Bank Marketing Budgets Are Rising, but Proof Isn't: New White Paper Maps "The Measurement Gap" Heading Into 2027

September 30, 2026 - Banks and credit unions are spending more on marketing than they have in years, yet most still cannot prove what that spending produces. That is the central finding of The Measurement Gap: Bank Marketing Heading Into 2027, a year-end white paper from Richardson Marketing now available on MarketingBanks.com.

The paper pulls together published 2025-2026 research from Cornerstone Advisors, Capital Performance Group, Gartner, Salesforce, ProSight Financial Association and Conductor, alongside field observations from Richardson Marketing's work with U.S. community banks, regional banks and credit unions between roughly $250 million and $50 billion in assets.

Key data points highlighted in the paper:
• Attribution is largely guesswork. 31% of bank and credit union executives believe they credit the wrong channel more than a quarter of the time, and another 26% don't know whether they do. In Cornerstone Advisors' survey of 126 senior executives, no institution said it could reliably trace results to marketing for every outcome tested.
• Data systems are the bottleneck. Nearly 60% of institutions say their CRM or core system limits their ability to track marketing ROI.
• Acquisition is expensive. A new checking account costs more than $200 to acquire before incentives, and 43% of institutions offered cash bonuses averaging $277 in 2025.
• Brand budgets are under pressure. Brand awareness fell from 20% of bank marketing budgets in 2025 to 17% in 2026, and 7 in 10 institutions shift budget between objectives mid-year.
• Spend and performance are misaligned. Paid search draws the most budget, while email delivers the strongest ROI.
• Technology is underused. Only 49% of purchased martech capability is actually used, even as generative AI is now deployed at 49% of banks and 59% of credit unions.
• AI search is the next blind spot. Google AI Overviews appeared on 26.2% of banking search queries, but AI referrals drove just 0.16% of banking website visits, the lowest in financial services.
The paper concludes that institutions don't need more software in 2027. They need a measurement system that connects the tools they already own to the outcomes leadership cares about: funded accounts, loans, retention and relationship value.

Six fixes and a 90-day plan

The white paper sets out six fixes for 2027, ordered so each one makes the next possible:

1. Write a measurement plan before buying anything, built on funded accounts, funded loans, deposit dollars and households added.
2. Rebuild GA4 around business outcomes, from application start through funding.
3. Unify customer data across core, digital banking and CRM into one trusted view.
4. Rebuild automation around the customer lifecycle, from onboarding through win-back.
5. Move attribution forward in phases, from cost per funded account to multi-touch and relationship-level value.
6. Give marketing operations a clear owner.
It also includes a 13-week plan that most institutions can run in Q1 2027 without new software. By the end of the quarter, leadership should be able to see cost per funded account by channel, the one number most institutions can't produce today.

"Financial marketers have never had more budget scrutiny or more tools, and yet most still can't show leadership what a funded account costs by channel," said Robert Richardson, CEO, Richardson Marketing. "The institutions that win in 2027 won't be the ones with the newest platforms. They'll be the ones that define success clearly, connect the systems they already own and put someone in charge of making it all work together."

Availability
The full white paper, including all source citations, is free to read at marketingbanks.com/the-measurement-gap-bank-marketing-heading-into-2027.

About MarketingBanks.com
MarketingBanks.com provides practical banking and credit union marketing insights, strategies and industry analysis for financial institutions looking to grow. Follow MarketingBanks.com on LinkedIn and X.

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MarketingBanks.com is a news and insights resource for bank and credit union marketers. The site covers financial marketing strategy, analytics, search, social media and industry news. Its focus is practical guidance that community banks, regional banks and credit unions can put to work. Through the MarketingBanks.com Research Group, it also publishes original research, including the Banking Marketing Performance Study produced with Richardson Marketing. Read more at marketingbanks.com and follow along on LinkedIn and X.

This release was published on openPR.