Customer Experience in the Financial Sector in the Caribbean

This article is based on a discussion with Samantha Conyers, Co-Founder & Creator of EXCo on the #FACLive Show.??

Customer experience is key to scaling revenue growth in the Caribbean and improving your customer experience is important to set your business apart from the competition. According to Conyers, communication plays a massive role in customer experience. How does this relate to the financial sector? McKinsey & Co (2020) stated “by addressing new customer needs and concerns while improving their own efficiency and effectiveness, banks will be a stabilizing force in a very uncertain environment”.?

Here are the top three lessons from this episode of the #FACLive Show:?

1. The pandemic has affected your customers: 70% of persons surveyed by EXCo have been financially impacted by COVID-19 in Trinidad & Tobago. This also led to 30% of the survey’s respondents spending less and saving more than before the onset of the pandemic. This data illustrates that customers across Trinidad & Tobago – and by extension, the region – have been impacted by the pandemic. Understanding the effects of the pandemic on your customers and how their behaviour has changed is important for improving customer experience and understanding their needs.?
2. Customer Experience Goes Beyond Your Website: 30% of consumers in the United States switched their banking providers during the pandemic due to competitive pricing, customer service quality, or value for money. This data supports that customer experience goes beyond just having a pretty website. Customer experience should be at the heart of digital transformation in the financial space.??
3. There is An Experience Gap in the Caribbean: There are a number of gaps in customer experience in the Caribbean. Namely, awareness, investment and consistency. Within the region, there is a lack of awareness in what customer experience actually is. There’s also a massive gap in businesses investing into customer experience and understanding the return on investment. Within the banking space, customers want consistency with regard to personalisation which means that financial institutions must invest in ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC).??

Conyers’ suggestions for bridging these gaps include (but is not limited to):?

• Start meeting customers where they are and understand their needs?
• Leaders within the financial sector should be prepared for customer-centric change and lobby for their company to become a customer experience-oriented organisation?
• Start collecting data from your customer to understand their perspective. This will be useful in mapping customer journeys?

When you focus on delivering the best experience to your customer, there are actually tangible bottom line impacts on your business (Samantha Conyers, 2020).?

Check out our video below to learn more about Customer Experience in the Caribbean

This article is based on a discussion with Samantha Conyers, Co-Founder & Creator of EXCo. ?Subscribe to our YouTube Channel?for more.