Customers are problem solvers. Your customers are the people you’re constantly trying to satisfy, so sometimes it feels hard to ask them for feedback. When every decision you make considers the well-being and competitive edge you offer your customers, your financial institution’s presentation to them likely feels like a performance, where you’re hoping to garner applause and admiration.
However, even customers understand that organizations and institutions aren’t perfect. To the contrary, they want to be a part of improving your organization.
By recognizing that customers are problem solvers and including your customers in your financial institution’s improvement plans by asking for feedback and enabling your internal staff, you can create a unique and deeper relationship with your customers. Consider the following strategies to incorporate your customers in your plans for improvement.
Empower Your Staff
Your employees should feel like they’re vehicles for organizational improvement. Their day-to-day customer interactions will help them learn about repeated issues within your organization, and as a leader, you should give them the ability and authority to report and help address those issues as they arise.
Importantly, make sure your staff communicate the idea of organizational improvement to your customers. Customers are problem solvers and when customers identify an issue, they want to feel heard, and hearing that the issue they identified will be addressed in an organization-wide manner will make them feel encouraged that they’re valued.
Ultimately, customer issues arise due to your organization missing an issue or failing to anticipate a problem. This failure is simply a part of business, and only becomes greater issue when you aren’t able to rectify the problem.
Give Customers a Voice Because Customers are Problem Solvers
One of the most important things you can do to address customer problems is to offer them a place to give feedback. If something isn’t working for an individual customer, whether it be a flaw in your digital platform or an issue they encounter at a branch, there is a high likelihood that other customers are experiencing the same thing.
Instead of avoiding criticism, think how your customers are problem solvers. Banking leaders should express gratitude to those customers who speak up. These individuals help correct difficult pain points and direct leadership’s attention to pertinent problems free of charge. Encourage them to speak up and help your organization improve.
Create Systems for Internal Communication
Hopefully your organization has some way for customers to communicate with a human directly. Typically, a chat feature on your website or mobile app helps facilitate this. If this is in place, does the conversation stop once the chat ends, or does your organization have the infrastructure and communication chain to address systemic problems articulated at an individual level? This is another way to understand customers are problem solvers and improve their experiences.
Ideally, your organization or a partner should be able to aggregate feedback, classify it into topics, and prioritize the most pressing issues customers are identifying for you. Make sure the individual universal bankers, chat support specialists and other feedback sources have a structure to not just collect customer feedback, but regularly act on it.
