How market intelligence helps BFSI firms anticipate and act on changing customer needs

Introduction

The Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) sector has been growing at unprecedented rates for the past few years with the global financial services industry projected to reach $44.1 trillion by 2028.

As the sector continues to grow, so does the competition, and customer expectations have become tougher than ever to meet. 

81% of organizations consider customer experience (CX) to be a competitive differentiator, influencing customer loyalty and retention.

Yet, many firms still rely on traditional methods to understand their customers: surveys, focus groups, or Net Promoter Scores (NPS). While these tools can offer valuable insights, they’re inherently reactive. By the time feedback is collected, analyzed, and acted upon, customer needs may have already changed, and competitors may have already moved ahead.

This lag creates a blind spot that can cost institutions dearly in terms of lost opportunities, diminished customer loyalty, and erosion of competitive advantage. Enter Market and Competitive Intelligence (M&CI), a proactive, real-time approach that equips BFSI firms with the insights they need to remain proactive and relevant in their space.

Let’s dig deeper. 

Catching up to customer expectations with real-time insights

Customer feedback loops have long been the cornerstone of strategy refinement and service optimization. However, these mechanisms suffer from two fundamental limitations: 

Latency

Traditional feedback mechanisms are reactive and initiated after providing a product or service. Only the customers who are vocal or willing to participate typically respond to such surveys. 

As these channels take time to gather feedback, recognizing passing trends at the right time becomes tougher, and you’re often left playing catch-up.

Scope

Feedback forms and surveys often capture only a narrow slice of customer sentiment, and are usually focused on specific aspects of an experience or offering. 

They rarely surface broader market shifts or latent needs that customers haven’t yet articulated.

In contrast, M&CI platforms capture early signals from diverse sources, including competitors, regulatory developments, customer behavior trends, and technology shifts to empower BFSI firms to anticipate and act on emerging needs proactively.

The rise of new customer expectations

Financial institutions can no longer rely on legacy systems and one-size-fits-all approaches. To stay relevant, they must align with what today’s customers expect from their financial service providers.

Here are three major trends redefining those expectations:

1. Demand for seamless digital onboarding

Gone are the days when customers were willing to visit branches or fill out reams of paperwork to open a bank account or purchase insurance. The modern customer expects frictionless, digital-first onboarding that mirrors the user experiences offered by tech giants like Amazon.

Failure to deliver on this front leads to drop-offs during onboarding and creates the perception that your organization is behind the times.

2. The emergence of embedded finance

Customers now expect financial services to be integrated seamlessly into the platforms they already use. Whether it’s loans offered at the point of sale, insurance embedded within travel booking sites, or investments facilitated through mobile wallets, embedded finance is becoming a critical part of the customer journey.

This shift demands that financial institutions think beyond traditional distribution models and partnerships, and instead consider how they can embed themselves within customers’ daily lives.

According to Zendesk, 72% of customers expect immediate resolution across the Banking sector. 

3. Preference for sustainability

Increasingly, customers are aligning their financial decisions with their values. This has fueled demand for green bonds, ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance)-linked investment options, and insurance products that support climate-conscious practices.

Institutions that fail to incorporate sustainability into their product offerings risk losing relevance, especially among younger demographics who are poised to become dominant players in the financial market.

According to a report, the younger generation of customers is willing to switch their banking providers if they don’t align with their views.  

Using M&CI to shape customer experience strategies

It isn’t easy for BFSI firms to stay on top of evolving customer needs, more so because they operate in a very volatile sector. They must systematically monitor market signals, competitor strategies, and voice-of-customer data to derive actionable insights, such as: 

1. Monitoring competitor offerings

Analyzing competitors’ product launches, marketing messages, and customer engagement tactics allows BFSI firms to benchmark themselves and uncover unmet customer needs.

For instance, if a competitor bank introduces AI-driven financial advice and garners significant media and social buzz, it’s a strong indicator that customers are open to or even eager for more intelligent, personalized financial tools.

Similarly, when an insurer rolls out dynamic pricing based on real-time driving behavior and receives positive coverage, it signals an opportunity to explore similar models or even improve upon them.

2. Tracking market trends

Beyond competitors, it’s crucial to monitor broader market trends such as fintech innovations, regulatory shifts, and macroeconomic developments.

For example:

• Consumer behavior shifts: A spike in mobile-first banking across emerging markets may signal where future growth lies, enabling institutions to prioritize mobile UX and digital onboarding.
• Macroeconomic indicators: Rising inflation or interest rate changes may shape customer appetite for savings products, mortgages, or investment risk profiles.
• Emerging tech adoption: Trends in cryptocurrency, AI chatbots, and blockchain-based identity verification may inform future product lines, investment services, or even internal process automation.
  

3. Capturing voice-of-customer from public channels

Social media, online reviews, discussion forums, and customer complaint boards are treasure troves of unfiltered, real-time customer sentiment. Unlike traditional feedback tools, these platforms reveal what customers are truly saying and feeling, often long before it becomes mainstream knowledge.

The challenge, however, is that these signals are buried in noise. This is where AI-powered MCI platforms step in, by aggregating, filtering, and interpreting this unstructured data at scale, they turn ambient chatter into strategic insights.

• Spotting pain points in real-time: A sudden spike in complaints about a mobile banking app’s downtime or an insurance claims delay can help preempt a wider PR or customer satisfaction issue.
• Uncovering emerging expectations: Customers frequently compare BFSI services with consumer apps like Amazon, expecting seamless, intuitive, and personalized experiences. These implicit expectations often surface in online discussions before formal feedback channels.
• Identifying service gaps across demographics: Listening to niche platforms like Reddit or regional forums can help capture feedback from underserved customer segments (e.g., rural users or Gen Z).
• Tracking sentiment on pricing and fees: Monitoring forums and review sites can reveal whether customers perceive fees as unjustified or services as lacking in value. These insights can drive restructuring or communication strategies.
• Evaluating brand trust and perception: Patterns in social media mentions or influencer commentary can signal rising trust issues, or conversely, highlight areas where the brand is resonating well with customers.

Embracing proactive intelligence with Contify for a customer-centric future

The BFSI sector is navigating through a significant transformation marked by rapid growth, intense competition, and rapidly evolving customer expectations. Therefore, traditional, reactive methods of understanding customers fall short. 

Market and Competitive Intelligence (M&CI), powered by platforms like Contify, offers a crucial advantage that enables BFSI firms to anticipate and act on emerging customer needs proactively.

Contify’s comprehensive M&CI platform empowers BFSI institutions to gain a deep and real-time understanding of their market and customers through its robust capabilities:

• Enhanced Customer Experience through Voice-of-Customer Analysis: Contify aggregates and analyzes voice-of-customer data from diverse public channels like social media, online reviews, and forums. By leveraging AI and NLP, it identifies customer pain points, emerging expectations, and sentiment shifts in real-time, allowing BFSI firms to design more intuitive products, seamless processes, and personalized services that truly resonate. 
• Improved Innovation and Product Development through Market Trend Tracking: Contify monitors broader market trends, including fintech innovations, regulatory changes, and macroeconomic developments. By identifying these trends early, BFSI firms can anticipate future customer demands and develop innovative solutions with a first-mover advantage. 
• Strengthened Customer Loyalty and Retention through Competitor Monitoring: By analyzing competitors’ product launches, marketing strategies, and customer engagement tactics, as facilitated by Contify, BFSI firms can benchmark their offerings and identify unmet customer needs. For example, if a competitor bank launches an AI-driven financial advisory service and receives positive customer feedback tracked by Contify, it signals an opportunity for other banks to explore similar offerings.
• Mitigation of Risks and Identification of Opportunities through Comprehensive Intelligence: Contify’s ability to track regulatory changes, macroeconomic indicators, and emerging technologies enables BFSI firms to proactively adapt their strategies, mitigate potential risks, and capitalize on new market opportunities.

Platforms like Contify are crucial for BFSI firms seeking to not only keep pace with changing customer needs but also to forge stronger, more enduring relationships. By embracing a proactive, intelligence-driven approach powered by Contify, these institutions can achieve sustainable growth, enhance their competitive advantage, and truly build a customer-centric future.

Book a free demo to witness the benefits of robust M&CI.