The young don’t invest

The problem is so well-known; we don’t even need to introduce it properly. The young don’t invest. They have other plans with their money. All agree they should be investing and should be doing more. But not now. Not today. Some are convinced they don’t have any money to invest. They prefer to consume. Indeed, the main competitor to investing is not another financial institution; it is consumption. Others confuse investing with gambling.

As a result, only very few become successful, and most quickly abandon their trader aspirations. No, we want to spark long-term investor relationships with the young. Most are reluctant to start investing. They don’t want to lose purchasing power now, while others complain about the uncertainty. Is the timing right? What to expect? Because after all, cash is king!

Typically, financial institutions want to engage younger people digitally. But, unfortunately, digital investment processes often have low conversion rates. The process is deemed too long, too dull, too invasive.

So, many banks promote regular investment plans as an easy step-in product. And indeed, it is. But it takes time to reach out to clients, explain how traditional investments work, and convince clients to invest, for instance 20 euros every last day of the month, an amount that some will already deem as too big a hurdle.

How to make it work?

How to efficiently target the young?

Turn investing into a habit by making it part of daily life. It is much more efficient to link investing to something people do every day: spending money. Round every transaction and get the rounding automatically invested. The amounts are so small that nobody will mind. Nobody will feel the difference or have an excuse to quit. Even in times of sudden market drops. Onboard the clients using your execution-only process. Plain and simple. No upfront lengthy risk-profiling is needed.

Of course, execution-only implies you can’t run any personalized marketing campaign. Actually, you don’t need any. Instead, you can launch award-winning, creative ads for this investment service. And just to let you feel how unique this is, try to remember the last time you saw a billboard or TV ad for an investment product? Right.

And if you are the first mover in your country, you will get a lot of positive press coverage raving about your efforts for pushing financial inclusion: investments for all.
In a nutshell, the solution itself is the campaign. The campaign has become the solution.

Use-case & KPI

A concept with strong business results

But as always, flawless execution and customer experience are crucial to making it work. And that’s exactly what we did. We embedded the solution in the world’s best mobile app and Invest your spare change became an instant hit. Over 67% of all investment plans sold are now through this digital-only service.

The average monthly investment amount is EUR 15, only marginally lower than traditional investment plans that need more convincing.

The solution also delivers some solid metrics:

First-time investors make up 50% of the people buying the service—the highest conversion rate of first-time investors of any digital investment solution at this financial institution.
The age of this group is substantially younger: 25 years younger. This result constitutes a substantial rejuvenation of the investor base whose average age traditionally hovers around retirement age.

Halo effect

Converting young in long-term investment relationships

And then, we also have the halo effect – probably the most important metric. Often, rounding spare change initiatives are misunderstood. Indeed, the main critique by business is that the volumes look small. And in the beginning, it is true: business is right! But 15% of clients who 10 minutes before the activation of the rounding service thought they couldn’t invest –whatever the reason: no cash, no time, no hurry. Suddenly, within six months after activation, they realize that they can invest and are willing to do more. And start picking up other investment products, e.g., regular investment and pension plans.

After one year, upselling reaches 30% of these first-time investors. Not only was the bank able to attract new clients, but it successfully converted them into long-term investment relationships.

Think like a true FinTech

A good UX makes or breaks it