The new portfolio customization capabilities will broaden the appeal of Wealthfront’s platform. This taps into surging interest in self-directed investing and the rapid growth of “do-it-yourself” investing platforms like Robinhood, which added 3 million new users in 2020 to reach over 13 million in total.

The platform is considering a variety of paid options, from charging to use its management tool TweetDeck to introducing new features like profile customization. But the crux of Twitter’s subscription play isn’t in features—it’s in content.

However, in-app customization is the least-in-demand feature in the Account Management category, well below average: 18.4% of respondents call it “extremely valuable,” and five FIs support it. FIs that wish to attract consumers particularly inclined to digital—digital-only bank account holders—should focus on account management features.

But some providers have embraced outright cardholder customization: U.S. Bank’s Cash Plus Card, for example, enables customers to select their 5% and 2% categories quarterly from a predetermined list including categories ranging from apparel and movie theaters to telecom and utility bills.

The ability to set alerts for specific categories of purchases offers customization as well as fraud prevention. Transaction categorization is a mainstay of neobank features, and being able to set alerts for specific transactions in real time is a natural extension of this capability.

The company confirmed to Bloomberg in early February that subscriptions were one of a range of paid features it was exploring, in addition to paying creators for exclusive content (“tipping”), profile customizations, and an “undo send” option for direct messages, among others.

Though in-app customization is the least demanded feature in the Account Management category, a not-insignificant 25% of respondents call it “extremely valuable,” and over half (56%) of FIs support it. Account management features could be key to pulling in respondents willing to leave their bank for better mobile offerings.

Creating one-to-one assets for every target isn’t scalable or repeatable, but her team has homed in on a “sweet spot of customization beyond dynamic fields such as [account name] that gives the impression of a one-to-one story but is told on a slightly larger scale.”

Both perceived customer demand as well as internal demands for accountability and measurability are driving personalization efforts. This report explores how marketers are using data to optimize omnichannel experiences for consumers, and what consumers think of these personalization efforts.

Corrina is also an active member of digital marketing networking and education communities, presenting at user groups and conferences on email best practices, automation, customization and many other topics. Karin Holmgren is a senior manager of global marketing operations at Pitney Bowes.

Even when brands do use some type of personalization, it is often limited to the same basic customization many marketers have been using for years: a first name in the greeting, a recent purchase in the body or adding the recipient’s company name without much thought. These tactics can be effective—and at least are a step in the right direction—but today’s consumers have come to expect much more.