4 Key Considerations to Digitising Your Digital Banking Experience

Competition in the financial services industry is increasing and the banking industry needs to move quickly to engage digital savvy customers. There are enormous opportunities to improve the customer experience and equal to that are the challenges to make digital engagement a success. Customers expect a personalised experience and banks need to deliver on that expectation if they want to keep customers and acquire new ones.

1.  How do you deliver a great digital banking experience?

The industry shift is now putting the customer first. Historically, financial institutions had an “inside-out” perspective, meaning new products and services were created based on the bank’s needs. Today it has shifted to “outside-in”, where customer needs and feedback shape the digital customer experience. Innovations can come from anywhere within your organisation—a call centre, customer conversations, focus groups or compliance.

It’s important to think beyond the transaction with customer. Basic transactions have worked well on multiple channels, including mobile. As banking transactions get larger and more complex, we need to think about the experience.

2.  What does the customer experience need to look like?

It starts with the need for great service and trust that’s framed in a 24/7, “always-on” environment.

You start with a good look into the historical records. By delving into the data, we are able to see trends and gain insight as to what customers expect. We are in a better position to do that than ever before. We have better insights to what a customer engagement journey looks like and opportunities for improvement.

Mobility drives digital customer engagement. In the UK alone we have 17 million mobile banking users, and by 2020 we are expecting 32 million, so we will need to increase the type of mobile services people will want to consume. Demographics do play a part as customer needs change. Our task is to create mobile apps for younger people and introduce less digitally-savvy customers into the digital experience in a way that works for their demographic.

3.  Is a seamless customer journey possible?

It’s a slow journey, but we are getting there. Continuous customer feedback is important. Here are a few key areas that must be addressed to make this customer journey a seamless one:

• Regulation: The challenges of banking transformation are the technology and the nature of banking. While regulation is perceived as a challenge, we need to keep in mind what is in the best interest of the customer.
• Customer Trust: People require a high level of trust before they hand their money over to you, especially on a mobile device.
• Legacy systems: One of the most profound hurdles for most large financial institutions is replacing and overhauling legacy systems. Projects like these are typically dead last in management’s priorities. The overhead required to replace these systems of record is vast. It makes more sense to focus on legacy processes than legacy systems. It’s less about imagining an unknown future than it is leveraging everything we know today.
• Data Security: Cyber risk and cyber security is something we all need to focus on. Good progress has been made, but we still need to add an extra level of comfort to the customer.

4.  What will be the long term investment in digital?

It depends where you want your organisation to go. What is your digital strategy? Are there partnerships with financial technology organisations that can help you get there faster? What about your brick and mortar investments? Can you leverage this space in a new way by including digital channels within the branch?

The danger is getting too prescriptive before we really know where we will be. It’s time to look outside and partner with other groups to help you achieve your strategy. The most important thing if you ever feel lost is listening to and acting on what your customers need.

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