Launching a FinTech product into new B2B markets is an exciting process that requires an ambitious marketing strategy.
Laurel Wolfe, VP of Marketing at Klarna, has plenty of experience in launching FinTech products into new B2B markets with proven success. Laurel gave us incredible insight into how she approaches this task, with reference to her role at Klarna.
Klarna is one of Europe’s largest banks, providing payment solutions for 90 million customers across 200,000 merchants in 17 countries.
This interview covers:
Laurel: Sure. I think the common denominator in my roles at Verifone and Klarna is that I’ve been able to help and advise clients – in both cases retailers – on how they can use FinTech to innovate and improve their businesses.
That’s what I love to do, create better business and solve user problems through smart, disruptive financial services and technology.
Laurel: We have it down to a bit of a formula now from a marketing perspective. It always starts with research into the local retail landscape, competitors and shopper behaviour. We stress test our naming conventions for example to see what resonates and will be most easily understood by potential users.
The consumer interviews we conduct inform our product and marketing strategy. Then we start creating the foundational channels which will underpin all our activities, like our website and social media. Next step is layering on specific activations, such as PR, to generate market momentum and roll out lead generation campaigns.
The interesting thing about Klarna is it’s a two-sided job. We work with merchants to offer our pay later services in their checkout and then directly promote Klarna to shoppers so that those shoppers go and seek out Klarna at a merchant’s site.
Much of the work that we do is about raising our brand profile in a market, which in turn benefits our retailers, as we drive traffic to them through our channels, such as our shop directory.
Laurel: Some of it is about brand awareness and buzz. How do you become famous amongst your target audience as quickly as possible? But the proof is in the pudding with tangible business results – signing new clients, acquiring users, hitting KPIs, generating revenue.
Laurel: The biggest challenge at Klarna has been that what we do and offer isn’t ‘normal’. Klarna doesn’t fit into any predetermined category. When we launched in the UK, the idea of a short-term, interest-free, deferred payment option being available at the online point of sale was a real novelty.
No one – retailers or shoppers – knew what Klarna was or how we could benefit them. After lots of market education on how Klarna works and honing in on our value proposition per audience, people have come to realise that the concept of ‘try before you buy’ has a solid use case.
That’s why we’ve been able to grow so quickly in the UK and are now closing in on 10 million users.
Laurel: Covid-19 has certainly affected retail, and that’s impacted Klarna. Retailers are under pressure to differentiate from competitors, find new and loyal users and optimise their sales opportunities – and do it all very quickly.
The online channel has grown exponentially and retailers need ways to accelerate conversion, while meeting changing shopper demands. Klarna has been able to help fill this gap.
We work with all major PSPs and eCommerce platforms too, so integration of Klarna’s alternative payment options can be super-quick for merchants. We’ve also added a host of new features to our app over the past months to help improve the purchase journey from browsing to buying. These features include wishlists, price-drop notifications, deals and more, which also help our retailers reach more shoppers who love using Klarna.
To read the last edition of the FINITE FinTech Interview Series and to learn about how to align your Product and Marketing teams, click here!