In a year characterised by notable expansion in the financial sector despite the uncertainties of global markets, the Marketing and Customer Experience Group continued its digital-centric marketing approach, leveraging digital avenues, emerging technologies, data analytics, and insights to promote innovative financial offerings and services, and deliver an unmatched customer experience. Stronger emphasis was placed on social media platforms to strengthen its digital presence, boost awareness and engagement, particularly targeting a younger, more digitally native demographic.

The uninterrupted digital transformation also culminated in a richer, more engaging and unparalleled customer experience during the year in review, as reflected by Al Rajhi Bank’s impressive Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 79 for digital banking in 2023, positioning Al Rajhi Bank as the preferred choice for the modern, digitally-savvy banking customer. The Bank’s loyalty programme mokafaa also maintained its industry leading NPS for the year under review, further evidencing the growing customer loyalty and retention strength of the Bank.

One of the notable initiatives carried out by the Marketing and Customer Experience Group during the year in review is the establishment of a dedicated Growth Marketing Team within the Marketing department, to bolster the Bank’s digital marketing capabilities. This team consisted of experts in growing digital footprint and tailoring communications for various audiences, ensuring that the Bank has the necessary skills and knowledge to navigate the rapidly evolving digital landscape effectively.

Furthermore, the Marketing and Customer Experience Group also focused on strongly aligning and effectively leveraging team skills and expertise to meet rapidly evolving trends, maximising efficiency and productivity. This enhancement of the team through the mapping of capability to job role resulted in greater and seamless collaboration and innovative thinking, enabling the team to achieve key objectives that led to a significant impact on Al Rajhi’s overall market position.

Increasing brand salience

Al Rajhi Bank’s brand salience remained stable during the reporting period, maintaining its position as the Bank with the highest Top of Mind (TOM) recall for the past five years, a consistency that indicates a strong and well-established brand presence in a competitive market. The Bank’s positioning, which scores highest across all verticals, has further bolstered its brand equity, making Al Rajhi one of the strongest brands in the Kingdom, and placing it significantly ahead of its closest competitor.

The Bank’s strong positioning in Islamic banking as well as its high market share among the digitally-adept customer segment, demonstrates the success of a brand strategy that evolves and appeals to various demographics, while remaining anchored to the Bank’s well-established, decades-long legacy. The new mega brand campaign during Ramadan (The Blue Bank) showcased the brand's young spirit and appeal to the market.

The Bank participated in a number of public service campaigns during the reporting period organised by the collective of Saudi Banks, to further strengthen its brand salience as a trusted institution that promotes financial inclusion across the Kingdom. Key among these campaigns organised by Saudi Banks were:

• The Anti-Fraud Digital Campaign # مو_عادي
• Ministry of Interior’s tweet #Saudi_Vision_2030
• Participation in awareness lectures in Qurayyat Chamber
• The Anti-Fraud Campaign during Hajj season as part of the Financial Awareness Campaigns
• Participation in “Wise Banker” Awareness Workshop at Prince Sultan University

Al Rajhi Bank also continued to promote financial inclusion by improving accessibility to financial services to underserved segments, adding locations of branches to the Al Rajhi app, which service people with special needs via the help of a sign language interpreter. This project was initiated during the year in review, and remains in progress as at the end of the reporting period.

Brand adaptation

Having recognized the significance of adaptability in a rapidly evolving market, the reporting period saw the Marketing Team implementing strategic changes to cater to new customer segments more effectively. One major change was the transformation of the brand’s tone of voice, making it more relevant to the diversified demographics the Bank was specifically targeting during 2023:

Adapting the brand’s tone of voice was instrumental in ensuring Al Rajhi Bank remained the highly-appealing bank of choice across diverse demographics. By acknowledging and addressing the unique requirements of youth, females, and private banking customers, the bank was well-positioned to attract and retain these segments, ultimately driving growth and customer satisfaction throughout the reporting period.

The Bank focused on the female segment with two distinctive promotional campaigns during Women’s Empowerment Day and Mother’s Day in 2023, collaborating with various partners to present exclusive offers and benefits to its growing female customer base, celebrating their achievements and supporting various aspects of their lives. The Bank also introduced a specialised credit card during the year in review tailored to meet specific needs and preferences of female customers. This credit card offers unique promotions and partnerships that cater to the distinct interests and requirements of women.

Nurturing customer loyalty through an enriching customer experience

The Customer Experience Team continued to harness the power of multiple communication channels throughout the reporting period including SMS, WhatsApp, Push-Notifications, electronic direct marketing (EDM), landing pages, as well as conventional channels such as outbound calls, to gauge customer expectations, maintain active engagement, and gather feedback from customers.

Several key initiatives were introduced to provide a more holistic and seamless customer experience, greatly strengthening customer relationships and satisfaction:

How-To Videos:

A series of instructional “How-To” videos were introduced to empower customers with step-by-step instructions, to better navigate, use and customise the Bank’s fully digitized products and services.

Enriched Loyalty Experience:

Adding the Bank’s loyalty programme mokafaa as an engaging feature on the Al Rajhi Bank mobile app, providing customers with exclusive offers, rewards, and personalized recommendations based on their banking history and preferences.

Enhanced Marketplace (eCommerce):

Enhancing the marketplace within the Bank’s mobile app for a seamless online shopping experience, and enabling customers to access multiple services with the app evolving into a one-stop destination for both financial as well as lifestyle needs.

Transition to digital services:

Allowing customers instant access to a wide array of digitally streamlined banking services from the convenience of their mobile devices to meet fast-changing customer preferences for digital banking.

The Marketing and Customer Experience Group’s continued efforts to enhance and enrich user experience across all channels saw Al Rajhi Bank being lauded with the “Best Consumer User Experience (UX) Design (Saudi Arabia)” award Presented by Global Finance in 2023.

A number of market research studies were conducted by the Marketing Team during the review period to better understand customer sentiment with regard to specific focus areas. Key among these were the below mentioned studies:

With Net Promoter Score (NPS) being widely adopted globally as a relational measurement of business growth in relation to customer loyalty, the Marketing and Customer Experience Group has emphasised NPS measurement across the Bank’s business verticals as well as products and services, to better gauge customer loyalty, as well as areas that require improvement.

Al Rajhi Bank recorded an impressive Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 81 for conventional banking and 79 for digital banking during the year in review:

Several digital initiatives were introduced during the year to streamline processes that enhanced the overall customer experience. These include:

• Digitization of POS Financing
  Transitioning from an in-branch loan request execution to a simplified, fully-digital journey, with a 68 NPS
• IBAN Letter Application
  Enabling digital application for IBAN certificate, achieving an NPS of 80
• Opening Additional Accounts:
  New feature on e-Corporate allowing clients to open additional accounts, gaining an 80 NPS
• Travel Plus Currencies Expansion:
  Increasing currency options from 5 to over 30 on the Travel Plus card via the app, receiving a high NPS of 76.
• Control of Credit Card Status:
  Introducing app features to enable/disable certain card features for better control and security of the card, receiving a high NPS of 76
• Temporary/Permanent Closure of Credit Card:
  Introducing app feature for temporary or permanent closure of credit cards, achieving a 76 NPS
• Tasaheel for Revolving Credit Cards:
  Introducing app feature to convert transactions to instalment plans, cutting down the previous 48-hour processing time, with a 76 NPS
• Supplementary Credit Card Application:
  Streamlining supplementary credit card applications through the app, reducing the processing time from 72 hours, with a favourable 76 NPS
• Auto Lease Application:
  Introduction of auto lease application feature through the app addressing previous limitation, achieving a 69 NPS rate
• Digitalizing the Transfer of Vehicle:
  Simplifying the process of transferring the vehicle to the customer’s name post final loan payment, avoiding additional insurance costs and achieving a 69 NPS

The high NPS across all initiatives indicate successful digital transformation efforts that have addressed previously identified limitations in customer-facing operations, leading to improved customer satisfaction, and subsequent business growth across the Bank.

During the year in review, the Marketing and Customer Experience Group also collaborated with internal divisions to significantly enhance customer experience through a blend of analytical insights, collaborative brainstorming, and continuous service evaluation, thereby creating a highly responsive customer-centric environment:

• Analysis and Innovation:
  Thorough analysis and monitoring of customer communication that were channelled through the Customer Care Department and Contact Centre helped identify areas that required immediate attention and improvement powered by innovation.
• Product Management Collaboration:
  A continuous dialogue between the Marketing and Customer Experience Group and Project Management Team of the Bank facilitated a better understanding of how products and related services could be refined and improved to meet customer expectations.
• Continuous Service Evaluation:
  Appraisals of service quality at various customer touchpoints were carried out continuously, with the Marketing and Customer Experience Group sharing significant findings with respective departments, who could then address the needs for improvement.

Marketing revamp

With the formation of a Growth Marketing Team during the reporting period, Digital Marketing objectives for the year in review revolved around digital platform adoption, increasing awareness, enhancing engagement, and driving sales. This approach catered to both new customers and existing ones, promoting a holistic strategy to improve the digital customer experience.

A number of paid digital marketing campaigns were executed by the Marketing Team during the year. The majority of the marketing budget was spent on digital marketing, as it was proven to be the most effective channel for higher penetration and conversion rates.

• Blue Week Campaign
• Aid Campaign
• Million Account Campaign
• National Day Campaign
• Start Right Campaign
• Saudi Founding Day Campaign
• Apple Campaign
• Alfursan Credit Cards

The Digital Marketing Team utilised various tools to generate conversions and engagement through SMS, Push Notifications, emails, and other customer relationship management (CRM) channels. These systems have significantly aided in centralising all digital marketing campaign initiatives, allowing for a more cohesive strategy and better analysis of campaign performance across different channels.

Alongside the measurement tools, the Team also utilised Al Rajhi's real time marketing capabilities for the Content Management System. The implementation of this has resulted in notable efficiencies, particularly in content creation, distribution, and analysis. The system has enabled the Digital Marketing Team to quickly adapt to content performance metrics and optimise strategies accordingly.

Championing social media

In 2023, the Marketing and Customer Experience Group rolled out a Social Media Strategy with the overarching aim to bolster its online presence and promote new digital banking products, specifically targeting the youth and digitally-savvy demographic. A number of social media activities were implemented in-line with this strategy during the reporting period:

The Social Media Strategy was extended to the Al Rajhi subsidiaries, carrying out assessments and analyses to ensure the subsidiary companies too, were well aligned with the overall customer engagement efforts. The team was instrumental in curating social media calendars for both Al Rajhi Takaful and Al Rajhi Capital, while assisting both subsidiaries in selecting social media agencies to manage and populate their social channels. A social media strategy for the UrPay digital wallet was also executed, driving higher engagement by leveraging existing data and insights of target audiences.

The Bank’s social media strategy in 2023 led to notable growth across various metrics, aligning with the set objectives:

With the utilisation of social media analytics playing a significant role in the Bank’s new data-driven social media strategy, the Marketing Team was able to utilise insights into user behaviour, engagement patterns and content performance, thereby leveraging data to increase impressions and engagement across multiple channels and social networks with targeted campaigns. This was particularly helpful in penetrating into the target youth segment and promoting new digital banking products and services, and increasing conversion rates. The content was also continuously improved to be more relevant and targeted, with the team tracking the performance of content to evaluate the effectiveness and optimise social media campaigns. The deeper understanding of audience behaviour through analysed data also helped the Marketing Team to improve lead generation, resulting in higher conversion rates.

mokafaa loyalty programme

The year in review saw Al Rajhi Bank’s mokafaa loyalty program undergoing a thorough overhaul on the Bank’s mobile app, delivering a fully digital experience to its members. The app was upgraded with a revamped mokafaa page with simplified navigation for a better User Experience (UX), a transaction page for loyalty-based transactions, promotional banners for the latest offers, and the expansion of its redemption partner portfolio to feature over 210 partners across Saudi Arabia, making mokafaa the largest loyalty redemption portfolio in the Kingdom. The partner portfolio now spans more than 20 major categories such as retail, restaurants, travel, luxury brands, pharmacies, delivery services, groceries, furniture, and more.

mokafaa successfully maintained the top Net Promoter Score (NPS) at 68, reflecting improved customer satisfaction and reduced customer efforts for the year under review. Having the most preferred loyalty programme in the country also strengthened the Bank’s position within the competitive banking landscape, attracting more customers and partners based on its growing brand loyalty.

The number of Active Redeemers of mokafaa increased 124% year-on-year in 2023, with the number of redemptions availed through the programme also increasing by a notable 118%.

Key advancements and upgrades of mokafaa front-end and back-end features during this period:

Credit Card Top-Up Feature using mokafaa points

• Partner Portal for full visibility of transactions of specific partners
• Loyalty Accounting Cycle Automation for all mokafaa transactions and financial movements
• Push Notifications Introduction to enhance customer interaction while reducing costs
• Points Transfer using phone numbers with an added option to send points as gifts
• Earn Partner feature enabling members to accrue mokafaa points with external partners

With plans to extend the mokafaa loyalty programme across Al Rajhi Bank’s subsidiaries, the Marketing Team initiated plans to upgrade the existing Loyalty Management System (LMS) during the year in review, and shifted to Exadata from Oracle, given its superior robustness and flexibility to handle higher volumes.

During the year in review, mokafaa kicked off a thematic campaign, aiming to bolster awareness of the program among both existing and potential customers, highlighting the growing loyalty benefits of mokafaa. The campaign was rolled out via major communication channels including social media, paid media, influencers, and internal communications across both Al Rajhi Bank and Group. The campaign garnered over 25 million views, and reached more than 10 million individuals. Additionally, mokafaa launched its own exclusive social media channels on X and Instagram, attracting a substantial follower base that continues to grow.