The finance category has come forward leaps and bounds in providing stronger experiences for customers. But, Merkle's latest CX report makes clear, marketers mustn’t lose sight of the human element.
Recent UK advertising from major financial brands shows a clear trend in the sector that places customer experience right at the top of the communications ladder.
Specific ads include the campaign from Barclays to promote its "savings goals" app tool and Starling Bank's new brand platform, "The Bank Built for You", that highlights money-management solutions and an experience that "puts people first".
These campaigns are not selling an attractive new interest rate or boasting about the size of the bank's branch network. Instead, they're highlighting services that assist customers by providing more dynamic, intelligent and data-driven experiences.
There are clear reasons for this in that there is rising customer demand for meeting their needs in fluid, seamless ways. People want personal solutions that directly meet their needs, and are demanding that financial services businesses do more to achieve this.
New research from Merkle demonstrates the scale of the opportunity and the tangible business benefits that providing a better customer experience will deliver. The clear steps that financial services brands can take in the right direction are identified in Merkle's new report - 2024 CX Imperatives: From Customer Engagement to Customer Empowerment, which is based on the findings of a consumer study that reveals six critical imperatives for CX professionals.
Two of these imperatives - ensuring that "customer data is used for the customer’s benefit" and "meeting the customer’s need for real live human interaction" are especially relevant to CX experts in the finance category. This is particularly due to the need to build high levels of customer trust when using data to personalise experiences, together with the ubiquity of technological innovation in the sector.
Harnessing data for clear customer benefit
Our report shows that 58% of consumers are highly concerned whether their data/privacy/identity is being protected. But it also reveals that people are happy for their data to be used where it's secure, and in a relevant fashion to provide better experiences.
As the report states: "Consumers share their data with the expectation of fair value in return: brands must provide cost effectiveness, convenience, and consistency in exchange."
With this in mind, to maintain trust and goodwill brands must to commit to delivering tangible benefits to customers when leveraging their data.
And there's an opportunity for financial brands to benefit by communicating these benefits to customers, as Barclays and Starling Bank have done recently. Close to half of consumers (45%) say that when a brand tailors communications to them personally "I generally find it useful or helpful."
This rises to 56% among 18-34 year olds. As a result, it’s worth financial services businesses remembering that younger generations have the highest expectations for seamless, personalised customer experiences, and that this bar will only continue to rise over time
Meeting customer need for human interaction
Developing a suite of apps and other customer services tools based on emerging AI technology is one obvious route to establishing stronger customer experiences. However, there remains clear customer demand for human contact and interaction.
Merkle's research found that brands overestimate consumers’ preference for digital experiences at every stage of the journey. Despite the ubiquity and rapid evolution of digital technologies, there remains a strong need – and desire – for human interaction, especially when it comes to complex purchase processes and customer service.
It's also important to recognise that the balance of digital alongside human experience varies throughout the customer journey. For example, in the finance category, at the initial research stage there is a slight preference for digital experiences moving to an equal split when evaluating and purchasing products and services. Then consumers are looking for digital payments backed by strong in-person support.
When it comes to delivering a seamless experience throughout these stages there are three key questions that every CX professional should ask:
- Do I truly understand when my customers want to engage with my brand digitally, in person, or with a human representative?
- Do our physical and digital touchpoints work together in a complementary way, or are they disconnected?
- How can digital technologies enhance the in-person experience and empower our employees to deliver exceptional experiences?
By addressing these essential questions, CX leaders and their organisations will arrive at the sweet point of seamless customer experience.
Uncover more compelling Financial Services experience insights by downloading our report, 2024 CX Imperatives: From Customer Engagement to Customer Empowerment. Or if you’d like to discuss your brand’s needs in this space, please do get in touch.