Redefining Customer Experience Through Personalization

Research tells us that customers are hungry for personalized experiences. In fact, nearly three quarters [72%] of financial services customers rate customer experience as highly important in today’s landscape.

Many people have made peace with the fact that big companies are constantly harvesting vast quantities of their personal data – especially that concerning their online activity – and that data is sold on and used to market products to them. However, they now insist that, if companies are going to gather so much of their information, they should at least see the benefit in the way of personalized products and services tailored just for them.

86% of people who value personalization are willing to give companies feedback on their experiences, meaning those brands which deliver these kinds of products and services are going to see the benefits in more than just increased business, but even more – and more detailed – data.

Customer Experience

It may seem contradictory to expect personalized services in the financial industry these days. Banks used to be famous for delivering personal services where the local manager would be an important member of the community who knew their customers well.

However, with the advent and proliferation of digital banking services, the question becomes, not how we can pivot to delivering personalized experiences, but how we can maintain the ones we’ve always delivered in a world where so much banking and other financial transacting is carried out in the digital space.

63% of banking customers still desire face-to-face or telephone conversations with human company representatives compared to just over a quarter [37%] who would prefer to have their customer service queries handled by an artificial intelligence powered chatbot or via SMS.

With online fraud being such a major concern these days, people are often naturally more wary of digital technology handling their financial transactions which adds even more value to having that human touch to reassure customers who are less digitally savvy.

75% of participants cited becoming a victim of fraud as a key reason to switch banks. Unusually for these kinds of data, this concern is also fairly consistent across generations with GenZers the most concerned about such incidents [81%], compared to 76% baby boomers, 75% of millennials, and 72% of GenX.

This means banks must align their digital strategy with personalization as a concept and ensure they are maintaining that human feeling when handling customer experience interactions.

Personalization

When considering how best to implement personalization, banks must always keep customer value in mind – how are our services making the customer experience a differentiating factor when customers are comparing us to our competitors?

"Personalization can help banks deliver superior customer experiences and build trust and loyalty," reports Forrester. "By personalizing interactions across the customer lifecycle and across the full spectrum of physical and digital channels, banks can demonstrate to customers that they know them well, understand their needs, and care. Personalization will drive sustainable growth by helping customers apply for financial products tailored to their financial needs at the point in time when they need them."

Personalization can essentially be broken down into three distinct types and your financial institution should be trying to deploy all three to reap the greatest benefit.

Prescriptive personalization anticipates a customer’s needs based on historical data. Financial brands can use this information to create process and workflows which allows them to field customer service requests more easily. Real time personalization can, through a combination of current and historical data, create bespoke recommendations for customers as they are browsing online.

Finally, machine-learning personalization uses the power of artificial intelligence technology to learn more about customers as they engage online and use automated prosses to allow customer experience professionals to make informed decisions regarding how to connect with their audience based on their individual behavior.

"Banks need a customer-led strategy to govern cross-functional personalization efforts and to determine the right technology investments," concludes Forrester. "Focusing on customer value can create alignment across teams and help ensure that their respective technology investments are based on customer needs versus internal operational functions. The success of a customer-led personalization strategy depends on a well-coordinated, cross-functional technology investment roadmap championed by both business and technology executives."

Final Thoughts

Personalization has always been a cornerstone of the banking industry – even if it wasn’t referred to as such way back when. Now we find ourselves in a digitally driven world it is sometimes easy to imagine that aspect of financial services is dead and buried.

However, nothing could be further from the truth and those companies which are able to most effectively leverage modern technology to deliver old-fashioned personalized services are the ones most likely to stand out in the swirling melee of today’s financial landscape.

Personalization and its role in customer experience is sure to be a hot topic at CXFS 2022, being held in July at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel.

Download the agenda today for more information and insights.