Authored by: Sudesh Shetty, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) & Founding Member, Fibe
Every Indian festive season has a familiar rhythm. Homes are cleaned, shopping lists grow, relatives call with recommendations, and families debate whether a new appliance, vehicle or holiday can fit into the budget. Even when the final purchase happens online, the decision rarely happens in isolation. We still seek reassurance from a parent, a friend or someone whose judgement we trust.
That human instinct offers an important lesson for financial brands. As AI makes festive lending campaigns more personalised, the challenge is to ensure that technology helps customers feel understood rather than simply targeted.
Relevance matters more than reach
Festive campaigns have traditionally followed the calendar, with the same greeting, offer and call to action reaching customers with very different needs. Anyone considering upon a family holiday may need different information from someone reflecting a home upgrade or managing seasonal business expenditure.
Artificial intelligence can help to escape this ‘one-size-fits-all’ model. By analysing consumer and interaction data, it can assist to identify interests, predict when communication may be relevant and modify messaging across channels. It also lets marketers react to shifting festive season preferences, rather than depending on advertising planned weeks before.
The objective is to crystal clear and that is to make communication more useful, not more persistent. A timely message can enable customers to explore important financing options, while repetitive notifications can quickly get disturbing.
Making festive communication feel more personal
In India, festivals mean far more than shopping. Different festivals represent different regional traditions, customs, and dialects. For instance, Diwali is associated with fresh beginnings and family reunions while Pongal celebrates the harvest and expresses gratitude for nature’s bounty. Different people, even in the same household, have different ways of celebrating the festivities.
AI can play a part in crafting messages that match the local language and culture. Nevertheless, cultural sensitivity is more than just the translation of news headlines or including decorative graphics. What is of utmost priority is that the message needs to sound natural and appropriate for the occasion. Human judgement is still crucial in this respect and doesn’t feel opportunistic.
Technology can discover trends, but cultural sensitivity is about understanding how individuals take a decision. As people’s financial choices are typically influenced by the recommendations of those whom they trust, marketers need to think about local preferences and the cultural context when personalising their interactions.
Trust is built through clarity
Personalised lending campaigns carry a responsibility that ordinary retail promotions may not. A financing offer is not simply an invitation to buy. It creates a financial commitment that continues long after the festive decorations come down.
Thus, clarity is very important. Interest rates, processing charges, qualifications criteria, repayment plans and all the charges involved need to be clear. It has to be easy for the customers to figure out the entire cost of the loan as well as to know if their payments and instalments will fit into their budget. AI can help simplify information and guide customers to the details they need, without making it harder to understand.
In a similar manner, a personalised offer does not link to an automatic approval. This eligibility hinges on the judgment of the lender’s assessment, and this must be properly communicated. The aim here is to minimise any uncertainties so that clients can make sound judgments based on facts and not have any unrealistic expectations.
Personalisation Must Serve the Customer
Customer engagement, borrowing behaviour and repayment signals can help lenders understand changing needs and financial circumstances. The value of these insights is in utilising them to adapt the communication to what customers really need, instead than enhancing campaign conversions.
A consumer who is having trouble making their payments may benefit more from advice or support than from yet another promotional offer, while someone looking into holiday finance may want transparent information to determine affordability.
Responsible personalisation involves the use of AI to make more informed conclusions, rather than to increase the number of leads. Human intervention is critical in making sure that communication is conducted in an ethical manner.
The human touch is the real differentiator
The future of festive lending is going to rely on how effectively standard AI can help lenders understand their consumers. By leveraging consumer knowledge to deliver relevant communications, lenders may customise more responsibly, clearly outlining financing alternatives and understanding when a promotional message may not be appropriate.
Eventually, helping clients make smart financial choices that fit their circumstances is the ultimate goal, not just reaching customers more precisely. Personalisation goes beyond being a marketing tool when AI backs up this understanding. It becomes a way to make lending communication more thoughtful, relevant and responsible.
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed are solely of the author and Adgully.com does not necessarily subscribe to it.
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