Earlier this year, our Founder and CEO Adrian Moise published an article in the Journal of Digital Banking. The article, titled “Life banking: How to become trusted advisers for holistic financial health,” addressed the issues people face dealing with money today, and how banks can become a trusted advisor using technology to help customers achieve financial success.
“With nearly 57 percent of US consumers identified as financially unhealthy, financial institutions have the opportunity to take on the role of trusted advisers for holistic financial health.”
This article summarizes Adrian’s most recent academic article, highlighting the top three customer pain points Financial Institutions (FIs) face today, and offer a condensed solution on how you can help customers achieve their New Year’s goals with technology and digital transformation.
Credit unions are known to excel at customer service.
So what is keeping a majority of individuals from making the ultimate switchover from traditional banks, and making sure they don’t make the switch back? We are living in an age where Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon (GAFA) are disrupting everything that we know and setting the bar high for all digital experiences. Just think of Uber and Airbnb and you can see that it’s happening in every industry from automotive to hospitality—and financial institutions are not exempt. Companies are quickly adapting with the rise of millennials, the self-employed, and small and midsize businesses as they make up the largest percentage of new customer demographics.
Banking customers today need more than just sound financial advice.
Banking customers also need speed, intuition, and a service that truly knows them. Technology is here, and it will provide a simple solution to your top three customer pain points while keeping you in the competitive financial services game.
Speed of reply
“Speed is the new currency for the knowledge economy,” explains Adrian. Customers today are busy living life, and they don’t often have time to deal with managing their finances. This often influences a customers financial situation, leaving customers without answers needed in time and often undervalued. Leveraging today’s technology, credit unions can offer desirable services such as real-time advice or instant replies that customers have come to expect. It can be as simple as installing a messenger app or chatbot. Services such as online banking and e-transfers can also significantly decrease the time spent traveling to a brick-and-mortar. Consider the lifetime value of existing customers and the potential for new customer acquisition.
Channel convenience
As mentioned, customers today are busy. Coupled with the media-drenched society that conditions swipe-rights and double-taps, customers expect their FIs, as much as anyone else, to provide a service that is available when they need it and how they like it. Digital trends see mobile usage quickly on the rise, so in order to stay competitive, credit unions must be agile and responsive. They must provide digital services across various communication channels, and they must be designed to follow the customer journey in a way that is integrated, seamless, and secure. When it comes to really meeting the customer where they’re at, credit unions that can also provide digital services through email, live chat, or SMS could break barriers for some customers who may forgo the opportunity for financial advice because they are merely too embarrassed to meet face-to-face.
Personalization
Hopefully, by now, you’re on board with integrating technology into your credit union’s game plan. As you add more and more depth, from simple code to complex machine-learned algorithms, the most important thing in remaining human in the digital world is to personalize. Personalization is meeting your customers exactly where they’re at and letting them know that you’ve been listening.
Personalization will allow you to suggest to your customers’ new value-added services, such as new ways to make payments, apply for a loan or how to digitally authenticate themselves. You can also support them in achieving their financial goals through reliable offerings that make sense and apply. If a credit union is able to provide customized advice that caters to what is going on in each of their customer’s unique and individual lives, customers will feel confident in asking for help and later, as they become more trustful, invest and provide more lifetime value for your business.
“Today’s digitally minded customers expect tailored, seamless and secure user experiences that excite and delight.”
Technology today will not entirely replace the value of traditional banks or financial institutions, but it is slowly becoming the norm to integrate digital services into the business model to remain relevant and ahead of competitors.
Are you ready to use technology and help customers achieve their New Year’s goals with technology and digital transformation? Get in touch with our team at aequilibrium.
Moise, Adrian. “Life Banking: How to Become Trusted Advisors for Holistic Financial Health.” Journal of Digital Banking, vol. 3, no. 1, July 2018, pp. 65–80. Henry Stewart Publications.
