Consumer behaviors are evolving rapidly, and financial industry brands must stay ahead to thrive in 2025. Economic uncertainty, inflationary pressures, and shifting consumer priorities are reshaping the industry. Three forces are driving the future: affordability, ethical sustainability, and digital-first transformation. Now more than ever, brands need to fine-tune their strategies, leveraging data-driven insights to price financial products effectively, develop impactful sustainability initiatives, and optimize digital banking channels.

The good news is that the Suzy platform provides all the methodologies necessary, including its brand-new AI-moderated conversational methodology, Suzy Speaks.

This blog outlines a playbook detailing how financial industry brands can utilize Suzy to meet consumer expectations in 2025. The key methodologies, scenarios, and technologies behind the platform are examined, specifically exploring how Suzy can help financial industry brands to:

• Determine which financial tools are most important to consumers and why
• Uncover true drivers of sustainability and test concepts in messaging
• Facilitate fast iteration and optimization of digital channels

Determining Which Financial Tools Are Most Important to Consumers and Why

Understanding what financial tools consumers value most and why is crucial for financial industry brands looking to maintain trust and drive engagement. Consumers are becoming increasingly cost-conscious, with 40% of all personal finance app downloads being expense trackers and budgeting tools, while BNPL integrations have surged 60% year-over-year. This shift in priorities requires brands to offer the right mix of financial tools, pricing strategies, and value-driven services, or risk losing market share.

The Challenge

Understanding the shifting preferences and needs of the consumer is imperative for financial services brands. With economic pressures, increasingly digital-savvy generations beginning to bank for themselves, and evolving expectations, how do brands stay on top? In order to keep winning and maintaining trust, brands need to stay up-to-date.

In the real world, financial services brands might be experiencing any of the below scenarios, indicating the need for a thorough consumer research strategy:

• Once popular financial products and offerings losing share and customers
• Increasing volume of negative feedback around flexibility of offerings, products, and services
• Emergent and digital-first products entering the landscape

The Solution

To determine the optimal pricing strategy and financial incentives, Suzy offers a suite of research methodologies, including monadic testing and Suzy Speaks for qualitative insights. These tools help uncover what financial offerings, such as loyalty programs, flexible payment options, or investment products, resonate most with different consumer segments.

Key research methods used	Monadic testing for assessing financial incentives, and Suzy Speaks for deeper qualitative insights.
Why they help	This combination of methods will provide a quantitative assessment on the optimal package of financial incentives, and Suzy Speaks reveals the emotional and psychological drivers influencing these preferences.
Key questions answered	What financial tools do consumers find most useful when making financial decisions? How do different financial offerings impact customer loyalty across various demographics? Which messaging strategies best communicate the value of financial tools to consumers?
What outputs you can expect	Identification of the most valued financial tools. Consumer insights on preferred pricing structures. Optimized financial messaging for marketing campaigns.

Deep Dive: Suzy Speaks

Suzy Speaks transforms qualitative research with AI-driven, voice-based conversations that capture authentic, in-depth consumer insights in real time. Unlike traditional qual, there’s no scheduling hassle or long wait times, just instant, actionable data. This is because Suzy Speaks does not require delays for scheduling and is cost efficient, helping brands understand the “why” at scale. Utilizing this method will allow brands to capture spontaneous emotional responses and subconscious triggers that influence how consumers really think of financial incentives and pricing. The insights gained will provide brands with a more holistic understanding of consumer preferences.

PLUS -> this new AI-moderated conversational methodology is now available from Suzy, alongside all of your other methodologies.

The Bottom Line

Financial industry brands should implement consumer-centric financial tools such as personalized banking rewards and financial literacy programs to remain competitive in an affordability-driven market.

Uncovering True Drivers of Sustainability and Testing Concepts in Messaging

Sustainability is no longer optional, it is an expectation. Consumers increasingly demand transparency and eco-friendly practices, with 83% of consumers believing companies should shape ESG best practices, proving that ESG is not just about compliance, it is a competitive advantage. However, not all sustainability claims drive action, and greenwashing concerns make authenticity critical.

The Challenge

Before committing to which sustainability challenges to overcome, brands will want to understand which issues and claims will be the most impactful and ultimately build trust. Utilizing a range of research methodologies at this stage can help drive the best strategy before spending large amounts of budget on product/packaging development, and marketing campaigns and messages.

Financial services brands may be experiencing any of the following scenarios which indicate a need to understand consumer preferences towards sustainability and ESG policies:

• The emergence of sustainable and ethical products in the landscape
• Negative feedback or press around a brand, products, or services 
• Regulatory and/or compliance pressures

The Solution

Using research methodologies such as concept testing, MaxDiff analysis, and In-Home Usage Testing (IHUTs), Suzy assists financial brands in determining which sustainability claims and investment initiatives resonate most with consumers before committing to large-scale campaigns.

Key research methods used	Concept testing, MaxDiff analysis to prioritize claims, and IHUTs (In-Home Usage Testing) for real-world feedback.
Why they help	Consumers often state they value sustainability, yet their actual financial behavior may indicate otherwise. Testing different messaging strategies and sustainable finance options ensures brands focus on what genuinely drives engagement.
Key questions answered	Do consumers prioritize ethical investing, carbon footprint reduction, or community impact initiatives? Which sustainability claims increase customer trust the most? How do different financial messaging formats impact consumer perceptions?
What outputs you can expect	Ranked sustainability claims with the highest consumer trust impact. Consumer-preferred messaging framework. Recommendations on sustainable investment offerings.

Deep-dive: MaxDiff:

MaxDiff (Maximum Difference Scaling) is a quantitative research methodology used to determine which sustainability claims or attributes consumers prioritize most. Instead of ranking a long list of attributes, respondents are repeatedly shown a small set of options and asked to choose the most and least important ones. This forces clear differentiation and provides a hierarchy of consumer preferences, helping brands understand which sustainability claims actually influence purchase decisions the most.

PLUS -> with Suzy, your MaxDiff all of your results are available as soon as the research is complete. No more waiting for additional analysis to be completed.

Example of MaxDiff results for a financial services company testing different product offerings and their relative importance to consumers.

The Bottom Line

To avoid wasted marketing budgets and maximize consumer trust, financial industry brands should invest in sustainability research that identifies which ethical finance attributes and messaging resonate most.

Fast Iteration and Optimization of Digital Channels

With 76% of consumers willing to switch banks for better digital services, while 58% prefer payment apps like Venmo, PayPal, or Apple Pay over traditional cards (according to Suzy), digital transformation is essential. Brands that fail to optimize their digital experience risk losing potential customers to friction points such as slow app performance, complex onboarding, and lack of personalization.

The Challenge

Rapidly changing consumer expectations demand that financial services brands are one step ahead of their consumers. However, to do digital right, brands need to adopt a rapid iteration and optimization approach backed by accurate and reliable consumer insights.

Any of the following real-world scenarios indicate that a financial services brand will need to deploy an agile approach to their digital channel development:

• Engagement metrics are on the decline
• Competitive pressures from optimized digital first companies
• The need to ramp up adoption of self-serve banking

The Solution

A strong digital strategy requires continuous testing and refinement. Suzy enables financial brands to quickly iterate and optimize digital experiences through A/B testing, UX heatmapping, and video open-ends.

Key research methods used	A/B testing, UX heatmapping, and Video Open-Ends (VOEs) to capture real consumer feedback.
Why they help	Consumers expect seamless financial interactions, and even small inefficiencies can lead to customer churn. Identifying pain points early allows brands to refine their digital strategy in real-time.
Key questions answered	What elements of a website or app capture the most attention? Where are users dropping off in the digital onboarding process? How does messaging influence customer engagement?
What outputs you can expect	Conversion rate improvements based on digital optimizations. Faster onboarding with reduced drop-offs. Higher engagement with personalized financial content.

Deep-dive: Video Open-Ends (VOEs):

Video Open-Ends (VOEs) provide richer qualitative insights by allowing consumers to express their thoughts via recorded video responses rather than text-based surveys. This method captures tone, facial expressions, and nonverbal cues, giving brands a deeper understanding of consumer sentiment, frustrations, and expectations. VOEs are especially useful for DTC user experience testing, as they reveal how consumers interact with a website, identify pain points, and highlight areas for improvement in real time.

PLUS -> it’s easy to turn VOEs into a showreel directly in the Suzy platform.

Example of a VOE showreel, that is easily created from VOE results within Suzy

The Bottom Line

To maintain a competitive edge in digital banking, financial industry brands must commit to ongoing research that identifies and addresses friction points in the consumer journey.

Final Thoughts: The Power of an Integrated Research Approach

Financial industry brands that embrace affordability, sustainability, and digital-first convenience will be the ones that thrive in 2025. By combining financial tool optimization, sustainability messaging, and digital experience refinement, brands can make smarter, faster, and more impactful decisions. This approach ensures that financial services are priced appropriately, ethical initiatives align with consumer values, and digital channels drive engagement.

To explore how real-time research can elevate financial strategies, book a demo today!