Redefining Fintech Marketing: How AI Powers Kissht’s Customer-Centric Approach

In a world of rapid technological advancements, how is a fintech company like Kissht staying ahead of the curve? In this interview, Shwetha Iyer, SVP and Head of Marketing, reveals the secrets. With a track record spanning two decades and a diverse portfolio of marketing successes, Shwetha provides a unique glimpse into Kissht’s innovative approach. From leveraging AI to personalise customer journeys to navigating the complexities of data privacy, Shwetha shares valuable insights for marketers and fintech enthusiasts alike.

Key Highlights from the Interview

  • AI-Driven Personalisation and Segmentation: Kissht leverages AI for hyper-targeted customer segmentation, predictive analytics, and personalised communication, significantly enhancing engagement and retention.
  • Enhanced Operational Efficiency and Campaign Performance: AI tools automate reporting, real-time data analysis, and campaign optimisation, reducing CAC by 40% and improving retention rates and website traffic.
  • Ethical and Transparent Use of Data: The company prioritises data privacy and compliance, collecting minimal personal information, obtaining explicit consent, and maintaining transparency to build customer trust.
  • Embracing Emerging AI Trends: Kissht is adapting to trends like vernacular content, voice-based marketing, and omnichannel strategies, while exploring integration into super apps to provide seamless customer experiences.
  • Future-Ready AI Strategies: The focus is on deeper personalisation, programmatic media buying, and efficient content creation and repurposing using AI, ensuring scalability and relevance in a competitive fintech market.

“AI enables precise audience targeting and timely, hyper-personalised messaging, fostering trust and credibility through relevance.”

Can you share your professional journey and your current responsibilities as the SVP and Head of Marketing at Kissht?

Shwetha: I am a seasoned marketing leader with 21 years of experience and a strong background in growing brands across categories. An advertising professional turned marketer, I am well-versed in brand building, PR, digital marketing, market research, growth strategies and product management. 

I have built and led high-performing marketing teams that have consistently delivered exceptional results throughout my career. With my passion for innovation, I have helmed teams that have crafted campaigns that have swept awards, including Kyoorius, Effies and Impact. 

Prior to my current role as SVP and Head of Marketing at Kissht, I have held senior marketing positions at pedigree organisations like Webchutney, IBM, Vodafone and ZEE5, where I was responsible for developing and executing marketing plans that helped to drive revenue growth and increase market share.

In my current role at Kissht, I lead Brand, PR, Customer Retention and Digital Marketing.

How has your role evolved with integrating AI into marketing strategies for a fintech platform like Kissht?

Shwetha: In today’s world, automation and AI are non-negotiable. Marketing has evolved from being a creative function to a fully scientific function. Marketers now have to be marketing technologists who balance the art and science of marketing to deliver measurable results. 

AI is transforming how marketers interact with their audience, analyse data, and optimise campaigns. By leveraging AI, marketers can improve personalisation, enhance customer experiences, increase operational efficiency, and achieve better ROI across their campaigns. The key is understanding how to integrate AI effectively with existing strategies and workflows while maintaining a focus on the customer’s needs and preferences.

How has Kissht adopted AI in marketing efforts such as customer segmentation, targeted campaigns, or performance analytics?

Shwetha: We use AI across activities like content creation, website management, SEO and customer retention. 

  • AI-Driven Segmentation & Personalisation: By leveraging AI, we create hyper-targeted customer segments based on demographics, behaviours, preferences, and even predictive analytics. This allows us to design highly tailored, personalised campaigns that resonate with different customer groups.
  • Automated Reporting: AI tools help us analyse marketing performance data and generate reports that provide actionable insights, reducing the time spent on manual data analysis.
  • Attribution Modelling: We understand which touchpoints in the customer journey are most effective in driving conversions, helping to allocate marketing budgets more effectively.

Have specific AI-driven tools or platforms (e.g., recommendation engines, marketing automation, or chatbots) significantly impacted Kissht’s marketing success?

Shwetha: We use generative AI for content creation and creative ideation. We also use data modelling tools for our customer retention campaigns and measurement. AI helps us forecast customer behaviour, such as the likelihood of purchase, churn, or conversion. This helps us optimise our campaigns by targeting high-potential customers with tailored offers or messages. 

We also use Gen AI tools to generate personalised content, such as blog posts, social media updates, and email copy. These tools help us produce large volumes of content quickly and at scale, saving time for marketers while maintaining a personalised tone.

How does AI help Kissht build trust, simplify complex financial offerings, and personalise customer journeys through tailored loan recommendations and marketing messages?

Shwetha: AI helps us find the right audience attributes and curate the right messaging for them at the right time. We pick our cohorts with precision, and we are able to offer them relevant products and hyper-personalised messaging. This builds trust and credibility.

Can you provide examples of how AI has improved customer engagement or acquisition rates for Kissht?

Shwetha: Our customer retention rates have gone up from 64% to 87% ever since we started the microsegmention of cohorts to deliver personalised communication and customised offers. Our website traffic has also gone up by 19%.

How has AI transformed your ability to scale campaigns or optimise marketing spend in a competitive fintech market?

Shwetha: AI has helped us process data in real time, allowing us to adjust campaigns instantly based on performance metrics. If a particular ad is underperforming, AI suggests adjustments to the targeting, budget allocation, or creatives to improve results. This has helped us reduce CAC (customer acquisition costs) by almost 40% and also increased our organic acquisition.

As Kissht handles sensitive financial data, how do you balance the use of AI for marketing insights with ensuring data privacy, security, and compliance?

Shwetha: We collect the minimum amount of personal data necessary to create a seamless experience and quick disbursement of loans to our customers. Our customers are fully informed about what data is being collected, how it will be used, and with whom it will be shared. This transparency is crucial for building trust. We ensure that we obtain explicit, informed consent from customers before collecting or processing their personal data. This includes prominent disclaimers, checkbox agreements and consent banners on our app. When dealing with third-party vendors, we ensure that sensitive data is not shared.

What challenges do you face in leveraging AI for marketing while adhering to fintech industry regulations and ethical considerations?

Shwetha: The challenges of leveraging AI for marketing in the fintech industry are significant but not insurmountable. Fintech marketers navigate a complex landscape of regulatory compliance, ethical considerations, data privacy, and security concerns while also delivering personalised, effective campaigns. The fintech industry, by virtue of its speed and convenience, has disrupted traditional financial institutions, leading to scepticism and hesitancy among potential users. So, fintech marketing strategies need to emphasise transparency, security, and user education to build trust and establish credibility. The financial sector in India is also heavily regulated which can add a layer of complexity to fintech go-to-market strategies, requiring careful planning and adherence to regulatory frameworks.

What AI trends do you believe will redefine fintech marketing, such as hyper-personalisation, real-time analytics, or voice-based marketing?

Shwetha: AI can give rise to omnichannel strategies where fintech brands will need to deliver consistent, seamless experiences across various platforms—mobile apps, social media, websites, and even physical touchpoints like ATMs or retail kiosks.

Fintech services will be integrated into broader digital ecosystems. Marketers will need to design campaigns that work across different fintech tools (payments, lending, insurance, wealth management) that customers might use in their daily lives. This is likely to give rise to aggregated platforms and super apps. 

As voice search and AI-powered assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant continue to grow, the future will be all about optimising for voice. This could include developing voice-activated financial tools or creating content that’s easy to consume in audio format. Marketers will also need to account for optimising several Indian languages. In addition to this, conversational AI that the customer service teams leverage should also carry a vernacular flavour to be easily accessible to Tier 2 and 3 audiences. This can not only enhance customer experience and streamline lead generation but also create a superior customer experience.

How is Kissht preparing for the future of AI in marketing to remain competitive in the rapidly evolving fintech landscape?

Shwetha: We are looking at creating deeper personalisation of offers and content through AI modelling and predictive analytics. We are also embracing vernacular content in a big way for all customer touchpoints. Programmatic media buying and efficient ad optimisation are also processes we are looking to optimise. As our content marketing practice evolves, we are looking to leverage AI to create content that is relevant and can be repurposed efficiently. This will help achieve speed to market and marketing excellence.