It’s no secret that the pandemic has condensed years of digital transformation into the last several months, but what does this mean for the future of banking? Juniper Research predicts that the total number of online and mobile banking users will exceed 3.6 billion by 2024, and that online and mobile banking growth is expected to increase by 54% compared to 2020. Therefore, in order to stay relevant, it is crucial for banks to improve their digital engagement tactics and the overall customer experience.
Below you will find three ways to successfully navigate this new digital landscape in order to keep up with competition and ensure your customers are satisfied.
1. Banks and financial institutions must implement personalization into their customer experience strategies:
To begin the personalization process, first check to see if the customer has ever adopted methods of online banking in the past. If they haven’t, you can use this as an opportunity to encourage them to begin engaging with your brand digitally, and offer tips to help them get started. By doing so you will help them build the necessary confidence to conduct cashless transactions online— which can lead to a more harmonious customer experience.
Next, show your customers you care by keeping up with their personal needs. Use your digital channels to proactively reach out to customers with information that is specifically valuable for them. For example, you could go the extra mile by informing essential workers of dedicated branch hours, so they know what times they’ll be able to stop by their bank in the midst of their busy schedules. You could also opt to send senior citizens SMS or WhatsApp messages as a failsafe to ensure they are always kept in the loop. A little effort to personalize your communications for individual needs will go a long way in building customer loyalty.
Additionally, you can boost positive engagement by showing customers you care about their overall financial success. This can be done by analyzing customer insights and creating behavioral triggers to provide them with resources to help achieve personal goals and overcome financial struggles. For example, if a customer is often running short on their account balance and regularly over-withdraws, you could share resources on financial goal-setting or emergency funds to help them achieve financial wellness.
2. Integrate segmentation in your customer engagement strategies to build strong relationships:
Now is the time to reassess your customer segmentation, and incorporate a behavior-based approach to personalize customer interactions. This can include identifying groups of people with similar financial needs. For example, if you can identify financially at-risk customers (think: employees who haven’t received their salary, self-employed individuals experiencing a dry spell, and businesses who are ineligible for Covid-19 relief funds) and provide them with timely and helpful information on benefits plans or short-term loans, you will likely be rewarded with customer gratitude and satisfaction.
3. Always keep the customer top of mind, at every step of the customer journey:
Successful customer engagement strategies can vary depending on the bank’s ability to gather customer behavioral analytics, and identify customer needs and sentiment throughout their entire experience. Once you set up your segments and tracking tools, be sure to educate customers on topics they will likely be interested in.
With banking and financial institutions shifting to a more digital world, customer experience and engagement strategies must follow suit. And in order keep up with evolving customer needs, banks must prioritize creating meaningful moments that their customers actually need and will appreciate.
