Continued personalization is the golden ticket, the cherry on top, the icing on the cake, separating the good from the great. People want to feel like they matter.
You may be skeptical about how high your clients’ rate personalization. Understandable. Salesforce proves that 84% of clients say they’re more likely to do business with brands that treat them like a person, not a number.
Imagine walking into your local branch and having your favorite latte waiting or getting your loan approved in seconds because the institution already knows your financial history. That’s the power of personalization.
Now, we get it, you’d love to provide more but it’s not that simple, right? True, the banking industry has some obstacles to overcome, but it’s not impossible.
Yes, collecting and using client data in a secure and compliant manner is challenging.
And we all feel the issue of legacy systems that make it difficult to deliver a personalized experience.
But that’s where financial institutions need to invest in the right tools.
Here’s the thing, if we can figure out how to safely blast a human into space and have them come back unscathed, we can surely figure out how to give consumers the personalized banking experience they deserve.
And let’s be real, nobody wants to feel like they’re just a number in a system, especially when it comes to their hard-earned money. That’s why 86% of clients are willing to share their data to personalize their banking experience.
But what kind of a blog post would this be if we didn’t give you a few actionable tactics to hit the gold standard? The worst kind. So, here are some of the strategies we suggest you pursue this year:
1) Data Collection and Utilization
Collecting client data in a secure and compliant manner is crucial to providing a personalized experience. Institutions can leverage client data to understand needs, preferences, and behavior, allowing tailored products and services to meet client requirements.
A study by Harvard Business Review found that companies that empowered employees to provide personalized recommendations to clients have seen a 50% increase in client satisfaction and a 40% increase in client loyalty.
But how do you empower employees to make personalized recommendations based on client data? You’re likely already providing training to improve your employees’ soft skills while incentivizing them to transition from transactional to advisory services. So the answer is to start collecting and leveraging further data into the latest tools like AI to improve banking experiences.
2) Leverage AI and Self-Service
Financial institutions have to invest in refreshing their CX because clients demand it. This is only possible through data analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and fintech integrations to make personalized recommendations based on client data.
Most of your colleagues agree with 63% of financial institutions saying artificial intelligence and machine learning is essential to improving client engagement and overall experience. (Forrester’s Future Fit Survey, 2022)
Improving the client journey is a great use case for AI. This technology allows seamless integration with apps, aids during frictionless payments, and helps provide relevant personalized offers. What’s more, AI can already help identify the need for personalized financial advice and offer savings recommendations.
On top of that, you enjoy the perk of heightened security, risk management, and automated processes.
Another way to personalize a client’s experience is by letting them run the show. Modern clients are extremely self-sufficient. In fact, 4 out of 5 clients expect to see more assisted and self-service options from financial institutions. Give your client easy access self-service kiosks that can complete nearly every transaction that a teller can.
Next, increase your employee engagement through “white glove” service enabled by a portable transaction interface. With your employees untethered from traditional workstations, they can greet a client at the door and complete transactional needs.
It sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? Self-service that can fulfill virtually every transactional request paired with employees that can step in or do transactions from anywhere in the branch.
3) Automate Personalization
With the explosion of fintech and other financial tools, personalization is closer than we think. But if you’re worried about having an incohesive patchwork of solutions, there are solutions for that create a consistent experience and deliver the data you want.
Today’s API integration partners are building impressive libraries of solutions that can connect any application to your core system. Your world of integrated possibilities is vaster than you may have realized.
Providing relevant and timely notifications, offers, and recommendations based on location, transactions, actions taken, and other relevant information is now a possibility. If you’re not taking advantage of this opportunity, now is the time to act.
Clients want to feel like they’re more than just a number, and FIs that figure out how to make that happen will be the ones that succeed in 2023 and beyond.
