Customer segmentation: the smart route to growth

We supported our client by screening Europe, Latin America and the Middle East to develop a shortlist of countries that presented the best opportunities for growth. “We weighed the attractiveness, accessibility and competitiveness of each market and arrived at 24 countries where we believed the offshore business was most promising,” explains Eric Sebbagh, Ernst & Young Strategy, Engagement Manager, Switzerland. “We looked at factors such as individuals’ investable assets, how local competition was structured and their attitude toward risk.”

Our team classified each country as high potential, neutral or challenging, enabling the company to check whether those markets that it already knew about had been accurately assessed. We also suggested new markets that the company had not yet considered, and pinpointed countries that it had decided to withdraw from but which we believed were worth re-entering, with the necessary clearance from its risk department. Our EY Global Wealth Model supported the analysis with its future development of in-scope countries about bankable assets.

Creating archetypes to understand investors’ needs

The company anticipated that a new segment of investors within these countries would be one of the growth engines to achieve its CHF1 billion growth ambition. We helped reach a deeper understanding of this new client segment, who have between CHF0.5 million and CHF5 million to invest, and are referred to as entry high net-worth individuals (eHNWI).

To do this, we used our EY psychographic profiling methodology that measures individuals according to more than 30 different attributes, resulting in a rich and complex set of archetypes. “Psychographic profiling helps to better predict client behavior based on personality traits, values and lifestyle, typically comprising client activities, interests and opinions,” says Sebbagh. This is in contrast to many wealth management companies, which market their products based solely on customers’ risk profiles.

In close collaboration and during workshops with relationship managers, business area heads and marketers, our team explored what each archetype expects from the bank, how they make decisions and how they like to operate. The process enabled us to map customer needs against the proposed product suite and ultimately formulate the most effective value proposition for each archetype.

“Some people want their own relationship manager, while others want to do everything themselves, with anytime-anywhere access,” says Sebbagh. “We helped our client to define differentiated service levels through a range of channels and service packages.”

An enhanced digital capability that led to growth

The eHNWI segment is only profitable if the business can handle higher volumes, and the only way to do that is to leverage digital capabilities. The final piece of the puzzle, therefore, was to make sure the bank could provide a seamless customer experience and deliver on its promises with a digital service model.

Such was the success of the project that in the 12 months since its completion, our client’s new business area exceeded its annual growth target by 10%.