For financial institutions in the Philippines, offering more products does not guarantee more customers: relevance and practicality matter more than range. With only 2% of Filipinos able to correctly answer all six basic financial literacy questions in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ 2021 Financial Inclusion Survey, Acumen’s work with one of the country’s oldest financial institutions and one of its six digital banks shows how deep customer understanding sharpens both product line-ups and roadmaps.
The financial industry has grown to be a highly competitive space. Both old and new financial institutions have launched a wide variety of products to the market.
With the vast number of options, it is easy to think that there must be a perfect product for every customer profile. But is there actually a market looking to use or patronize these offerings?
Why low financial literacy limits demand in the Philippines
Demand for a financial product depends on whether people understand it, and global studies have shown that the Philippines lags in terms of financial literacy. According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) 2021 Financial Inclusion Survey, only 2% of Filipinos were able to correctly answer all six basic financial literacy questions.
How can you convince someone to buy into a product or service they know nothing about?
In most cases, you can’t.
Lack of interest is driven by a lack of knowledge, and while it may sound obvious, an idea this straightforward is often overlooked by highly transactional, product-focused companies looking to expand their businesses.
In deciding which segment of the population would make the most sense for growing their numbers, simple questions such as “Does my customer know what I’m selling?” or “Does my product actually solve their problems?” easily fly under the radar.
How customer discovery shaped a market entry strategy
Placing the customer at the center was a key imperative in developing a new market entry strategy for one of the oldest Philippine financial institutions.
For Acumen, a Filipino-led consulting company, discovery and baselining are among the most crucial phases of a client project. For this engagement, that meant developing a deeper understanding not only of the business but also of its customer base, beyond what could be extracted from internal numbers and sheets.
Through structured conversations with consumers, the Acumen team identified a key barrier that was consistent across the subsegments of a broader market: financial education.
Stemming from the insight that Filipinos in different demographics struggle with financial literacy, Acumen identified three underlying core principles most relevant to a specific target segment. From there, the consultants concluded that the product line-up should be condensed into two products. These made the most sense in the context of the segment’s true financial capacity while supporting its short- and long-term aspirations.
The assessment results allowed the brand to clearly articulate the value of its offering to the new consumer segment. Further, the recommended distribution channels and market strategy positioned it in spaces that would naturally build brand trust and credibility among potential clients.
How customer profiling guided a digital bank’s product roadmap
The same customer-profiling process also allowed Acumen to provide insights for product prioritization to one of the six Philippine digital banks.
For most tech companies, creating product roadmaps and deciding which features must go live is a difficult discussion. The possibilities are truly endless, but the key question lies with the consumer: Which features are actually most relevant to them?
By building a solid understanding of consumer behavior, beliefs, and sentiments, Acumen not only identified the most significant features for customers but also mapped unique use cases for each. Armed with the insights from the discovery phase, Acumen’s strategists were able to clarify the types of users that needed to be engaged for product concept testing.
In the end, instead of simply providing the client with a list of winning concepts, Acumen delivered more actionable output. This included comprehensive consumer profiles, in-depth insights into why each feature resonated with consumers, and even an Acquisition-Adoption-Advocacy funnel that mapped how to optimize each feature based on consumers’ perceptions and motivations for use.
Why relevance matters more than product range
Financial services companies need not compete on the quantity of products they offer. At a time when there appear to be unlimited choices, what matters is relevance and practicality.
Meeting the customer’s needs and providing value is easier said than done. But having a fuller understanding of a customer’s pain points and motivations is the best way to transform how a company engages with the market.
Moving beyond short, one-off transactions, companies can build long and meaningful relationships that give them the opportunity to offer solutions that actually translate to business growth.
Dedicating time and resources to obtaining a deep familiarity with consumers is the best investment a financial business can make. At the end of the day, how do you expect to sell products to a customer you don’t understand?
Frequently asked questions
Why doesn’t offering more financial products lead to more customers?
Because demand depends on understanding, and people rarely buy into a product or service they know nothing about. In a market where financial literacy is low, a wider product line-up does not create interest on its own. Relevance to what customers actually need and can afford matters more than range.
How financially literate are Filipinos?
According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) 2021 Financial Inclusion Survey, only 2% of Filipinos were able to correctly answer all six basic financial literacy questions. Global studies have also shown that the Philippines lags in financial literacy.
How should a financial institution choose products for a new customer segment?
Start with discovery: structured conversations with consumers that go beyond internal numbers to reveal the segment’s real barriers, financial capacity, and aspirations. In Acumen’s work with one of the oldest Philippine financial institutions, this led to condensing the product line-up into two products suited to the target segment’s true financial capacity.
How should a digital bank prioritize product features?
By grounding the roadmap in consumer behavior, beliefs, and sentiments rather than in everything that could be built. For one of the six Philippine digital banks, Acumen identified the features most significant to customers, mapped use cases for each, and delivered an Acquisition-Adoption-Advocacy funnel showing how to optimize each feature based on consumers’ perceptions and motivations.
← Back to Insights