to get a home loan, BankBazaar.com’s goal has always been in delivering a marketplace for a simpler, smoother, end-to-end experience in a user’s financial journey. With its focus on harnessing mobile technology to deliver paperless transactions, and supported by global investors such as Walden International, Sequoia Capital, Fidelity Growth Partners, Mousse Partners and Amazon, BankBazaar.com aims to be the leading marketplace for financial products. 

Over the years, BankBazaar has grown to a full-fledged B2C platform that sees over 7 million visitors per month on an average to search, compare, and purchase financial products such as credit cards, loans, and savings & investment products from more than 50 of the biggest nationalised and private banks and NBFCs in India. 

At a time when most companies are wary of entering international markets, BankBazaar.com has gone ahead to set up a global presence. The company made its foray into the international market in February this year, starting with Singapore. Apart from Singapore, BankBazaar is also exploring markets in other Asian and select Middle Eastern markets. 

BankBazaar.com is ranked as the best financial website in India by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). BankBazaar.com has also been recently awarded the Emerging Brand of the Year Award at the 7th CMO Asia Awards for Excellence in Branding and Marketing in Singapore. 

What are the key marketing trends in the Fintech space?
The importance of content in marketing in the Fintech space cannot be downplayed. The nature of the sector, with its emphasis on digital technology and the complexity traditionally associated with finance, demands a very different treatment. This reduces the scope of traditional media and increases the importance of focused, relevant content presented in a consumable format across media. So, disseminating content to reach your target audience in their comfort zone – the online world – be it through traditional as we as emerging social media is of great importance. 

Traditional Vs digital/social media – what works best for Bankbazaar.com?
BankBazaar has always focused on the online media. For starters, our arena is digital and our audience is online. The internet is their primary reference and they are used to consuming content and information online in a variety of formats. Secondly, the kind of business we are in requires a great deal of customer outreach and involves a fair bit of education as well. This ties up our hands to a certain extent as print ads or 30-second TV spots will not be able to convey our message effectively. So, our marketing is entirely digital and the platforms we target are those that can help us disseminate information in different formats to boost engagement. 

What have been the key festive season trends seen this year?
Market trend analysis shows that October and March are the key months. Traditionally, the Dussera-Diwali season sees the highest transaction levels in India. We have seen as much as 36 per cent increase in applications in this quarter, compared to the previous quarters. There is also enough historical data to show that not just the number of applications, but the number of approvals are also correspondingly higher for this quarter. 

Compared to the rest of the year, what has been the percent increase in sales/ revenues this festive season?
As I have said earlier, trend analysis shows that this quarter sees an approx. 36 per cent increase in the number of applications compared to previous quarters, as well as a corresponding increase in the number of approvals. Compared to last year, we saw over 60 per cent more visitors this time. 

Please tell us about the insight behind the ‘Diwali Bonus Wali’ campaign.
BankBazaar’s #DiwaliBonusWali is an annual event, this time, in association with India’s 18 leading financial institutions. The programme offered 40 deals on home loans, personal loans, car loans and credit cards – many of which were exclusive to BankBazaar. Apart from the exclusive deals on the platform, this year’s #DiwaliBonusWali flash programme also offered Amazon and Goibibo gift vouchers on every successful approval of credit cards and disbursement of loan products, applied for through BankBazaar.com’s website. We also released a YouTube #DiwaliBonusWali video to reach this concept to the customers. 

What was the rationale behind the campaign?
Historically, the Dussera-Diwali season sees some of the highest transaction levels in India. This festival season is considered an auspicious time to make new investments. It is also associated with the idea of bonus – the-once-a-year windfall that has always mattered to the average Indian family and has always had an impact the depth and range of celebrations. For these reasons, it is not unusual to see people to plan their investments around this time. The upward trend in financial transactions is reflected in not just the number of applications, but the number of approvals, which are also correspondingly higher for this quarter. These are the trends that we sought to leverage through this campaign. 

Our partners also concurred with this assessment, which is why we saw 18+ partners with more than 40 offers – many of them exclusive to the platform – participating in the campaign. They got to leverage the reach of the BankBazaar platform to reach out to more customers than ever and the special exclusive offers, coupled with the gift vouchers, made shopping for financial products on the platform an attractive prospect for our customers. So, for both parties, this was a great deal. More importantly, we were able to connect our customers and partners at the right time, which sweetened the deal a great deal more. 

What have been the consumer insights?
Dussera-Diwali is among the biggest and most widely celebrated festivals in India. Celebrated as the season of giving, it is also closely associated with the annual bonus – the deciding factor in the range of celebrations. Despite changing times, the Diwali bonus has continued to remain relevant and Diwali or otherwise, a bonus in any form always brings more happiness.