Banking Needs a Customer Experience Wake up Call

"The "Improving Customer Experience in Banking" report shares the results of a global survey done to determine the CX maturity of banks and credit unions. The findings show that most organizations are not prepared for the future of increased consumer expectations.

By Jim Marous, Co-Publisher of The Financial Brand and Owner/Publisher of the Digital Banking Report

The financial services industry has been impacted by the increasing use of technology from smartphones to wearables. This transformation in methods of transacting has enabled more personalized engagement, allowing customers to engage  engage in seamless banking across channels. This has also increased both the potential and complexity of creating a positive customer experience.

Unfortunately, according to the 85-page report, Improving the Customer Experience in Banking, the objective of delivering a positive customer experience has become secondary to other bank priorities, resulting in a transactional banking relationship for the customer. For financial organizations to change this dynamic, and meet the evolving needs of today’s customers, there are five areas that have emerged as crucial priorities:

1. Move focus of digital engagement from cost reduction to experience enhancement.
2. Leverage advanced analytics, machine learning and contextual engagement to provide a highly personalized experience.
3. Allow the consumer to engage with their bank on the channels they prefer at the times they want to engage.
4. Transition advisory and sales activities from being reactive to being proactive.
5. Engage end-to-end throughout the customer journey, from shopping to account opening, to onboarding and through relationship expansion.

Our global research of banks and credit unions for this report was intended to better understand the ‘CX maturity’ of financial institutions and to provide a benchmark for future strategies. We would like to thank Deluxe Corp., who sponsored this year’s report development and distribution. Their partnership and commitment to improving customer experiences for financial institutions enabled us to collect insights never provided in the past.

Improving the customer journey and providing a positive customer experience (CX) was ranked as the number one trend, as well as top strategic priority, in the survey of global banking leaders for the 2017 Retail Banking Trends and Predictions report. Unfortunately, the research into CX maturity in banking found that many of the industry’s initiatives are unsupported, misdirected, underfunded and poorly measured.

Here are the key takeaways from the report, Improving the Customer Experience in Banking:

• While all FIs believe that improving CX is a significant priority, the importance is significantly less at smaller organizations.
• Only 37% of organizations have a formal CX plan.
• The customer experience objectives at most organizations focus on internal benefits (selling and cost cutting) and not customer benefits (simplicity, ease, responsiveness).
• Despite research that shows digital experiences drive satisfaction, FIs focus too much on products and branch engagements.
• Investment in CX is increasing at most organizations, with more investment committed over the next 3 years.
• Most firms have seen only a modest impact of their CX initiatives.
• The biggest challenges in CX efforts are with data analytics, technology and getting a complete customer view.
• Measurement of CX efforts varies widely, with revenue measures mostly missing from the mix.