Across the globe, ever since the pandemic set in, the number of mobile banking app downloads has grown by nearly 20% in Q2 when compared to Q1. The daily active user’s percentage went up to 6% in the same period. According to several studies by financial research firms, about 36% of customers have switched to using online banking, while 30% have made this jump since COVID-19. The Business Insider Intelligence’s Mobile Banking Competitive Edge study shows 89% of customers, [including 97% of millennials- generation Y] use mobile banking services.
Banks have been transitioning simple activities such as account opening to complex financial services such as loan applications, and managing investments to their online platform. Physical branches do exist, but it has been observed that customers prefer completing transactions online [web platform or mobile banking applications], and there is a very small percentage who still visit the branch for assistance or completing a task.
Subsequently, banks also began their journey of modernizing all processes and systems. Here is how digital modernization can help transform traditional banks.
· Banks have access to a larger customer base, they are not limited by demography, and so can extend their services and products across the globe, customizing it across regions.
· Better and efficient management of data and using analytics tools to gain insight into customer profiles for better service offering.
· New digital models’ channels provide banks the opportunity to engage with their customers better, build trust, boost sales, offer seamless customer onboarding, and more.
· Digital solutions ensure banks can offer an omnichannel experience to their customers.
The Omnichannel Experience
The banking industry has been experiencing widespread changes due to COVID-19 and advances in technology, both of which go hand-in-hand with the growing customer demands. Customers today expect businesses to offer personalized, seamless banking experiences along with real-time updates. In order to address these challenges and to fight competition, it is essential for banks to adopt an omnichannel approach and integrate it within their core systems.
Why is omnichannel essential? Customers today do not restrict themselves to using one single device or channel, and this holds true for online banking services as well. According to research done by Google, across a transaction or purchase journey, customers are known to switch between 2–4 screens, do voice/video calls with an executive before they reach the final stage. Having an omnichannel approach enables the business to stay connected to customers across the various digital channels. This ensures a seamless and enhanced customer experience.
For instance, Netflix offers seamless continuity across devices and locations and the entire range of products/services is available to the customer at all times; however, these recommendations are data-driven. The entire platform is customer-centric and ensures customers are given suggestions based on their preferences and past views/visits/purchases/browsing history. Companies that offer omnichannel experiences are known to retain 89% of their customers when compared to the 33% who stay loyal to a business without omnichannel engagement.
With the number of digital touchpoints and interactive modules increasing rapidly, CIOs must think beyond channels if they wish to make a unified customer experience a reality. From desktops to tablets to mobiles to chatbots, there are so many channels, with each having its own user experience (UX) expectations. And now there are new solutions, such as chatbots and augmented reality (AR), which can be integrated.
So, today it’s less about channels and more about digital touchpoints and the multiple modalities of interaction. Embracing multi-experience (MX) by transcending the omnichannel can help CIOs drive digital experiences that cover all these touchpoints and enhance CX.
Four steps to delivering omnichannel customer experience
1. Analyze — Collate all data from customers and take into account their online behavior as well when creating customer profiles. Demography, past behavior, preferences, market situation are all factors that need to be considered when analyzing the customers and what services can be offered.
2. Segment — Similar behavior or attributes, past transactions can be grounds to segment customers into groups. This will help identify the customers best suited for certain products, and those who are actively seeking service at the moment. Targeted marketing campaigns can be put together while marketing for the mass can be another.
3. Optimize — Using Artificial Intelligence to create campaigns, personalize experiences is a way to boost sales and business growth. Personalization helps build trust with customers as it shows them the banks are listening to them and understand their needs.
4. Engage — Using the right channel, messaging is crucial to engaging with customers. With predictive analysis, one can use the customers’ location and past behavior to create these messages/emails. This approach might give brands a 10x growth in conversions with their premium customers.
By providing an omnichannel experience on a singular interface, banks can handle all communication with their customers — inquiries, service requests, complaints & queries, and so on. This also provides the business a single platform where all information related to customers funnel in, and to gain insight when rolling out new products or services. Banks can also understand a customer’s behavior pattern and lifestyle choices through past interactions and from their social media channels.
Leveraging on inherent technical experience and expertise along with a deep understanding of client requirements, Neutrinos MXDP solution is a robust, high-impact solution. With the rich insights that banks can garner from the extensive financial data of their customers and their experience of customer behavior over many years of interactions, banks can work on developing omnichannel approaches and offer bespoke products that will benefit their various customer’s segments.
Our ability to create strategies and campaigns across multiple digital touchpoints such as text messages, emails, push notifications, and social media platforms are what helps Banks transform their businesses. To understand how we can help you achieve an omnichannel customer experience, connect with us.