New Zealanders are disconnected from their money and distanced from their banks. Emotional trust in banks is at an all-time low with financial services being the least trusted industry to ‘do what is right’ (2018 Edelman Trust Barometer) and consumers think banks care more about their profits than their customers.

Westpac was on a mission to change this. They wanted to build trust and emotional connection by making every customer feel uniquely appreciated and that the bank genuinely cares about making them better off.

The Playback programme is a series of personalised reports of Westpac customers’ individual banking behaviour. A world-class use of data, the programme empowers customers with valuable insight into their own behaviour, showing ways they can be better off and encouraging them to connect with Westpac personally, supporting richer conversations around their individual needs.

By giving customers their own data back in a way that is insightful and truly helpful, Playback empowered them to make better decisions about their financial well-being and helped Westpac to build connection and trust.

Powering Playback was a dedicated team trawling through Westpac’s extensive data to identify different customer behaviours and ways they weren’t making the most from their money. The goal was to highlight unique insights to customers and proactively suggest ways they could be better off. At the core of the programme was a centralised decisioning engine that connects to every customer touchpoint, enabling customers to engage seamlessly across channels.

Showing customers that they’re not just a number and that Westpac is putting their needs first strengthened Westpac’s relationship and delivered significant results. Customers contacted felt more valued and more likely to recommend Westpac. Most importantly, customers chose to stay with Westpac – Playback delivered a key objective of reducing churn.