Every industry has its customer experience challenges, and those challenges can affect the bottom line. According to American Express, over 50% of Americans have decided against a planned purchase due to bad customer service, and further, 33% of Americans will switch companies after one instance of bad customer service.
The financial services industry has felt the impact of today’s experience economy, where the growth of mobile devices and constant connectivity means that customers seem to hold all the cards and earning their loyalty is key. According to McKinsey, “Of the 50 largest global banks, three out of four now pledge themselves to some form of customer-experience transformation.”
So, what is prompting this CX transformation and what are the challenges that can prevent financial services industry organizations from fulfilling their customer experience potential? We posed the question to financial industry professionals, and here’s what we learned.
Challenge #1: Keeping up with digital trends
“One of the top challenges for financial planners is keeping up with digital trends, from forecasting software to the latest CRM, and even apps to help clients understand their portfolios.”
- Alex Gassner, Director of ComplyX Pty Ltd
Challenge #2: Capturing millennials’ attention
“In my experience, the mother of all challenges is to gain the millennial generation’s attention and engagement. Since selling in the service industry is based very much on customer experience, financial services usually map their target customers’ behavior and attitudes directly with their CX strategy. All the challenges are subsidiary to the customer engagement and focus on getting it enhanced.”
- Rohit Keserwani, Bank Marketing and Risk Analytics Consultant, StraitsBridge Advisors
Challenge #3: Building trust and loyalty with younger consumers
“Right now, the financial services industry has become a sea of sameness. When you look closely, everyone is basically offering the same products and claiming the same level of personalized attention and service.
On the technology side, having a great mobile banking experience is no longer a point of differentiation you can shine with, it’s expected.
At the end of the day, whether you’re an institution trying to reinvent your in-branch experience, or you’ve decided to lean more on technology, more and more younger consumers are choosing their financial institution based on what that institution truly stands for. With brand trust at an all-time low, it has never been more important to know what you stand for and to be clear about it with your customers and prospective customers.
Keeping up with technology and digital trends is important, but chasing those trends as a point of differentiation is a race to the bottom if it’s not grounded in a higher brand purpose.”
- Kevin Kayne, managing partner at Blaze Partners
Challenge #4: Dealing with difficult customers
“One thing I’ve found to be difficult when working in the financial service industry … is dealing with customer service and reviews. Customers often get angry, even when late payments are their fault, and it is hard to balance following the contracts and law and customer satisfaction and reviews, all of which can impact future business.”
- Stacy Caprio, Financial Blogger, Fiscal Nerd
Challenge #5: Issues that run the gamut
“Consumers influenced by online blogs form unreliable sources; consumers resistant to learning [new] techniques; bad advisors tarnishing the industry; [and] technology can be a challenge depending on the audience.”
- Brandy Seats, Founder/CEO at The Avalon Financial
To learn more about overcoming CX challenges within the financial services industry, download the ebook: “Customer Experience in the Digital World: Financial Services“.
