Banking on Digital
In the midst of a barrage of COVID-19 related statistics, hand washing, and social distancing, life goes on. Life is going on for your users who need to have their bills paid on time, make their regular loan payments, and who want to check their account balances (perhaps more now than before). Life is going on for your employees who are now tasked with offering world class service in a way that they may never have before, through remote channels. Life is going on and we, as an industry, are well prepared to rise to the occasion.
I have seen numerous notices about branches closing or moving to a drive-through only approach to help reduce the need for human contact, I have also heard from many of our clients that their digital activity has been skyrocketing in the last week. We fully expect that this increase in digital adoption will continue to rapidly rise. Now is the time to evaluate your digital branch to ensure your customers and employees have the access and control that they need.
Highlighted in this article is the need for financial institutions to remain as a source of confidence and comfort for consumers; 82% of people are concerned about visiting their bank and 63% are more inclined to try a digital app. This creates significant opportunity for community banks and credit unions to strengthen relationships with users, both consumer and commercial, during this time by providing a consistent and easy online/mobile experience and maintaining the communication and support that your users have come to appreciate.
This will pass, life will resume, and we will eat in restaurants, touch our faces and ride public transportation. And when we get back to normality, many of your users will probably be thrilled to get to come back in the branch and chat with their favorite tellers. And many of your users will have fallen in love with the convenience and functionality that your digital branch provides and I expect that the heightened digital adoption will remain.
To quote the CEO of IncredibleBank, “Banks are a source of strength right now, … We’re going to get through this, and I think we as a country are going to come out of this even stronger.”