Marketing Doesn’t End When the Account Opens. Five Steps Build the Relationship

Customers rarely announce that a relationship is ending. J.D. Power’s 2026 U.S. Retail Banking Satisfaction Study found that 20% of customers at the largest U.S. banks moved money away from their primary bank within the past three months, up from 17% a year earlier. The average customer now holds deposit accounts at three institutions. J.D. Power describes the pattern as “soft switching”: customers quietly open accounts elsewhere and shift funds gradually, so the relationship fades rather than having a single breaking point.

A first product is not a primary relationship. Any institution can measure the distance between the two, and the research that follows suggests the opportunity lies in the move from the first product to the second.

Credit unions are not immune. J.D. Power’s separate 2026 study of members of the 29 largest credit unions found overall satisfaction down four points and more members opening accounts at other institutions. Indirect lending, the majority of it auto loans, shows the gap most clearly: it made up nearly a quarter of credit union lending in mid-2023, and RC Strategies estimates that without structured follow-up, only 2% to 5% of indirect loan members open a second product on their own.

Banks face their own version of the problem. When Raddon asked consumers in 2025 where they would seek a mortgage, the answers varied by their primary institution, using Raddon’s categories of community, regional and major banks. Among community bank customers, 51% named a community bank. Among major bank customers, 38% named a major bank. Among regional bank customers, 18% named a regional bank. Holding the deposit account does not reliably put the bank first in line when the loan comes.

Need to Know:

• Customers drift before they leave. J.D. Power found that 20% of retail bank customers moved money away from their primary bank within three months, up from 17% a year earlier, and the chance to deepen a relationship sits in the window after a first product.
• Many programs stop at a welcome series and product offers. Moving up the maturity curve means tuning outreach to the moments that matter, such as a first direct deposit or a maturing CD.
• Five steps build the foundation: Map the real journey, prioritize key moments, deliver value, personalize without overreaching and connect every touchpoint. Starting with one segment and one moment, then scaling, keeps it practical.

Many marketing programs are built around the funnel and then go quiet: a welcome series, then back to the campaign calendar. In a survey of 523 financial services executives conducted by Incisiv for Adobe, 38% said their firms offered no personalization or only basic personalization, and just 34% reached micro-segment or one-to-one levels. Most worked at large firms, meaning community institutions may look different, but even large firms often stop at the basics.

That pattern has a place on a four-stage maturity curve: campaign-driven, onboarding-focused, journey-orchestrated and relationship-led. In the early stages, the work ends when onboarding does. The later stages follow the customer from a first product to a second and beyond, with each message responding to that customer’s behavior.

Key insight: Many institutions are still in the first two stages. Five steps move a program up the curve: map the journey, prioritize the moments that matter, deliver value, personalize without overreaching and connect every touchpoint.

Understand The Journey, Then Pick the Moments

Good lifecycle marketing requires moving beyond onboarding and seeing the relationship the way the customer does. For a new checking account, the institution sees an application, an approval, funding, a welcome email and a cross-sell offer. The customer is wondering whether the first deposit cleared and why a fee appeared. Journey maps built from call logs, complaint themes, customer interviews and conversations with front-line staff show what customers actually ask, and when.

From those maps, pick the moments that matter most: the points where a customer is paying attention and a timely message changes the experience. In banking, they include a first direct deposit, a fraud alert and an unexpected fee. In lending, they include a first payment, a rate change and financial hardship. McKinsey’s 2021 consumer research across industries found that 59% of consumers value timely communications tied to key moments and 60% value having their milestones celebrated.

Key insight: Direct deposit deserves particular attention. EngageFI, an advisory firm that works with financial institutions, calls it “one of the clearest indicators of relationship depth,” though not proof of primacy by itself. That makes setting it up an early priority, not an afterthought.

Timing matters most early. For a new checking account, touchpoints come close together in the first 30 days and focus on three actions: enrolling in digital banking, setting up direct deposit and activating the card. After that, they space out through day 90 as the relationship matures. Effective programs combine two kinds of outreach. Some messages go out on a fixed schedule regardless of behavior, such as a welcome within days of opening. Others wait for a signal.

Affinity Federal Credit Union, featured by The Financial Brand in January 2026, shows what signal-based outreach looks like. In early 2025, the credit union saw deposit outflows climb as certificates matured. Within nine months, outreach built around those maturities had helped retain balances and reverse the trend.

A second program automatically follows up with members who viewed a loan pre-qualification offer but did not apply. According to Ryan Marosy, vice president of marketing, it drove strong loan growth, and Affinity finished 32% above its $500 million lending goal, at more than $660 million, even after moderating lending to manage deposit constraints and risk. Marosy called the follow-up “a chain—a series of triggers working together as your personalization engine.” As of that report, the effort had reached only existing members, not prospects.

The same logic holds at banks and credit unions alike, wherever the depositor is the starting point. A checking customer who views a mortgage or auto loan page and does not apply has shown the kind of intent that Affinity’s pre-qualification viewers showed. A timely, relevant follow-up responds to that interest. The customer has already made the first move.

Earn The Right to Personalize

Take a certificate nearing maturity. That date is a signal, and it sets off a message. What the message says decides whether it is welcome, and a simple test helps: Would the customer thank you for this one? “Renew your CD today at our great rate!” serves the institution. “Your CD matures in 30 days. Here are your options.” serves the customer and leaves the decision with them.

Personalization works as a ladder: name, segment, behavior, moment. Many programs stay on the lower rungs, even as customers expect more. McKinsey’s 2021 consumer research found that 71% of consumers expect personalization and 76% are frustrated when they don’t get it.

The hardest climb is from segment to behavior. The data is difficult to access and connect, the work requires linking systems and knowing which questions to ask, and it takes a deep understanding of the journey to know which moments to key off. It is a systems and data project more than a creative one. In the Incisiv survey, siloed data was the top challenge for 46% of firms, up from 18% when they began.

Key insight: Trust sets the limits. Affinity’s Marosy said that when the credit union put outreach in front of members who had shown no intent, it backfired about nine times out of 10 and came across as creepy. The lesson is to respond to demonstrated intent, not predicted behavior. Navy Federal learned a version of it when birthday mailings drew backlash from cybersecurity professionals and fraud victims wary of how institutions use their data, and Navy Federal dropped that segment from its birthday campaigns. Customers should be able to see why they are hearing from the institution and control how often.

Compliance belongs at the design table, not at the end of the process. Webster Five Bank’s chief marketing officer said treating compliance as a final checkpoint can become a roadblock, and she wants it embedded earlier. Affinity’s Marosy said the friction eased once compliance saw that the same underwriting criteria applied across the entire membership. Fair lending rules, rules on unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices (UDAAP), and consent requirements for channels such as text messaging all shape how a program is built.

Connect the Touchpoints, Then Start Small

Customers experience one institution, not a set of departments. Picture a cross-sell email that lands the day after a complaint. The customer sees a company that isn’t listening. Preventing that takes suppression rules for sensitive moments such as an open complaint, a fraud case or a hardship request; a shared view of the customer; front-line teams who know what is going out; and a feedback loop from service back to marketing.

Marketing is well placed to lead the discovery work. Because the effort touches every customer interaction, every customer-facing department needs a seat. Discovery is not accountability, though. In the Incisiv survey, 64% of executives said a single accountable owner was the ideal model for personalization, and the lack of one was a growing obstacle, cited by 22% of firms, up from 11%. Institutions should decide who answers for the numbers once the journeys are running.

Key insight: Institutions do not need to build everything at once. Start with one segment and map its journey. Name the five moments that matter most, run the thank-you test on every message and pilot one of those moments from start to finish. Review the pilot with every touchpoint team, then scale what works.

Four numbers show whether it is working: products per household, the time from a first product to a second, the share of new accounts with direct deposit and share of wallet, which takes an estimate. Each measures the relationship rather than the account.

Opening the account isn’t the finish line. It’s where trust begins.