When a financial institution undergoes a major shift toward improving customer experience, there is often talk around new initiatives, improved technology and an effort to work more efficiently as an organization.
All of these ideas are great, but it’s important to think of customer experience less as a short-term initiative, and more as a long-term internal cultural shift. The way you think about yourself as an organization permeates into your customer experience, and by creating the right internal culture, you can go above and beyond for your customers.
From Technology to People
First and foremost, technology must serve a means to an end, the end being an improved experience for the end user. Too often, organizations think about the newest and shiniest technology without thinking about how it will be applied, or how the technology will positively transform the customer experience.
Instead of thinking about technology, think about an area of customer experience that can be improved, particularly a pain point. For example, if customers are dissatisfied with their ability to budget, learn about how they categorize spending, how they want to view their budget, and then design or partner with a FinTech organization to find a budgeting tool to fit their needs.
From Disjointed to Fluid
Your organization should think about not only individual touchpoints, but the fluidity between those touchpoints when evaluating the overall efficacy of your customer experience strategy. When analyzing your strengths and weaknesses, most organizations will map out a customer journey, isolating touchpoints, and identifying weaknesses and opportunities for improvement. However, if the transition between each of those is difficult due to lack of information sharing within your organization, touchpoints can end up being less than a sum of their parts.
Think about your universal banker strategy and your omni-channel experience when considering the fluidity of the customer journey. The ability to easily transition from a phone conversation to a branch visit to a mobile app with customer data tracking the entire time across platforms should be easy and intuitive. Similarly, when your customers visit a branch, a universal banker should be able to usher them through the entire process.
From Utility to Consultant
Rather than thinking of your financial institution as a location for simple “utilities” like savings accounts and loans, you should work to serve a consultative role to your customers. Rather than simply providing security, your customers may be looking for education around ways to protect their livelihood. Similarly, rather than simply providing a picture of your customers’ finances, they may be looking for resources and tools to help them improve their budgeting. By making this mental switch, your organization deepens its relationship with customers and becomes a trusted partner.
From Vague to Measured
Most importantly, if your organization isn’t regularly measuring, evaluating and improving your customers experience across touchpoints, you won’t be able to sustain improved results. Consider using CSP’s Voice of the Customer plan to help measure, improve and reap the benefits of sustained customer experience improvement.
