Eastern Bank is Partnering Up to Streamline Its New Account Opening Experience
After a slump caused by the global COVID-19 crisis, digital account opening is on the rise once again and financial brands the world over would do well to focus customer experience efforts on this process.
While total digital account openings in the US rose from 10.1 million to 13.4 million between 2020 and 2021, and to 13.6 in 2022, 2020 saw a drop of over 35% compared to the previous year. With the number now steadily increasing again – and predicted to rise to 15.6 million by 2024 – digital account opening is back on the menu.
However, brands need to make sure the actual experience of registering for a new account online is streamlined and transparent. According to eMarketer research, significant proportions of applicants abandon the process due to factors such as it taking too long, being unnecessarily complicated, or the website not being optimized for smartphones.
Eastern Bank
To help meet these needs, Boston-based financial brand, Eastern Bank has recently announced an innovative partnership with banking engagement technology provider Backbase.
The freshly signed partnership will see Easter Bank deploy both Backbase-as-a-Service and Backbase’s Digital Sales solutions, designed to give the New England financial institution the technical infrastructure it needs to create and deliver new products and services in a vastly reduced timeframe than would have previously been possible.
One of the main focusses for this technology deployment will be to integrate the Backbase solutions with other third party fintech innovations to offer customers more personalized banking services. This includes making sure the digital account opening and onboarding processes at Eastern Bank are free from excessive complexity and provide customers with a streamlined and welcoming experience.
Backbase’s proprietary technology is built out of its expertise in the field of mapping digital customer journeys and is perfectly placed to assess, evaluate, and restructure the digital account opening process at Eastern Bank. Its Engagement Banking Platform helps financial institutions turn the threat of digital into an opportunity and get ahead in today’s competitive and rapidly shifting landscape.
"We are thrilled Eastern Bank chose to collaborate with us around this commitment to technology and innovation," said Senior Vice President of Americas at Backbase, Vincent Bezemer in a press statement. "Like us, they are passionate about delivering the best digital experience possible for customers."
Backbase also noted Eastern Bank as being a brand with an agile and digitally focused team as well as a human-centered approach to collecting and incorporating customer feedback to ensure high-quality customer experiences.
Treasury Solutions
The realm of digital account opening isn’t the only area of its customer experience where Eastern Bank is making innovative partnerships. The brand has also recently teamed up with family-owned security, home and business automation company, A-COM Integrated Solutions, which offers services designed to benefit increasingly mobile lifestyles.
Through this commercial customer partnership, Eastern Bank will help A-COM deliver its remit of serving more than 20,000 customers with advanced business management and security in such areas as intrusion, access, surveillance, cyber security risk assessment and proactive IT monitoring.
As a commercial customer Eastern Bank is providing A-COM with a full banking solution including a revolving line of credit to the tune of $9 Million.
"For more than 45 years, providing customers with peace of mind over the security and protection of their homes, businesses and data has been central to our business philosophy," said CEO and Founder of A-COM, Wayne Beck in a press release announcing the partnership. "Eastern understands our model, has ensured a smooth process for managing our working capital and daily treasury needs, and offers the resources to support our future plans as new opportunities form from our customers’ changing needs."
"A-COM is known for its commitment to excellence in customer service and giving back to the community," added Executive Vice President, Senior Commercial Banking Officer of Eastern Bank, Greg Buscone. "We are pleased to provide our banking solutions and look forward to working with them."
The commercial partnership between Eastern Bank and A-COM provides a terrific case study which highlights how important it is to understand the clients you do business with and to tailor you customer experience to their needs.
Final Thoughts
From onboarding new customers and making sure the process of opening a fresh account is as smooth and painless as possible, to making sure lucrative commercial customers enjoy an experience which is personalized to the industry the operate in and their place within that industry, every aspect of the customer journey must be considered – as Eastern Bank has so efficiently demonstrated with these two partnerships.
You can hear Easter Bank Vice President of Customer Experience, Rich Dorfman speak at CXFS 2022, being held in July at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel.
Download the agenda today for more information and insights.