By James Mingard, Head of Retail & Finance at Maintel
The increasing use of apps, online banking, chatbots, and AI in the finance sector has led to many customers ‘going digital.’ But this change in customer behaviour has also brought with it enhanced customer demands. Customers want their digital experience to be quick, easy and seamless. But for certain queries they will still require human interaction – people, however, will demand these conversations to be as frictionless, seamless and as personalised, as they would be online. So, how can businesses navigate the new world of customer experience post-pandemic?
Prior to the pandemic, many business leaders had seen the future of the finance sector as an ‘automated’ one, with companies investing millions into new apps, online services, and into automating services – all in preparation for a new way of banking. With face-to-face meetings impossible during the pandemic, and physical branches temporarily closed down, the shift to digital has been accelerated. Business leaders in this sector, therefore, are currently left facing two fundamental questions – how can the business deliver frictionless customer experience, digitally, and how can the business ensure that the use of these digital services do not drop-off post pandemic?
Turbocharged digital adoption
According to Deloitte, “The promise of digital banking was never fully realised, largely due to customer reluctance and/or a lack of attractive digital solutions. But the pandemic turbocharged digital adoption across products and demographic segments.”
However, despite spending millions on digital transformation projects, many financial organisations find themselves facing a very real threat that the use of digital services will drop dramatically as pandemic lockdown restrictions begin to ease. As professional services firm EY point out “a mere 16% of consumers across Europe expect the way they bank will change over the longer term because of COVID-19,” adding “customers have not come on the journey for a more permanent transition and need more persuasion to make digital adoption the norm.”
The challenge now for banks is to ensure that customers continue to see the value in digital services and continue to use them in the long-run. A key factor in this will be ensuring that customers can ‘self-serve’ easily and effortlessly across a range of different platforms.
Today’s customers expect a quick and frictionless omni-channel experience, which is personalised for their needs. This means that online FAQs must be updated constantly to answer the questions that matter most to the consumer at the time, online chatbots are armed with all the information they need to deal with basic customer queries, and customers can get in touch with the organisation across a variety of platforms. Where possible, banks should also look to deliver personalised online services to help customers feel valued.
Machine learning technology such as Robotic Process Automation will also have an important part to play. By streamlining customer service and automating processes throughout the ecosystem, teams can focus on providing an excellent frictionless customer experience. This is particularly true in finance and banking, as real-time, personalised products demand vast amounts of data instantaneously, adding burdens in terms of time and resources which AI applications can help to alleviate.
Don’t forget the human touch
In the years ahead, the human contact centre agent will still have a vital role to play in delivering a great customer service, despite the rapid rise of digital. With customers self-serving for basic enquiries, contact centre staff will be left to deal with the more complex, challenging queries. Because of the nature of these enquiries, it’s vital that contact centre agents are able to easily access all the information they need to best serve the customer, and to provide the correct advice in line with regulatory requirements.
Businesses must also consider the personal and mental wellbeing of their agents – particularly when they are having to handle complex and emotional customer situations. Failure to do so could severely impact the customer experience and lead to a rise in agent attrition.
This means that contact centre agents must be empowered with all the details on the customer; their previous interactions with the business, both online and in-person, and be given the right tools so they can quickly offer personalised, responsible and compliant advice to the customer. In the contact centre, AI will also become a must have. It brings consistency that customers crave and enables agents to handle customer issues faster, accurately, and more efficiently by routing conversations to the right agent at the right time.
Banks must also leverage technology to identify when a customer may be becoming frustrated with digital services, like chatbots, and quickly act and give them an option to speak to a human agent where required.
Despite the industry becoming increasingly more ‘automated’ – the human voice may, arguably, become more important when it comes to CX. This is the option many customers turn to when others don’t work or when they have an emotionally driven concern and want to speak to a person. Voice channels also consistently rank highly with customer satisfaction, so financial organisations must not neglect this.
As Deloitte points out, “banks should be sure to maintain the human touch. Digital interfaces are essential, and desired, but customers tend to need person-to-person experiences to boost loyalty. For instance, educating consumers on better debt management and being empathetic in debt collection efforts could help strengthen banks’ customer relationships and engender more trust.”
Time to show customers that you can deliver great CX – now and in the future
With digital adoption supercharged during the pandemic, now is the time for businesses in the finance sector to convince customers that they can deliver great, frictionless customer experience across a host of digital platforms both now, and in the future. And, despite the sector becoming increasingly digital and automated, companies must reassure their customers that the human touch will continue to play a vital role.
