A Happy Customer is a Loyal Customer” – 6 Suggestions to Enhance the Online Banking Experience
Online Banking is the new age of Banking. “Digitizing” the traditional banking services is now the“go-to” method that every bank is opting for. The greatest banks in the world, have opted to go digital to improve their customer loyalty outreach, advertently increasing their business growth to a level they never thought was possible. The key is to keep the customers on their toes and make them promote a brand with a few basic ideas that could be implemented to transform the image and produce the best kind of feedback. Customer happiness is the first priority in building a lifetime loyalty value. How can banks incentivize their customer loyalty building? Here are a few of my suggestions:
Security is and Should be the #1 Priority:
Even if people are comfortable with using a physical bank for their financial needs, it is not certain that they will be comfortable in giving their financially sensitive information online. Most of the online users are afraid of being hacked and have their information stolen. Banks then need to take their security as seriously as they need to take their customer satisfaction programs. The latter can be ensured by providing a failsafe security measurement. When a customer is at ease knowing that their information is in safe hands, they will become more comfortable and trusting of a bank’s services and would not hesitate to spread a good word of mouth to their friends and families about it.
Speed and Effectiveness
In the digital age, providing an all-in-one framework to customers where they spend lesser amount time in doing their online banking means that the bank “focuses” on its own effectiveness and “cares” about saving time on customers’ end. DBS Bank, which was crowned 2018’s “Best Bank in the World”, has made it possible to open up a new e-account through their digibank app in just 90 seconds! The same model can be applied by any bank to ensure that customers save their important time when it comes to online banking.
Better Services, Better Experiences:
“EY’s Global Consumer Banking Survey of more than 55,000 consumers revealed that increasing commoditization and new competition are making better experiences an imperative, not an option.”
The importance of giving incentives, an enhanced customer experience, easier interface usage, and access to different services/products are some of the crucial steps that require the most attention in the online banking experience. The same survey shows that these elements lie just behind offering better rates/fees to customers in order to promote a healthy brand image.
Upping the Ante – Every Day is a Learning Opportunity
Make customers think about banking frequently. Send them interesting facts, which will make them open the app. “Customer Centricity” is about giving the customers an experience worth remembering. If a bank has made the customer think, “Have I checked/opened my Banking App today?”, then it has done its job. One way to improve the online banking experience is to provide an“omnichannel support” to the customers. By giving an “All-in-One” solution in digital apps, that takes just a one-login effort, can ultimately save time on the customer’s end.
Constantly “Innovating” is Better than Constantly “Inventing”:
If a bank has a script that has proven to be a good customer pleaser, then it is better to stick to the script and innovate it further rather than come up with something new. The latter option is a risky one and may end up costing money. Although the first experimentation with the customer experience journey is going to be a gamble, and if it pays off, then the banks need to think about how they can improve their current services unless there is a crucial need to invent a new strategy.
Pay to Promote: Using Customers to Advertise Word of Mouth:
With over 2.7 Billion people using social media, it has become the perfect platform to advertise. Although paid promotion on the social media pages/accounts is the norm, I believe that giving customers some incentives to promote a bank’s positive word of mouth on their individual social media profiles, can advertently reach more people and increase a bank’s image.
These suggestions may work for banks who execute it well. Taking a bold risk now and then does initiate a conversation in the market. Some of these may be cost-effective, but ultimately it is about increasing a bank’s brand image.