Lockdowns and economic uncertainty surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic have changed the way consumers approach finances. Job losses, pay cuts and questions about future earnings are forcing people to be extra careful with their money.
For incumbent banks, this uncertainty has seen increased account retention as people put their money where they feel it is safest. Pandemic or not, these customers cannot be taken for granted however.
In the UK, 74% of consumers now regard value for money as their most purchase driver. Which means that even in these uncertain times, banks must raise their customer service game.
Value for money topped the list of priorities, closely followed by ease of buying and trust in the brand. Taken together, it is clear that the banks need to focus on the customer journey, and their interactions with each client.
Notably, ‘personalisation’ was right at the bottom of the list of priorities. However, an excellent customer journey will always involve a degree of personalisation – particularly in relation to service.
Deploying customer service management (CSM) tools are an important aspect of understanding the customer journey – and how to improve it. By recording every interaction you can ‘see’ customer priorities, and begin tailoring services accordingly. This is personalisation that really counts because it delivers value.
A good CSM platform will allow you to create workflows that automate many common customer interactions with your brand. This allows you to deliver a consistently high quality of service, quickly.
Workflows also reduce burdens on your customer account managers and service agents, allowing them to focus on queries and issues that cannot be addressed automatically. Time saved can also be reinvested in proactive account management, identifying potential improvements or savings for customers, and making recommendations directly to the account holder.
By actively demonstrating commitment to your customer’s best interests and the value of your financial services, you build trust in the company. That trust relates directly to brand loyalty, reducing attrition rates – and even providing new opportunities to upsell and increase revenue.
Similarly, a deeper understanding of customers’ needs and frustrations provides the basis for developing new products – or streamlining existing services. Anything you can do to reduce friction in the buying process – particularly online – is likely to yield a reasonable return on investment. CSM provides the mechanism you need to collect and analyse that data.
Customers claim they don’t value prioritisation highly – but the reality is that you cannot increase value for money without giving customers what they want. Which means personalisation.
The pandemic has undoubtedly changed consumer priorities – and these changes are likely to be permanent. As such, banks, building societies and other financial institutions need to use technology to help adjust operations so that they can better serve customers – and deliver the value they demand.