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Digital , Marketing & PR

The Evolving Bank Customer Experience

Greg Kihlström

Banking trends have evolved rapidly over the past two decades. As a result, banks are working harder than ever to keep up with the demands and preferences of their customers. These advancements include offerings that make banking more accessible, create the ability to bank more freely, and have a more tailored experience that is personalized to their needs. It is difficult to say what new developments will occur in the decades to come that will continue to shape the optimal customer experience. What is known, however, is that these advancements have changed the banking customer experience forever.

Digital is everywhere.

While bank websites have been around for decades now, the most notable change for all banking customers is the growing access to mobile banking. At its induction, mobile banking was only available to customers of the larger, nationwide banks. Today, however, even small community banks are adopting the trend and exposing their patrons to the convenience of cashing checks, making transactions, and controlling investments with just a few clicks and swipes.

 

This can take the form of dedicated mobile apps, or it can be in the form of mobile responsive websites that adapt to desktop, laptop, tablet, and smartphone devices. Having a seamless experience, wherever a customer might be, is now critical to an optimal bank customer experience.

Instant access is required.

More and more banks are allowing instant payments and flexibility in how money can be sent from an individual (or company) and another party. The growth of fintech services like Venmo have caused many banks to create or adopt similar services of their own.

 

Additionally, chatbots, or automated customer service tools powered by artificial intelligence and with access to a bank’s support information, are increasingly growing in popularity. These allow even small financial institutions to give their customers access to whatever they want whenever they want it, while not having to employ an army of customer service representatives to do so.

Personalization and automation is key.

One of the biggest trends for any business today is personalization of the customer experience, and the banking industry is no exception. Customers want banks to understand what they want, when, where, and how they want it. Furthermore, they want banks to make it easy for them to get it done. Currently, banks are tailoring their online applications with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to better understand and adapt to the habits of customers and change their individual applications based on their needs.

 

Marketing technology will continue to adapt as consumers and their banking needs evolve. But, from the evidence presented thus far it is easy to see that banks will continue to meet the needs of their consumers by whatever means necessary.

 

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Greg Kihlström
Greg Kihlström
SVP Digital