Financial organizations are tasked with setting their services apart from a growing list of competitors. Today, people have a wide range of choices on where they choose to bank. They have the option to select a traditional bank with physical branches, or digital-first market entrants like neobanks and challenger banks. With digital-first banking options offering convenient digital experiences and lower prices, it can be difficult for more traditional organizations to acquire and retain a satisfied, loyal customer base.

A superior online banking experience is a critical way to differentiate financial services in a space saturated with fierce competition. Focusing on key priorities of the customer experience enables a financial organization to be more agile and meet the ever-changing demands of the modern user.

Because executing superior digital banking experiences can be challenging for traditional financial services organizations, a digital experience platform (DXP) is needed. A DXP can help overcome these difficulties by:

• Integrating legacy systems and disparate applications.
• Tracking and collecting customer interactions and eliminating data silos.
• Ensuring that services are accessible and consistent across all user channels.
• Offering the flexibility needed to support new technologies, products, and future revenue streams.

What Do Finance Customers Want in a Digital Banking Experience?

Today’s customers aren’t satisfied with bare minimum financial services. They want a digital banking experience that offers convenience, simplicity, and security. And with so many options in the banking industry, customers who aren’t getting the support they want may switch to a competitor. Two primary needs for modern bankers include convenience and security.

1. Convenient Financial Services

According to Statista, in 2020, more than 1.9 billion people worldwide used digital banking services. Customers want to interact with a bank digitally at their own convenience, without sacrificing the quality of the support they receive.

2. Secure Financial and Personal Information

Banks and other financial service providers deal with very sensitive customer information. From social security numbers to bank account details, users want to know that their personal data is safe, secure, and in good hands.

3. Wide Range of Digital Capabilities

In addition to convenience, speed, and security, there are other basic financial features that customers have now come to expect from their bank. A few specific high-value digital capabilities include:

• Applying for loans
• Paying bills virtually
• Automating savings
• Investing in stocks and bonds
• Tracking spending
• Creating budgets
• Managing retirement accounts

5 Ways to Build Loyalty Through Client Experience

1. Provide a Personalized Customer Experience

It’s not enough to only know basic data about the modern user. Banks can use internal and external insights to provide a personalized experience for users, which helps to build trust and loyalty. Businesses can detect interest topics based on a customer’s browsing behaviour, which can later be used to define segmentation rules. Organizations might also choose to increase personalization based on a user’s purchase history. Once a platform knows what products a customer might be interested in, they can be shown similar products or relevant content as they continue browsing.

Knowing what a customer needed in the past or segmenting them by frequently used features can help create a more customized journey. Rather than making assumptions about customer expectations, a DXP can provide analytics and data to determine what a specific person values and provide them with relevant services.

2. Offer Self-Service and Human Service Options

Now more than ever, customers expect effortless digital support from the financial services industry. A self-service portal offers a convenient alternative to complete simple tasks or work through frequent account issues without the need of a customer service agent. 

However, while self-service is a common preference for users, it’s important for financial service providers to also extend help from a representative. This is partly due to the fact that financial organizations deal with customers’ money and sensitive information. If a user runs into a problem that they can’t fix on their own, they will need a phone number or alternative way to contact staff immediately.

Balancing the two service options allows customers to solve problems quickly on their own, while also freeing up customer service teams to assist users with more complex issues.

3. Empower Employees

It may seem counterintuitive to focus on employees in order to build trust and loyalty with customers. However, increased employee satisfaction can directly increase banking customer experience. When an organization provides the proper tools for agents to perform their jobs effectively, they are able to deliver better services to customers.

A few ways to increase positive employee engagement include:

• Implementing advisor portals so agents have access to all of the tools and customer data they need to complete tasks quickly.
• Delivering omnichannel experiences to help staff keep track of all interactions along the customer journey regardless of how a user accessed services in the past.
• Integrating legacy systems to unite existing financial service systems that staff use, and seamlessly add future technologies when needed.

4. Ensure Brand Consistency

Brand consistency is vital across industries and remains important for financial services. When customers feel a sense of familiarity each time they interact with the company, they’re able to create a connection that promotes loyalty. Today, users choose to engage with financial institutions in many different ways. A DXP allows customers to have consistent experiences across all platforms and channels. Whether they are using a smartphone browser, desktop, or mobile app, customer experience should remain the same. 

As users grow more familiar with the brand, they can navigate services effortlessly, making them more likely to stay with the company long term. 

5. Stay Agile for Future Innovation

In order to remain competitive in the financial services space, organizations need to quickly adapt as customer demands and preferences change. Flexible platforms allow companies to integrate new and existing technologies to keep up with CX innovation. An agile DXP is able to adjust to new business models and incorporate a range of development tools that will help retain and grow customer loyalty.

Start a CX Transformation Today

The future of banking is based on customer-focused solutions. While it’s easy to get caught up in investing in new tools and features, financial services efforts should be geared toward improving customer satisfaction. Learn more about how banks can differentiate themselves through customer experience by downloading the whitepaper, Customer Experience - A Critical Differentiator for Financial Organizations.