The Customer Experience is a Fragile Thing – How Can We Make it Stronger?

Customer Experience (CX) is defined as the totality of the experience a customer (or prospect) has with your organization in every way in which they interact with it.? For a financial institution, we tend to think of CX as it relates to in-branch contact and the digital banking experience.? These two are certainly important, but CX goes further: from mailed statements to how we advertise or post on social media, how the phones or chat is handled, and much, much more.? Because I have the opportunity to interact with people who are willing to share their banking experiences and frustrations with me, it helps me to compile and sort their comments to have a better view of areas where FIs may be falling short of a customer’s expected level of CX.

Three CX shortfalls financial institutions face: 1) Visible employees (or lack thereof) in public area of the branch, 2) Customer support that directly undermines CX, and 3) Lack of appropriate messaging to support positive CX.

Efficiency Ratios are Reducing Branch CX – It is my firm belief that the branch can be a huge differentiator between FIs, particularly community banks advantage over large national brands …but only if the branch is transformed from transactions to engagement. Yet, very few financial institutions operate their branches in any manner other than to serve transactions. Since in-branch transactions have been steadily declining for the past ten years, the resulting efficiency ratio calculations tell branch management to reduce headcount accordingly.? So what does this look like to a prospect or customer that makes a branch visit?? I recently spoke with someone who regularly visits bank branches.? Listen to their specific comment on this issue:

Bank branches are WAY understaffed. There does not seem to be anyone who can provide even basic problem remediation or even know how or where to find someone who has the answers. Branch management is rarely present. Just in the past month, I have experienced this at different times of the day at no fewer than eight banks.

What this person is highlighting is that while personnel available during branch hours has been decreased, the size of the branch has not decreased. A 4,000-square-foot branch might have had twelve to fifteen people visible at any time the branch was open. Now that might be five or even less.? It is not unusual for me to walk into a bank branch and initially see…no one.? Further, once you connect with someone, they may not have the expertise to assist you and may not have the resources available to call on that could address your issue or question. This takes us to the next CX issue:

Inability to Solve Problems Directly Undermines CX – In days past, having more branch personnel meant that it was likely that any question or issue by a customer would be within the knowledge set of someone who was present at the branch. Significantly reduce branch headcount, and it’s not hard to figure there is not the same breadth of expertise.? Even scheduling a specific time to meet with a bank officer can be challenging. Consider this narrative from a business professional who recently had a bad CX encounter at a branch:

I have been to one bank several times recently, and I am shocked that they pay a person to stand in the lobby with an iPad. I have observed that this person does absolutely nothing else other than schedule appointments. So after checking in to see an officer, I was waiting and yet, even knowing that I was standing in the lobby waiting, that officer left via a back exit because it was “Lunch Time.” Did my check-in not notify her I was waiting? I get that she needs to eat, but she could have stepped out to apologize for not being able to see me at that moment and arranged to schedule another time. You think, “Hey that was not the scheduler’s fault, right?” Back to the employee with the iPad, he began working on scheduling an appointment for me to see the officer and asked,?“What time works best for you?”? I told him it obviously didn’t matter what time worked best for me because I am standing in your lobby at the time that was best for me.? He is trying to schedule an appointment with the officer who just left not knowing when she would be back.? Does this make sense?? They have their system to schedule appointments but having the technology yet not using it effectively does not make for a better customer experience.

There are a number of CX fails in the story above, but I think the biggest fail is engaging technology that actually makes the customer experience worse.? If I just show up at an office location without an appointment, I don’t have an expectation that that person would be ready to see me. But if I show up and they say, “let me let them know you’re here”, there is now an expectation of an appointment.? Yes, it would have been better if the customer had made an appointment online before visiting the bank, but the situation could have been handled differently once they were at the bank. Further, if you have an appointment system and yet are unable to immediately access the resources that need to be scheduled, then you are not able to make a commitment to a customer to set an appointment time that works for both parties.? This leads us to:

Lack of appropriate messaging to support positive CX – How bank personnel talks to customers and prospects is as much a part of the CX as how the branch operates.? In the last example, we don’t know the specifics of how the appointment scheduler interacted once a rescheduled appointment was needed.? But consider the following comments from a close friend who contacted a financial institution over the phone to open an account:

I called a bank one afternoon about opening an account and was told by the person on the phone that I needed to talk with a manager, but she was not immediately available. I understood the situation, and I told her I was nearby and would come to the branch. She told me they “could not open the account because they close in 30 minutes.” What?? ?In another situation, I called to talk with someone about an account-related question and was told no one was available to talk with me but offered that they “think the bank can do what I need.” ?And as happens most often, it turns out they could not.? Frustrating!

It does not matter if the person who has the information needed to address a customer problem or question is not immediately at hand, by offering weak, passive responses to customers about how and when inquiries can get resolved greatly diminishes the customer experience.? Especially when the phone system rolls through multiple stations to make sure that it gets picked up, does the person who is fifth in line have the expertise to make that call a positive experience for the customer? I greatly appreciate getting my call answered instead of a recording, but if the person who answers is less than helpful, my CX impression of the institution is lower than if I had to leave a message.? Particularly if my recorded message is promptly answered by someone with the requisite expertise to address my query.

The crazy thing is that the examples I provided above are not that hard to avoid, but you have to commit to examine the customer experience at every single touchpoint and determine if you are inadvertently creating a bad CX impression.? Whenever or wherever you identify that error in CX, fix it.? Start asking customers about their experience with your institution and where CX could be improved. Most loyal customers will be honest with you about where you could improve.? You will not get it all perfect and people are human and periodically make mistakes, but if the vast majority of your customer interactions generate a positive CX, then you can be sure that your overall Customer Experience quotient across your customer base will be sufficiently high.