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In our most recent episode of The FeedCast podcast, Wook Chung, Chief Product Officer of Varo Bank, shared his insights on feed technology and its potential impact on various industries, including the financial industry. Chung believes that feed is a powerful tool for making things easier and more personalized for consumers, drawing parallels to how feeds on platforms like Instagram and TikTok cater to individual preferences, which increases engagement.  

“I think that the feed is a perfect blend of making things easier for somebody, as well as personalizing things. And because the feed takes advantage of mobile real estate, essentially you can dynamically customize that session throughout the experience.”  Chung goes on to give the example of how most consumers use TikTok or Instagram reels and never know what may be coming up next in their feed. “If you think about it, TikTok or Instagram is a feed itself and they’re dynamically choosing the videos [you see] based on how you engage with the current video and based on your past interest. But that principle of truly serving you the right thing at the right time can be expanded to anything and everything.” 

Chung highlights the strong benefits of adopting feed technology in the financial services industry, noting that humans tend to struggle with envisioning the lifestyle and needs of their future selves. He shares a personal anecdote where a car salesman advised him to invest in a house instead of buying a car, a decision that significantly impacted his financial trajectory. Inspired by this experience, Chung’s mission is to bring a similar type of wisdom and “pocket guidance” to everyone through feed technology, steering them towards making sound financial decisions for the present and future. 

By integrating feed technology into banking services, Chung envisions a scenario where users can receive personalized alerts and recommendations tailored to their financial needs. For example, a bank’s feed could ask if the user wants to make a withdrawal, and upon confirmation, provide an alert when the money is available for pick-up. Drawing on his experience from working at Twitter and Facebook, Chung shares, “largely, the experience at those two companies have taught me how powerful a feed can be. I am a strong believer that ease of use and being able to put the right content to the user at the right time is the holy grail of any user experience.” 

Chung acknowledges that the banking industry has been slow to embrace feed technology due to two main reasons. Firstly, as mentioned, many people have difficulty envisioning their future needs and tend to focus on immediate desires. Secondly, banks have not fully recognized the correlation between customer engagement and revenue, causing them to overlook the potential of feed technology. 

To implement feed technology in banking, Chung emphasizes the need for connected data that keeps customers engaged and informed. He suggests that generative AI and machine learning can play a significant role in leveraging customer data to deliver relevant and personalized information. 

In the upcoming second part of the podcast, the discussion will further explore how feeds can benefit financial services companies and delve into the future of feed technology and digitization in healthcare and for Gen Z. 

Be sure to tune into the second half of this two-part conversation with Wook Chung on The FeedCast to learn more about the exciting potential of feed technology. Sign up to receive an email for the next episode using the form below!