Digital Marketing Communication in Islamic Banking: A Content Analysis of Shariah-Based Messaging, Customer Engagement, and Financial Education in Pakistan

Abstract

Islamic banks communicate their products, their religious identity, their value to customers and their financial knowledge through the strategic medium of digital communication. But current Islamic banking literature predominantly focused on customer perceptions, adoption intention, trust and loyalty and little effort was made to study the actual digital messages created by Islamic banks. To fill this gap, the study examines the case of the digital marketing communication in Islamic banking in Pakistan where the focus is on Shariah-based marketing messages, customer engagement, and financial education. The study adopted qualitative-dominant content analysis approach and analyzed 42 official content units from the websites and publicly indexed digital pages of six Islamic banking institutions in Pakistan (Meezan Bank, BankIslami, Dubai Islamic Bank Pakistan, Al Baraka Bank Pakistan, MCB Islamic Bank and Faysal Bank). Based on the results of the findings, it was found that the most dominant category was the category of promotion communication with a percentage of 35.7%, followed by financial education category with 23.8%, Sharia based message category with 21.4%, and the last category was trust and credibility with 14.3%. Customer engagement and religious/social communication was relatively low. The findings suggest that Islamic banks in Pakistan have attained digital visibility but, the communication of the banks is still product-centric rather than education-centric. The content of shariah-based messaging is apparent but mostly declarative. The study provides a new perspective to the literature of Islamic banking and digital marketing and suggests a more in-depth approach for Islamic banks to promote their products through explanation of Shariah and financial education, and provide interactive experiences for their customers.

Keywords:

Islamic banking, digital marketing communication, Shariah-based messaging, customer engagement, financial education, content analysis, Pakistan.