Digital Customer Experience in Banking

22 May 2020
4 min read

Imagine a scene like in the old movies, a picture of shiny big office where a customer welcomed with offered drinks, snacks and happy face of a banking officer. Well, this what we remember most when we are talking about customer experience in banking. Of course, the main goal here is to better know the customers and to recommend the related products to them. As well as, it is to understand the issues that customers complain about and to offer solutions. And the result is increased in profit for sure!

With the introduction of mobile into our lives, major changes in our lifestyles began to appear one by one. Banking is undoubtedly the most challenged one in the wind of this change. Because, in the past, when branch banking was the only alternative, banks keep the customer experience at the centre as mentioned above. However, this is not easy in the new mobile era. Banks are still trying to reach the power level of face-to-face communication. In this article, we first deep dive into norms to understand the current environment and design a customer experience schema for the banks.

Why is Customer Experience so important in Banking?

 

If we take apart the concept of customer experience from its digital subset and reconsider it from a wide perspective; customer experience is a set of interactions of the individual with a brand and its products and services. The first contact here may be the advice or indignation of another individual, but it is what the individual feels after the use/consumption of these services and products. It is useful to construct a definition based on feelings. Because, even though we think that we make an objective decision even on a very rational subject like money, we can make decisions based on our emotions and feelings, or we can manipulate our logic on these thresholds.

Now we can better understand why the “old-fashioned” banking approach, which we have mentioned in the introduction paragraph, has been successful. Our emotions govern us in all purchasing processes, from banking to electronic equipment, from cars to housing, even in banking. But when things get digitized and individuals start to be more lonely and introverted, it seems very complicated when COVID is added on top of it, right? 

Let us think! How we can master the digital customer experience specifically for banking.

What do customers want from a digital bank?

 

The first must be done first. First of all, let’s think about what customers can expect from a digital bank. And then let’s proceed by testing whether these assumptions will bring correct results.

Security: It is an indisputable fact that digitalization creates a security problem for our analogue brains. It does not bring to mind trust in digital banking, as the money as a commodity transforms from something held in hand to lice. Therefore, it is necessary to communicate well to individuals that their money is safe. At the same time, it should be transparent about the measures taken and the guarantees given against situations such as attacks and disasters.

What is questioned here is not only the assets but also the security of personal information is very important.

Real-Time Support: As in the old days of banking, it is the approach that supports the human-to-person sense of attachment. This is anthropologically the most suitable method for human nature. So how can we achieve this in the digital world? Is it possible for customers to meet with every “moment” they want?

Usability and understandability: It should be possible to perform the transactions made with human aid by looking at the digital screens alone, and always ask the following question to the customers: “Do I do the process?” The comprehensibility of the content and scope of the services provided at this point represents importance. However, the applicability of the service provided, that is, the user interface we call UI and the experience here come into play. This issue is not just for banking. It has been one of the most important issues for all sectors that experience change. Thus, new professions and disciplines emerged from this field and sub-branches derived from this field.

Careful readers will notice that we still haven’t talked about banking products. Actually, we will not mention it. Because the world no longer needs different products of banking, but different approaches to differentiate.

So let’s continue this article, where we thoroughly examine the customer experience, with a methodology that takes precisely this approach. Seamless Omni-channel! This will be the next article.

Stay tuned!

 

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