"So easy, for some"

Article 6 - “So easy, for some”

[The story]

Caroline wanted to open a business term deposit bank account (for a company registered as a Trust). She thought it would be simplest to go to her current bank. Her starting point, as for most of us, was on their website. Term deposits, for a business, seemed to be straight forward so she started the application process. Quite early into the process, she read that she cannot open this account online and needed to go to a branch. Assuming she’d need an appointment, she called the nearest branch….. IVR, wait, Messagebank. Caroline left a message explaining the reason for her call. After waiting a week, with no call back, she happened to drive past a branch, and went in to enquire what the process would be.?

The bank team member did not know, but quickly went to find out. Yes, indeed, an appointment was required, first available time – 8 days later. Caroline assumed going to a new bank would take longer and be more complicated, so she accepted that appointment timeslot, and was told she needed to bring the certified copy of the trust deed and be accompanied, in person, by all Directors of the business. She asked for an email address to send the Trust document to, but was told she had to bring in the actual, original hard copy of the certified document. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The original hard copy was in another city. This just all got all too hard.

Caroline came home and reconsidered her approach and her assumptions. There are banks that call themselves ‘digital banks’. She wondered what their documentation requirements might be, given they don’t have any physical branches to force customers to attend.

She went online and checked it out. Indeed, it seemed that a predominantly digital bank would allow her to open a business term deposit bank account (for a company registered as a Trust) by uploading the certified copy of the Trust document. This sounded too simple, so she called that bank, and enquired about the process. Indeed – that was the process. Not only did the bank team member on the phone answer quickly, but she also gave Caroline the exact steps (click on x, then click on y etc) to open the account herself, and provided very clear details about the documents she would need to upload, including identifying the Directors. The follow up emails were very well written, explaining where she was in the process, and the links to upload documents were simple and clearly accessible. Caroline followed those steps, and successfully opened the business term deposit bank account within 24 hours.

[How the customer felt]

What Caroline experienced with bank 1 was frustration and high effort. She did not feel valued, and actually sensed that they did not care if she opened the account or not.

What Caroline experienced with bank 2 was a breath of fresh air. Her experience was easy and both the team member and the website left her feeling like the bank cared. She felt wanted as a customer. Who doesn’t love that feeling?

[The underlying contributors to these experiences]

So what are the key underlying contributors to these experiences?

The quality of the key ‘touchpoints’ a customer has with you – these are real moments of truth for customers. How customers experience your call centre, your website and your physical stores/branches all leave very lasting impressions and can make or break the ‘sale’ or the service experience.

Another key contributor is the quality of the written communications - supporting customers to know what to expect next, and when, and confirming what has been done.

Lastly – your policies and processes have direct impacts on customers. Is it ok not to return messages left on messagebanks. It’s interesting that one Australian bank has a need to ‘see’ the certified copy of the trust deed and another is happy for it to be digitally uploaded.

[The business impact]

The impacts on the two banks may seem obvious but let me spell them out.?

·??????Bank 1 missed out on helping an existing customer to ‘buy more’. But even worse, Caroline is now talking about taking her existing transaction account away from bank 1, and taking all her business to bank 2. Hard to miss the financial impact on Bank 1.?

·??????Bank 2 of course gained a new customer, will gain another account, and as importantly, will be the beneficiary of Caroline telling all of her friends, family and colleagues about the great experience. Bank 2 experiences a direct positive financial impact, and that will likely increase over time.

[Close]

The poor customer experience, when understood, is most certainly avoidable. Does Bank 1 know what their customers experience? Is it a priority to understand their customers’ needs, and deliver better experiences? The priority is often to reduce costs and increase revenue. Pretty clear to us that those financial strategic priorities are tightly connected to the customer experience. One might ask whether Bank 1 gets that connection.?