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Product cover image for KOHO Financial: From Financial Tools to Habits—the Gen Z Retention Dilemma

KOHO Financial: From Financial Tools to Habits—the Gen Z Retention Dilemma

Tanya Barzotti, Anthony Lonn

Product #:W50811
Supplier:Ivey
Discipline:Finance, Marketing
Setting:Canada, 2026
Details:Case (PDF) • 13 pages • 2026-09-28
Your Price:$10.54

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KOHO Financial Inc. (KOHO), a Toronto-based financial technology neobank, had built a strong acquisition engine by early 2026, drawing Generation Z Canadians to its banking, credit-building, and cash management products. Yet a persistent pattern troubled marketing manager Jacqueline Foster: Many members funded their accounts and then went quiet, never adopting a revenue-generating product. Because internal data showed adoption concentrating in the first 30 days after funding, that window carried disproportionate weight in determining whether a member stayed. In May 2026, Foster was preparing a recommendation for KOHO’s chief growth officer on how to redesign onboarding, deciding which member motivations to prioritize, how to balance simplicity with financial education, how to sequence communications across channels, and which early metrics would signal success.

Learning Objectives

This case is appropriate for undergraduate and graduate courses in marketing strategy, digital marketing, and integrated marketing communications. It is particularly well suited to class sessions on customer journey mapping, retention, personalization, and multi-channel communication and works best after students have been introduced to segmentation and basic marketing metrics. This case enables students to examine the tension between frictionless simplicity and financial education in designing a 30-day onboarding strategy. After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to do the following:

  • Analyze retention challenges in non-contractual digital service contexts.
  • Explain personalization as a coordinated managerial decision system.
  • Assess the strengths and limitations of multi-channel communication in customer relationship strategy.
  • Develop an evidence-based approach to measuring and interpreting early retention performance data.
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Case Study: KOHO Financial: From Financial Tools to Habits—the Gen Z Retention Dilemma (English version) | Ivey Publishing