HOW CAN STUDENTS BE ENCOURAGED TO USE ISLAMIC BANKS? ANALYSIS BASED ON EXPERIMENTAL SURVEYS

Despite being developed for more than 30 years, the market share of Islamic banks in Indonesia is still very low compared to conventional banks. Therefore, an increase in the number of customers is needed by attracting new customers, one of which is through marketing. Although there have been many studies on factors that influence the use of Islamic banks, there have been few studies that discuss the role of message strategy in marketing. This study aims to test the effectiveness of message strategy in marketing to attract new customers by focusing on the message conveyed to potential customers. This study is a quantitative study, where data is collected by experimental survey methods and analysed using Z proportion test and logistic regression. An online experimental survey was conducted on 905 students as potential customers, with one control group and four treatment groups receiving information about Islamic banks with additional information related to religion, social impact, influencers, and service excellence. The results of the analysis show that the influencer treatment significantly and positively increases the likelihood of students opening an account in an Islamic bank. On the other hand, students who have high parental influence, are Muslims, and study at Islamic universities have a greater chance of opening an account in an Islamic bank. From these findings, Islamic banks are recommended to use influencers to attract the interest of students, especially those who are Muslim and study at Islamic universities, as potential customers. The results of the study are also expected to enrich academic literature related to message strategy in marketing Islamic banks.