SPONSORED CONTENT PRESENTED BY ALKAMI TECHNOLOGY

What most influences trust, primacy and growth among financial institution account holders? The digital banking experience.

According to The 2025 Generational Trends in Digital Banking study, 70% of digital banking consumers in the U.S. believe the quality of their provider’s digital experience reflects how much the institution truly cares about them. Half of all digital banking users say they would switch providers if another company offered a much better digital banking user experience, 31% claim to have already done so.

The stakes are higher than ever for regional and community financial institutions (RCFIs). With more than $2 trillion in deposits migrating from traditional institutions to fintech investment platforms, accompanied by an additional $1 trillion boost in fintech savings accounts, retention is critical.

What this also means is that digital is not just a distribution channel anymore, it is your brand’s primary entrance and most frequent touchpoint.

Concluded from Alkami’s research across user behavior testing, self-reported metrics from financial institutions, and digital banking platform decision-makers, the elements of an exceptional digital banking experience comes down to:

• Outstanding user experience design
• Fast, frictionless onboarding and account opening
• Availability of in-demand financial tools
• And data, put to use for proactive personalization

The institutions that prioritize investments in digital platforms that unify experiences across devices, personalize interactions and offers to the individual user, activate data using predictive intelligence, and excel at anticipating account holder’s needs, are best positioned to win enduring trust, loyalty, and primacy.

How to meet the expectations of account holders in 2026

To meet account holder expectations, and encapsulate all the elements of a great digital banking experience, RCFIs should focus on three high-impact strategies:

1. Unifying data and operations with a digital sales and service platform
2. Deploying data insights and predictive artificial intelligence in practical ways
3. And rapid response data-driven engagements

With these strategies, leaders in banking are humanizing engagement and deploying anticipation to earn primacy. These modern approaches use integrated technology and data insights to efficiently operationalize strategies for new account acquisition and growth across existing accounts, predict and meet account holders’ needs before they are articulated, and increase the loyalty and satisfaction of their applicants and users.

#1: Unifying data and operations with a digital sales and service platform

A financial institution’s brand is forged in every digital interaction, but those interactions must be powered by unified technology and data in order to achieve top results.

To compete with megabanks and fintechs, which captured the largest share of new checking accounts in 2024, according to Cornerstone Advisors in The 2025 Digital Banking Performance Metrics study, RCFIs must transition from basic personalization to true prediction. This requires connecting three core capabilities: onboarding and account opening, digital banking, and data and marketing.

Put them together, and the bank or credit union is positioned to deliver strategic business outcomes, like churn reduction, relevant cross-selling engagements, higher product adoption, and increased profitability. When these components work together, financial institutions create a continuous, intelligent journey with the ability to act in the moment, personalize each interaction, and proactively guide account holders toward deeper engagement, stronger relationships, and long-term growth.

This is where a digital sales and service platform can turn connected systems into coordinated action. When onboarding and account opening, digital banking, and data-powered marketing work together, the combined effect creates more value than any one capability alone.

#2: Deploying data insights and predictive artificial intelligence in practical ways

In addition to digital channels, leading institutions are deploying predictive artificial intelligence (AI) models to surface data insights during live conversations in-branch, automate complex marketing tasks, and connect behaviors to results.

When frontline staff are armed with recent user and product activity, they can move faster and prove the institution knows their account holders by always making informed, relevant recommendations. The generational study mentioned above also revealed that in 2025, just 38% of consumers at RCFIs said their provider’s product recommendations had become more relevant over the past year. That’s not just behind—it’s statistically behind both national banks (45%) and online-only neobanks (53%), with the gap widening year-over-year.

Complex campaign tasks, such as optimizing audience segmentation, can be automated to both save time, be relevant in the account holder’s financial journey and amplify effectiveness.

Know what’s the next best move for the institution’s digital experience, with automations that observe every click, tap, conversion, or timeout. By connecting behaviors to results you know what drove results and what to improve upon with your next release, and where to invest next.

See Real Results:

Arkansas based institution integrated predictive AI models into their campaign development to target high-intent account holders. One seven-month campaign resulted in 493 auto loan conversions worth $15 million.

Capital Credit Union used AI to maximize retention and growth, identifying an additional 226 loans worth $5.2 million that were originally overlooked, and 52 home equity prospects worth $2.6 million. Their story demonstrates how employing predictive AI to act as a “safety net” can help spot opportunities for growth that manual human-curated lists might miss.

#3: Rapid response data-driven engagements

Modern behavioral data tags allow financial institutions to analyze transaction signals in near real-time. By identifying patterns such as life stage changes or emerging financial stress, institutions can deliver proactive support that sustains primacy.

By identifying early warning signs, such as a halt in recurring bill payments or increased transfers to external competitors, marketing automation systems can trigger pre-designed campaigns immediately. Research shows that when data is used effectively for personalization, account holders are:

• 42% more likely to stay loyal
• 42% more likely to recommend their financial institution
• 38% more likely to engage with digital banking solutions

This proactive intervention can make a real difference in the lives of account holders, and allows the institution to act at the precise moment of disengagement, rather than sending a generic “we miss you” email after the account is already closed.

The best account holder service is anticipatory

Account holder loyalty is now being influenced most heavily by the quality of the digital experience, they see this as the ultimate measure of the care an institution offers. In 2026, the battle for account holder primacy will be won by those who most effectively use data and technology to personalize experiences, anticipate needs, and extend the reach of the service side of the business.

Online and mobile banking is your always-on branch, and being committed to data-driven Anticipatory Banking is the proven framework leaders in banking are using to move from basic personalization to true prediction.