How STAR Financial Bank Built Customer Experience Infrastructure That Scales

Industry

Financial Services

Challenge

STAR Financial Bank needed a way to consistently collect customer feedback, improve online visibility across 37 locations, and establish data-driven benchmarks for customer experience—but had no standardized process in place. Branch-level feedback was reactive and undocumented, making it impossible to identify themes, measure progress, or make informed decisions at scale.

Results

STAR partnered with Liftify and implemented Review Pro to automate review collection and strengthen its Google presence. The success of that program—1,466% review growth, 967K Google impressions, and a rating jump from 4.1 to 4.8 stars—built the trust needed to expand into Liftify's Core Package for comprehensive customer experience management, including surveys, ticketing, and insights.

Key Product

Review Pro, Experience Pro, Listings

starfinancial.com

1,466%

Google Review Growth

4.1→4.8

Star Rating Improvement

5,000+

Total Reviews

967K

2025 Google Impressions

What I like best about Liftify is how seamlessly they combine execution, partnership, and measurable results. Their team is incredibly easy to work with: proactive, responsive, and genuinely invested in our success. They made the entire process of growing our Google presence effortless for our internal teams while delivering results that far exceeded our expectations.

Brittany Howey

VP Customer Experience @ STAR Financial Bank

About STAR Financial Bank

STAR Financial Bank is a family-owned community bank headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with roots dating back to 1943 and a strong focus on serving local communities across the state. Operating within the banking and financial services industry, it offers a full range of personal, business, and wealth management solutions while emphasizing personalized service and community engagement. The bank has grown to over $3 billion in assets and dozens of locations, reflecting steady regional expansion and financial strength. In recent years, it has also been recognized on lists such as Forbes’ Best-In-State Banks and has invested in new headquarters and digital banking innovations to support continued growth.

The Challenge

Before Liftify, STAR's approach to customer feedback was reactive and fragmented. Branch teams listened for complaints at the ground level, but there was no documentation, no consistent process for evaluation, and no way to identify patterns or themes across the organization. The bank had limited visibility into how customers actually experienced STAR across different touchpoints, and no data to inform strategic decisions about product offerings, customer journey improvements, or competitive positioning.

STAR needed a foundation—a way to build online credibility, collect feedback systematically, and establish benchmarks for customer experience. Without that infrastructure in place, the bank couldn't answer critical questions: Why are customers exiting? What products should we prioritize? How do employees feel about internal processes? And most importantly, how do we turn customer insights into action?

The Solution

Phase 1: Review Pro — Building the Foundation

STAR started with Liftify's Review Pro to automate review collection across all 37 locations and strengthen their online presence. The goal was simple: grow review volume, improve ratings, and establish STAR as a top-rated bank in every local market they serve.

Liftify integrated seamlessly into STAR's operations, making it effortless to collect reviews without disrupting branch workflows. The platform handled the entire process—automated requests, AI-powered response management, and real-time reporting—so STAR could focus on serving customers while Liftify handled reputation growth.

Phase 2: Core Package — Scaling Customer Experience

The success of Review Pro earned Liftify the trust to become a true strategic partner as STAR’s core initiatives for the year were focused on doubling down on customer experience. STAR expanded to Liftify's Core Package to launch a comprehensive customer experience program, complete with:

Surveys deployed at key moments in the customer journey to capture intentional feedback
Ticketing system to manage and resolve every negative experience (a compliance requirement for the bank)
Insights tool to digest feedback themes and inform data-driven decision making
Enterprise-level visibility into customer sentiment across all 53 branches

Liftify worked closely with STAR's team to plan, build, and execute a survey rollout strategy aligned with the bank's 2026 goals: go all-in on customer experience, establish benchmarks, understand themes and trends, and enable data-driven decisions about product prioritization, customer retention, and internal employee sentiment.

The Results

Review Pro Impact: Reputation Dominance

STAR's review performance speaks for itself:

1,466% overall increase in Google review total to date (338 → 5,293 reviews) – and consistently growing
Rating improvement from 4.1 to 4.8 stars
967K Google impressions in 2025, building brand impact and SEO positioning

That visibility translates directly to brand impact and competitive advantage. STAR now ranks at the top of local search results in every market they serve, and those review improvements compound on every marketing dollar the bank invests.

Core Package Impact: Strategic Customer Experience Infrastructure

With the Core Package launched in April 2026, STAR now has the infrastructure to:

Collect intentional feedback at critical moments across the customer journey
Close the loop on every negative experience through a standardized ticketing process
Identify themes and trends that inform product catalog audits, customer exit analysis, and internal employee sentiment
Make data-driven decisions that strengthen customer retention, loyalty, and growth

The partnership extends beyond technology. Liftify serves as a strategic extension of STAR's internal team, providing ongoing support, best practices, and collaboration to ensure the bank achieves its customer experience goals.