Top 6 Banking and Financial Services Customer Experience Trends

The financial services industry, particularly retail banks, has responded admirably to the difficulties posed by COVID-19 and its influence on customer experience patterns.

Necessity is said to be the mother of innovation. Nonetheless, in the time it would normally take a major firm to perform feasibility studies, organize key stakeholder meetings, or even agree on initial scope and finances for any sort of change, U.S. retail banks completed the digital component of a full business transformation. With their livelihoods at stake, banks sought to do everything possible to keep their clients banking. They worked quickly to demonstrate what can be accomplished in such a short period of time to improve customer experience in banking.

This effort has not gone unnoticed by banking clients. Here are the top 6 customer experience (CX) trends in banking and financial services:

‍

Top 6 Banking and Financial Services Customer Experience Trends

1. Analytics: Understanding Your Customers' Real Banking Experience

Transformation begins and concludes with an examination of how your business delivers from the perspective of your consumers. Analytical tools may be used to better analyze customer journeys and discover consumer pain spots and discrepancies. These insights will direct where early efforts should be directed in order to have the maximum beneficial impact. However, actions are only as effective as the data that supports them; hence, the more data points that are reviewed, the better and more thorough the roadmap will be.

‍

2. Automation: Automate Banking to Reduce Customer Effort

Through the strategic implementation of automation, you may increase customer satisfaction while decreasing the resources required to execute activities. Examine your client journey map for locations and services where automation could save time, such as account setup, balance enquiries, or money transfers.

‍

3. Availability: Provide 24-hour service

More than half of banking and financial services consumers want service available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Simple service automation is a fine place to start, but best-in-class 24/7 service is offered by a cognitive chatbot and intelligent IVRs that are ready to serve clients day or night through natural dialogue, much like a live agent.

4. Speed: Move Quickly

For 47% of banking and financial services consumers, speed is critical. Ensure that your personnel is fast to reply, whether in-branch, by phone, or online. Regular training is essential, but providing your voice and non-voice agents with access to a knowledge base means that the most up-to-date information is always available. When a knowledge base is combined with interaction analytics, the most relevant information is delivered to the agent at the precise moment they require it. This guarantees that the consumer always receives timely and correct information.

5. Relevance: Always Use Channels Preferred By Your Customers

As your consumers migrate further toward self-service choices, be prepared to address escalations via their preferred channel. For example, if a consumer initiates a discussion with a chatbot but the inquiry necessitates escalation, the escalation method should be to a live agent through chat. Avoid asking clients to switch channels for the greatest customer experience.

6. Positive Sentiment: Always Show Empathy

Above all, clients of banking and financial services say they wish to connect with polite and helpful employees. Don't leave your consumer contacts - real or virtual – to chance. Using interaction analytics across voice and non-voice channels assists agents and ensures that your customers constantly receive the best possible experience. Using real-time prompts to alert agents to client sentiment and offer the next best action increases customer happiness.

‍

Over the course of 2021, financial services and banking firms accomplished a great deal. If they can keep this momentum going with these customer experience trends in banking in 2022, they will have a big potential to grow even closer to their clients while also moving further away from their competition.

Sitech has helped banks create omni-channel banking platforms that helped them enrich their digital experiences with both human and data intelligence to better serve their clients. If you need help transforming your bank's financial digital products and services, we are happy to help! Contact us here.