By: 15 October 2024

We interviewed the chief revenue officer of Fintel Connect about their recent research findings

Fintel Connect recently published their 2024 Financial Industry Affiliate Marketing Report. The report contains numerous insights from over 100 publishers and affiliates surveyed across the United States and Canada with regards to trends in the financial sector.

We interviewed Alana Levine, Fintel Connect’s chief revenue officer, to get her expert insight into facets of the report, including political uncertainty, the power of data, and how ultimately, the product will always be key.

Hi Alana! Please can you introduce yourself for our readers. 

I’ve been in the affiliate marketing space for 12 years. I love how it blends editorial content with advertorial elements, allowing us to create both engaging content and educational material for our audience. 

There is some advertising component to it. We used to be in the regulated online gambling space, and that’s where we started in the affiliate marketing space. We exited that business to a payments company and saw an opportunity to launch a new business exclusively in financial services. We found that there are a lot of parallels between the two industries, particularly when it comes to transparency requirements and regulatory compliance.

Regarding your affiliate report, survey respondents forecast the biggest product growth for SMBs to be loans, which I found surprising. With the US election coming up, you typically see a bit more caution because companies can’t predict the long-term political landscape. What’s your take?

Irrespective of who wins the election, people always need access to credit. The alternative to taking out a loan is maxing out their credit cards or looking to alternative lenders.  

I think a lot of businesses are preparing for economic turbulence, because we don’t know what’s going to happen. Will interest rates drop? Will inflation continue, or will a recession hit? Either way, this approach is about shielding their businesses and mitigating risk.

Another thing the report discussed was a lot of forecasting about credit cards being strong. To me, this suggests that whilst there are a lot of new financial products on the market, credit cards are a tried and tested method that people have confidence in. 

Absolutely. In the affiliate space, credit cards are the most mature vertical when it comes to marketing. These products have been the most accessible digitally to consumers and businesses, which is why they continue to perform well. 

Customers have a clear understanding of what the product is and what they’re looking for. At the same time, there are just more products available to them. But on the business side, there’s a lot of really interesting products that are coming to market that are trying to address the different needs of a business consumer. 

For example, secured card products offer different reward and payback systems to your traditional big bank credit card. So, I think that as people get more educated, they’re starting to see these alternative options that might be a better fit. It’s a middle ground for those who may not qualify for traditional credit lines but can access these fintech-driven credit cards, avoiding the need to go through a traditional bank. 

One thing I find fascinating on the affiliate marketing side is the amount of data available at the moment. 

It’s about finding your audience. Marketing isn’t just about raising awareness; it’s also about capturing people when they have intent and a specific need. It’s about balancing those two, and it’s really hard when you’re not leveraging the affiliate channel or the content on your website effectively. 

When people are searching in Google they’re going to see AI-generated results, and may not even make it to your website. Affiliate marketing is an opportunity to highlight some of your more specialised solutions that might get overlooked. For example, while credit cards were the bread and butter, we’re seeing a shift in messaging and marketing towards more advanced solutions like payroll integrations, QuickBooks integrations, around seamless API integration to issue your payments. Some of these, which were once sophisticated solutions reserved for larger businesses, are now becoming convenient for anybody that’s running a business. 

It’s almost like we hit a peak, isn’t it? Now companies are trying to simplify their offerings. I wonder if it’s because there is so much available that the simpler and easier something is to understand, the more you might attract new customers. 

There’s absolutely a psychology behind that. I mean, when people have too many choices, they get ‘paralysis by analysis’. The key is identifying and addressing those pain points effectively. 

I think that’s why a lot of fintechs launched but ultimately failed. They had a hypothesis around a problem statement, but then either the unit economics didn’t work out or they didn’t differentiate themselves enough to attract a sufficient volume of customers. 

Now, fintechs have a much clearer vision of who their ideal customer is and tailor their messaging accordingly. It’s become less about getting as many customers through the door as possible, and a lot more about the value of each customer. 

One of the things that really stood out to me in the report was the fact that the number one differentiator for consumers is the product itself. Ultimately you can have the best marketing in the world, the best values and ethics, but if your product isn’t up to scratch, customers just won’t be interested. 

When we talk to financial institutions (FIs) or fintechs they have different challenges. Usually, the fintech has the budget, the FI gets flexibility of product. From an affiliate’s perspective, there are three core variables when they’re partnering with a brand or a product: first, how interesting or attractive the product is to their audience; second, how easy is it to actually become a customer; and third, the acquisition model. 

When I speak to FIs the one question I always ask them is, why you? If you’re going to market, what’s the reason someone should bank with you and not somebody else? You have to have a clear answer to that beyond “service” or “reputation” – those alone don’t cut it anymore. 

The product has to meet a certain standard. What’s difficult for FIs and fintechs now is that consumers aren’t comparing you to the bank down the street. Instead, they’re comparing you to the technology they use in their everyday lives – like their Starbucks app. They expect that standard level of convenience and seamless experience. 

When you ask that “Why you?” question, do fintechs have a clear answer? Tradfis have traded on reputation for centuries, but lots are struggling now because what worked for 200 years doesn’t resonate anymore. 

I would say so. I think they have to, because they’re up against these incumbents. Maybe this is a controversial statement, but back in 2021, when a flood of products came to market, there were a lot of ‘me too’ products – yet another digital checking account or digital secured credit building product. They weren’t innovating, just releasing their own versions of what already existed. 

The brands that have survived and found their foothold in the market are really clear on who their ideal customer is, which in turn allows them to really hit the nail on the head of the true value of the product. They know why they’re building it and what value they are expecting to create for their audience. They’re not trying to appeal to everyone. 

We’re talking to a small business banking product at the moment that are up against the likes of Mercury. They’ve flown under the radar because they’ve been so intentional about how they wanted to market their product. They know who their ideal account is, and they’d rather start small and then scale it out after. 

That’s such a benefit for the consumer, isn’t it? Because almost the fewer customers a business has, the more it values them. 

It also allows you to then deepen those relationships. As the saying goes, it’s easy to get a customer, but it’s not easy to keep a customer. If you find those ideal customers that see the value in your product and actively use it, it’ll be a lot easier for you to not only retain them, but also to upsell additional products. They can even serve as a testing ground or incubation space for new features.  They become part of that solution.

I think you’ve touched on a really good point. Traditional banks might say, ‘Oh, this person’s only got a lower rate savings account, they’re not profitable to us.’ Whereas fintechs may look at it more like, ‘Well, they’ve only got a low-rate savings account but we’ve got them in the door, we can then leverage that relationship.’ 

When you bank with a large institution, you often become just a number to them. Although they’d probably argue with that statement! The regional landscape in the US is very different because banks are a lot more niche and they do tend to be a lot more high touch with their customers. But I know several people who have had accounts closed because it simply wasn’t profitable for the bank to keep them open. 

On the other hands, fintechs see your low-rate account as a way to get your friend through the door as well. In the Canadian market, I have money in a couple of high yield savings accounts and I think they do a really good job of marketing to me without being overbearing. The communications serve as a reminder that they’re there, but also here’s all these other things that you could be using in our product. Normally I probably wouldn’t pay attention to that, but because of the way that they present it, I might.

Related: Unlocking financial literacy through fintech, a guest editorial by Nicky Senyard, chief executive officer at Fintel Connect.

Image: Fintel Connect

Robert Welbourn
Robert Welbourn is an experienced financial writer. He has worked for a number of high street banks and trading platforms. He's also a published author and freelance writer and editor.