Working with many banks across different regions and business lines has taught me this simple truth: in a category where products look similar and rates shift constantly, brand is usually the deciding factor. Most people don’t wake up and say they’re opening a new checking account today. The decision takes time. But that slow path begins long before the actual application.
When someone sees a bank’s ads over time, they start to build familiarity and trust. And I’m not referring to promotional ads about checking accounts, but ads that actually showcase what makes the bank special. They may not click. They may not convert at that very moment. Yet that brand is now in their mental shortlist. And in a commodity industry, being on that shortlist is everything.
What I’ve seen again and again is a strong relationship between brand media spend and account opens. Not just a soft directional pattern. Often a measurable lift, especially on the retail side. Checking accounts, in particular, tend to show a statistically significant correlation. When brands stay visible and showcase their meaning successfully, new account volume rises. When brand spend dries up, conversion tactics have to work twice as hard. They typically lose the efficiency they had because it was brand doing the heavy lifting to nurture the lead.
This is where the tension shows up. Many bank marketers understandably push to prioritize conversion. They want to see direct response metrics move. They want immediate proof. The challenge is that conversion tactics rely on the groundwork brand marketing creates. Paid search, retargeting, rate-based messaging and product-specific performance campaigns all do better when people already know the brand and have a positive impression of it. Without that foundation, performance media ends up fishing in a smaller pond.
Think of it this way: brand grows the audience of people who would consider you. Conversion captures the people who are ready. When you remove the first, the second naturally shrinks.
It’s also worth remembering how infrequently people switch banks. According to a recent BankRate study, Americans with checking accounts have kept the same account for an average of 19 years (!). So unless something big happens in their lives, like marriage, a cross-country move, or having a terrible experience at their current bank, the inertia is thick. That means the job of marketing is to build relevance long before the “I need a new bank” moment surfaces. When that moment finally arrives, the brand that shows up in their memory usually wins.
For banks trying to balance budgets, this isn’t an argument for brand at the expense of performance. It’s a reminder that both work better together. Brand fuels the pipeline. Performance converts it.