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Research Report

The Marketing ROI Gap in Banking

How financial institutions spend, measure — and struggle to prove — marketing’s value

 

Financial institutions spend 0.10% of assets on marketing annually but most still can’t clearly connect spending to results. This report from Cornerstone Advisors, commissioned by Fintel Connect, explores how financial institutions spend, measure, and struggle to prove marketing’s value and reveals why the widening gap between investment and impact is holding marketing back from being a true driver of growth.

 

Key Insights:

  • Spend vs. performance is misaligned. Paid search gets the most budget, but email delivers the strongest ROI.

  • Measurement is broken. Nearly 60% say their CRM/core limits ROI tracking.
  • Budgets rely on guesswork. Most institutions still base spend on last year’s numbers.
  • Big opportunity: affiliate marketing. Underused, yet high-performing and often overlooked.
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What You'll Learn in This Report

  • Which marketing channel delivers the most impact — but is the most under-leveraged?
  • Why you may be giving budget to the wrong marketing channels
  • Why getting attribution, measurement, and outcome-based accountability is critical
  • The 3 things needed to make marketing a growth strategy

Report Stats At a Glance

75%

 

of financial institutions rank new accounts opened as a top marketing success metric.

46%

 

of respondents ranked paid search among their top two marketing budget allocations.

31% 

 

of banks and credit unions think they credit the wrong marketing source more than 25% of the time.

Ready to See Real Results With Your Financial Institution?

Solutions from Cornerstone Advisors

Cornerstone Advisors - Core Systems - Conversion and Implementation

Digital

We help you drive measurable value from your digital investments. Our expert team partners with you to deliver end-to-end support across your key digital initiatives—from strategy to execution. Whether you're modernizing legacy platforms, optimizing digital contracts or scaling new technologies, we ensure every step is aligned to your business objectives. With decades of experience and deep industry insights, we help you make smarter digital decisions and turn your technology partnerships into a true competitive advantage.

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Performance

Cornerstone’s Performance solutions provide a wide range of consulting expertise to help clients identify opportunities to increase efficiency and productivity across their entire organization, whether it’s enhancing the digital experience or optimizing payments. We leverage these services with our proprietary tools, including Performance Vault and Analytics Vault. Armed with unparalleled insider data analytics and benchmarking intel, your bank or credit union will gain the confidence to make sound, data-driven decisions.

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About Cornerstone Advisors

For over 20 years, Cornerstone Advisors has delivered gritty insights, bold strategies and data-driven solutions to build smarter banks, credit unions and fintechs. From technology system selection and implementation to contract negotiations, vendor management, performance improvement programs, strategic planning, merger integration and enterprise program management, Cornerstone combines its expertise with proprietary data and research to help financial institutions thrive in today’s challenging environment. For more information, visit www.crnrstone.com, connect with us on LinkedIn and Youtube, and subscribe to GonzoBanker® for our opinionated take on all things banking.