Don’t believe the people who claim bank branches and call centers are a thing of the past.
There’s so much hype around digital banking and artificial intelligence (AI) that it’s easy to see why people sometimes get carried away predicting death to brick and mortar, but the research doesn’t support it. Today’s bank customers want convenient branches and face-to-face interaction for important transactions, and millennials actually use call centers more than baby boomers.
Customers want the old ways and the new technologies. They want it all. Not only that, they expect the entire experience to be seamless.
Consumers today act differently than any before them. The days of walking into a store and choosing an item on site are gone. Sixty seven percent of shoppers research a product online before ever setting foot in a store. Fifty percent of millennials use their phone for research while they are in a store. The banking experience happens in much the same way—a blend of in-person and online.
A 2017 Foresee Index Banking Report revealed that 61 percent of consumers begin their journey of opening a new account on a digital channel. Fifty-eight percent of these end up in a branch to complete the transaction. Foresee’s report reveals that switching from one channel to another when opening a new account is quite common. Many people start out on their mobile phone but end up on the bank website. Others begin with the call center and end up on their mobile phone.
So, bank customers want it all. Are they getting it?
Not yet. Only 27 percent of consumers say that the retail bank experience they receive is seamless, and this is a problem.
Why?
Most consumers say that connected processes are very important to winning business; the experience is just as important as the product. Add this to the fact that consumers don’t see switching banks as much of an obstacle anymore.
In the 2018 Salesforce research on the connected consumer, customers were nearly five times more likely to view self-service tools as important vs. unimportant. Self-service ranked above apps, real-time messaging, and personalized offers. The trick is, when customers can’t find the information they are looking for, switching over to an agent must be easy.
Are you prepared to be everything to everyone and deliver a seamless, omni-channel customer experience?
It’s your turn. Let us know how you approach this challenge in the Comments.
At Katabat, we believe a seamless, omni-channel experience optimizes engagement and return on investment (ROI) at every touchpoint. Our customer experience mangement (CXM) solutions are easy to deploy, highly configurable and meet the most stringent security and compliance standards. If you would like to learn more about how Katabat can help fuel profitable results, from new account activation, marketing and servicing to debt collection, recovery accounting and post charge-off third party management, please contact us at info@katabat.com.
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Katabat is the leading provider of debt collections software to banks, agencies, and alternative lenders. Founded in 2006 and led by a diverse team of lending executives and leading software engineers, Katabat pioneered digital collections and has led the industry ever since. It is our mission to provide the best credit collections software in the market and solve debt resolution from the perspectives of both lenders and borrowers.
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