Customers use all five senses during their purchase processes, even in a bank. They visually evaluate how the bank looks and consider how the space smells and feels. If they’re standing for too long or a desks feel sticky, they’re going to notice.
Customers even pay close attention to the sounds they hear. And, what they hear affects the way they act and feel. Sounds impact the way customers communicate with employees, how they feel, and what services they are open to.
Overhead messaging and music has more influence than you might realize, and here are five smart ways to leverage the use them in your bank.
1. Improve Branding with the Right Music
The goal of overhead music is to set a tone for your institution’s brand. In the same way that customers expect mariachi music when they eat at a Mexican restaurant or want specific music in bars, your clients have certain expectations at your bank. By choosing an overhead music playlist based on your target audience, you can set the tone in your bank that appeals to customers.
Spectrio’s music system makes it easy to change the tempo, style, and tone of your music throughout the day.
In the morning, you might choose positive, uptempo classical music when meeting with customers who are looking for loans or want to change their investment portfolios. Then, in the afternoon when customers are in a rush, you could switch the music to something calming to make people more patient while waiting in line.
If your customers don’t feel like they can trust your bank or aren’t getting the care they need, then they might look to other institutions. Overhead messaging in banks is just as important for customer acquisition and retention as entertainment.
2. Make The Right Music Choices to Drive Customer Behavior
Zen chimes at a spa or the pumping music of a mall is no different than overhead music in banks. Your background music choices can determine how patient customers are, how they receive your terms, and even which customers decide to bank with you.
Studies have shown that the type of music your customers listen to affects the prices they’re willing to pay for certain items. Students in Scotland listened to three music choices: classical, country, and none, and then were asked to say what they would pay for a variety of items
Students who listened to classical said they would be willing to pay more for “social status” items like jewelry or nice cars than the other two groups. Jewelry stores play classical music for customers to make the items seem more affordable. In financial institutions, classical music could help customers become investors and homeowners if they trust the organization’s terms.
Classical music doesn’t have to be the best choice for your bank. You might find something else that changes customer behavior to your desired results. However, your overhead messaging will impact your customers and change their perception of your business.
3. Share Important Updates with Waiting Customers
Bank employees and customer service staff often share information with customers as they interact with them. This can slow down the transaction process and increase wait times, frustrating customers.
As an alternative and more efficient way to communicate with customers, overhead messaging in banks shares important updates, offers, and events to everyone in the building.
Additionally, overhead messaging in banks allows organizations to upsell their products and increase customer awareness of their options. Until they heard your overhead announcements, your customers might not have realized that taking out an IRA was an option or how their relationship with the bank can help them with home financing.
With the right messages, your bank could increase sales to existing customers while marketing to new ones.
4. Update Your Messages As Often As You Need
Overhead messaging in banks is a low-risk advertising choice because of its flexibility and options. Unlike other forms of marketing or print advertising where you have to choose one message, you can change your overhead messaging as often as you want. You can test various music types and tempos to appeal to your customers or switch through your news announcements to promote various banking options.
Whenever you’re not happy with a particular song or statement, you can remove or change it.
Some organizations get into a groove with their overhead messaging and leave it for weeks or months at a time, while other bank managers prefer to make changes every few days. The choice of when to change your in-store content is yours to determine what is best for your customers and your business.
5. Makes Specific Choices For Location-Based Marketing
As the consumer market becomes increasingly diverse, banks often tailor their messaging by location instead of by the brand. For example, some parts of town might have announcements in English, Spanish, Chinese, or other languages that reflect the local demographics. This customization may not be limited to overhead messaging – everything the bank, from the digital signage to the printed collateral, may be multi-lingual.
Overhead messaging in banks is flexible, meaning one bank can have specific messages and language choices that are completely different from another banking location down the street. Once again, this flexibility is meant to help financial institutions connect with customers.
Approaching customers on their terms in their language is a great way to connect with them.
Plus, this messaging can increase sales by increasing customer knowledge about your organization even if your customers don’t speak with a teller who is fluent in their native tongue.
Learn More About Using Overhead Messaging and Music in Banks
The minimal risk to test overhead messaging in your bank doesn’t compare to the benefits that result from entertaining and educating your customers. There are enough options to choose from to ensure your customers have a positive experience. Not only will you have better-informed clients, you will also have happier staff and customers who enjoy the experience more with the right music choices.
To learn more about overhead messaging, contact Spectrio today and discuss options for your business. Or, for more information about how to provide exceptional customer experiences using audio and video in your business — get our free ebook.