Lose the Moment, Lose the Customer

ANZ fintechs are collecting more customer data than ever, from onboarding flows to transaction activity and support interactions. But too often, that data lives in disconnected systems, making it hard to see the full picture or respond in real time. The result is missed moments that stall growth and frustrate customers.

Introduction

It’s a tough time to be a fintech. Funding is tighter. Investors are cautious. And over the past year, 7% of Australian fintechs have disappeared. Either swallowed by competitors or forced to close up shop.

In a climate like this, growth isn’t about chasing the next big thing. It’s about execution. Acting at the exact moment it counts.

That’s where too many ANZ fintechs are still falling short.

New customers sign up, verify their identity, and fund their accounts in minutes. But beneath the surface, teams are flying blind, struggling to see the full customer picture, let alone act on it in real time.

From onboarding and KYC to upsells and retention nudges, customer growth hinges on a handful of high-intent moments. When those moments are missed, or worse, mishandled, conversion stalls, churn creeps up, and the pressure compounds.

This blog unpacks where those moments are slipping away, why data issues are still the root cause, and what leading fintechs are doing differently.

Critical moments slip away

Fintech teams understand where growth happens. It’s not driven by flashy features or major campaigns—it’s shaped by a series of small but critical customer moments. A new user attempting to verify their identity. A customer making their first deposit. A subtle sign of disengagement that signals churn risk. These moments occur every day, and they matter more than most teams realise.

The problem is, too many of them are missed.

Delays in KYC verification create friction in the very first step of the customer journey. Campaigns designed to drive upsells often arrive after the window of relevance has already closed. Churn indicators go unnoticed until it’s too late to intervene. These are not isolated incidents. They’re systemic issues caused by slow, incomplete, or untrustworthy data.

When fintech teams can’t identify and act on key signals in real time, they lose the opportunity to influence the outcome. And over time, those missed moments add up to lower conversion rates, stagnant retention metrics, and customers who quietly walk away.

Speed isn’t the problem, accuracy is

Fintechs in ANZ have spent years investing in speed. Real-time alerts. Instant payments. Faster deployments. But many are now realising that speed alone isn’t enough, especially when the data fuelling those actions is flawed.

In most organisations, customer data is collected across dozens of tools—CRMs, onboarding flows, product usage trackers, customer support platforms, and more. But these systems rarely speak to each other cleanly. Triggers often fire instantly, but they lack the full customer context. Without a unified view, what looks like a relevant signal is built on incomplete or fragmented data. That makes it hard to drive the right action in downstream tools (marketing platforms, support systems, internal dashboards).

As a result, teams are forced to make critical decisions using information they can’t fully trust. A product manager might A/B test features using outdated usage profiles. A lifecycle campaign might be triggered based on incomplete onboarding data. A customer flagged as active might have already churned.

In trying to move faster, many fintechs end up accelerating bad decisions.

The best fintechs fix the basics

The ones pulling ahead aren’t chasing the next tool or trend. They’re focused on getting the fundamentals right. Starting with clean, consistent customer data that every team can rely on.

That means building a shared, real-time view of each customer. Not just for engineering or data teams, but for marketing, product, operations, and support. When everyone sees the same information. What the customer has done, where they are in their journey, what they need next, teams can respond faster and with more precision.

It also means shifting from reactive firefighting to proactive engagement. Instead of waiting for a problem to surface, these fintechs use timely, trustworthy data to anticipate what’s coming. Whether that’s a KYC dropout, a retention risk, or a moment to deepen engagement.

And most importantly, they’ve reduced their reliance on technical gatekeepers. When business teams can access and act on data without filing a ticket or waiting on a dashboard, they move faster and free up engineers to focus on innovation.

Getting the basics right doesn’t sound exciting. But in fintech, it’s the difference between acting on signals and missing them altogether.

Better data. Smarter decisions. Stronger outcomes.

ANZ fintechs aren’t short on ambition. But in a market where growth relies on acting fast and acting right, the real differentiator is data you can trust.

Fintechs that invest in a clean, reliable data foundation don’t just move faster, they spot signals earlier. They personalise with precision. They act with confidence at the exact moment it counts, whether that’s onboarding a new user, flagging a customer at risk, or nudging an existing one to take the next step.

Crypto.com is one example of a fintech that’s done just that. By using Twilio Segment to unify customer data across its platforms, the team gained deeper visibility into user behaviour, streamlined onboarding, and reduced the reliance on engineering for day-to-day campaign execution. That shift allowed them to personalise the customer journey in real time, driving both engagement and retention at scale.

Read the Crypto.com case study here.