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Personal and Relevant Relationships: making the shift to the Individual

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It’s one thing to know what your customer wants and what you need to do to give them a unique, contextual experience. But it’s another to deliver a personal experience. Meanwhile, as financial providers struggle to figure this out, customers are getting discounts, convenience, relevance and great customer service in their other daily shopping transactions. These are the of experiences that combine the latest in digital banking with human interaction and are ultimately personal.  

Fintechs have quickly figured out how to improve and personalise the digital experience by using contextual insights and simplifying the delivery of services. But according to a recent Financial Brand report, financial providers still struggle with their omni-channel presence and with how to use contextual data across all channels. While nearly all firms said they personalize email (87%), only half said they are able to personalize on mobile (51%) and social (62%) channels. Less than half of the respondents are using customer interaction and contextual data for personalisation. That’s a lot of missed opportunity, considering the tools are available to help banks get focused on the individual. So where do we start in our quest for personalised relevance for the customer?

Get Ahead of the Customer

The customer journey can be complex.  Customers can bounce around from channel to channel, depending on where they are in the journey, or the time of day, their location, or even their even mood. They’ll select the channel that appears to be the simplest or most convenient – at that moment in time. While understanding the customer journey will always be a pillar of good customer service, financial service providers have to go further. They have to provide value that exceeds the customer’s expectations. For example, instead of being in step with your customers, how can you get ahead of them, and anticipate their future decisions, and provide advice? There is a host of “intelligent” tools for both advisors and customers that provide information and investment recommendations based on the customer’s profile. But the key is to interpret this information correctly. One way to do so is by adding a communication layer to the omni-channel experience, keeping the relationship open and active. This allows a customer and an advisor to discuss and collaborate around opportunities.

Use customer data wisely

To be a competitor in today’s market landscape, financial providers have to leverage data and digital technology to deliver more personalised offerings. Instead of gleaning insight from what has already happened, banks need to switch gears and use data to predict what will happenResearch shows that customers want their bank to know about their personal financial goals, lifestyle expenses and major milestones in life. etc. They are willing to share personal data to help their financial provider get to know them, look out for them, and reward them. But their data has to be used wisely, by taking advantage of pre-fill functionalities to reduce the number of steps in a process. Leveraging data can remove friction from the customer experience and result in higher trust from your customer. But financial providers have to protect and secure a customer’s identity across all platforms and all interactions.

Keep in mind that frequent customer interactions don’t translate into personally relevance for your customer – it won’t create true engagement or build relationships. What matters is the quality and personal relevance of each interaction with your customer. unblu can help financial institutions build personally relevant relationships with customers with tools that support this shift in insight and focus. Customers’ wants and needs have to be at the heart of all activity. It’s no longer about targeting your customer for the sole purpose of selling products and services. Banks have to provide relevant and contextual financial advice that fits to a customer’s situation, and consistently demonstrate a true interest in their customers’ financial well-being.