State Bank of India taps Facebook Messenger for ongoing #GharSeBanking campaign

Social media giant Facebook said on Thursday that State Bank of India (SBI) has driven downloads and adoption for its YONO app, YONO Lite, SBI Quick, BHIM SBI Pay, and other online SBI platforms leveraging conversational marketing via Facebook Messenger. Facebook said SBI has been using social media and digital mediums to encourage people to download the SBI YONO App. YONO (You Only Need One) is an integrated digital banking platform offered by SBI across Android, iOS and web to enable users to access banking, and other financial services and features like travel bookings, online shopping and purchase of groceries, medicines etc. The company said SBI’s conversational flow via Facebook Messenger gave people the option to download YONO and other SBI Apps.

Ravindra Pandey, deputy managing director (Strategy) and chief digital officer said more than half-a-million people have so far started conversations on Facebook Messenger as a part of the #GharSeBanking campaign resulting in a ‘strong’ response to YONO and other app downloads. “Our customers share a close bond with us. They like to interact with us at the branches and this conversation plays an integral role in their overall banking experience. When COVID-19 disrupted their visits to our branches though we continued to remain open, we were very keen on ensuring that we create a similar conversational experience for our customers,” he said. “The conversational marketing campaign was delivered through Click-to-Messenger ads, and helped to provide an instant and personal experience,” he added.

Gaurav Khurana, vertical head for financial services at Facebook India said SBI swiftly built for the emerging consumer trends by building a conversational experience to help consumers get access to banking. “They were thus able to provide an uninterrupted banking service through the YONO App to the millions of Indians who rely on them for their daily banking needs. In times of physical distancing, it’s essential to stay in touch with the customer, consequently, conversational marketing digital solutions such as Facebook Messenger can prove to be very effective right now.”