In our increasingly digital world, banks are facing the same rising customer expectations as other industries—driven by technology innovations and competition. They are under greater pressure to meet higher customer expectations for effortless self-service and personalized digital experiences.
More than half (52%) of customers expect personalized offers from financial firms
Banks have been undergoing digital transformation for years, but many still face the challenges of creating connected customer and employee experiences. Establishing digital channels is no longer the main issue — many banks already have tools in place that support specific areas of the customer experience, like client portals and chatbots. The challenge lies in how all these digital interactions are connected.
One of the most frustrating experiences for a client is to engage with a bank in a couple of different places, and each feel like they're separate companies. Whether the customer is trying to find self-service information online or calling to speak to a banker, if each experience is fragmented, they will have no problem taking their business elsewhere.
More than 40% of US digital banking users would trust PayPal to provide them with banking services
This is especially concerning as fintech continues to encroach on the competitive landscape for banks. FinTech magazine says that fintechs offer the ability to solve problems that traditional financial service firms cannot. Consumers are turning to these solutions for the ease of use and personalization they offer.
Not surprisingly, the workforce also has the same rising expectations as customers. We have all witnessed the "great resignation" and it has shifted business priorities to focus equally on employee experience as customer experience. Employees are faced with siloed departments and branches, stemming from mergers or consolidations. Contact centers continue to see high attrition rates, and the overall talent strategy requires some reconsideration. While these challenges may seem daunting, it highlights a big opportunity for banks to entice good talent through modern systems and personalized employee experiences.
With the rise of remote work, employee expectations rule.
The ideal digital experience would make customers' lives easier and banks more efficient. Evolving both the customer and employee experience is not an easy feat, but it doesn't require a complete system overhaul either. Serving customers with relevant products and information using that much data almost certainly means that machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) will be involved.
By leveraging the data they already have and tapping into AI, they can gain the context necessary for personalization. Relevance is key because when it's personal, it's what a consumer wants. Relevance changes the experience to deliver exactly what they need at every step of their journey. Those that get this right have huge growth potential.
"The potential for value creation is one of the largest across industries, as AI can potentially unlock $1 trillion of incremental value for banks, annually," according to McKinsey.
That value will come from banks' improved ability to personalize services, create distinctive omnichannel experiences, and innovate rapidly. Now is a critical time for banks to move beyond superficial digital interactions and level up their customer and employee experiences so they can continue to compete and build long-lasting client relationships.
