Customer centricity = Customer retention

Nowadays, competition in financial services is constantly growing. Fostering long-term relationships should therefore be a primary objective of every business. Be it banking, credit unions, wealth management, mortgage and insurance companies, the financial services sector is increasingly recognising the need for software to automate customer-facing processes while improving visibility and communication across the entire organisation.?

Organisations have a natural resistance to change, especially after years of a relatively protected status. The best tactic here is to consider ‘challenger’ models in bank management that try to anticipate what a fierce competitor would look like. Customer demand and customer centricity are the key drivers that are pushing challenger banks forward. It is no secret that today’s consumers want more - they want new options and challenger banks provide that. The main advantage of challenger banks is that they are built with their customers in mind. Even though traditional banks have the advantage of brand loyalty and name recognition their offering cannot just be simply a better UX. Customers are looking for better products, services, and customer experience all in one package.?

Challenger banks offer advanced online experiences, spending a lot of development money to create top-notch apps. Their primary goal is to make online banking easy and effective for consumers since customers want the ability to easily move and use their money. Challenger banks are on the rise and the number of accounts being opened around the world is increasing every day. That’s why staying innovative is imperative for continued success as the industry is constantly changing.

The implementation of CRM can significantly boost customer satisfaction and, consequently, retention levels. By strengthening customer relationships, CRM provides businesses the opportunity to maximise customer retention. Personalised interactions are a prerequisite for improved customer satisfaction. CRM software can make this process easier by collating customer data and feedback and utilising it for optimising interactions. It can enable you to analyse customer behaviour and stay connected with them.?

Even a 5% increase in customer retention can boost profits by up to 95% and retention of customers is much more cost-effective than acquisition. Customer retention levels can also act as an excellent indicator of your business’s reputation.?

Since customer intelligence will be the most important predictor of revenue growth and profitability in the next few years, traditional financial institutions should better focus on what their customers value. Technology advances have given businesses access to exponentially more data about what users do and want. Whoever can use analytics to unlock the information, will ultimately give customers what they actually want.?

CRM brings agility to customer data management which is key as customer data is constantly changing.?With software that streamlines key financial workflows, provides closer integration with accounts and puts customers at the centre of the business, finserv organisations can better anticipate their clients needs and engage with them at the right time throughout their financial life journey.?

In just a few years, your operating model is probably going to look quite outdated, even if it covers all your company needs today. That is because what your financial institution offers to your customers is almost certain to change. You may need different software, hardware or storage technology. And, if you haven’t yet, you should look into low-code platforms.

Low-code platforms enable companies to overcome the developer shortage and keep up with the growing demand for apps and processes automation. Low-code holds the power to democratise the development process altogether. Even though the majority of companies still very much rely on third-party software providers to assist with their daily workflows, more and more businesses are reviewing such choices and considering replacing them with low-code platforms and empowering employees with technology to create solutions in-house.

Next week we will cover some of the best ways to leverage CRM customer retention.