Earnix Blog > Customer Centricity
Digital Banking Transformation: New Customer Wants & Needs
Will Ely
September 29, 2021
- Customer Centricity
- Transformation
The world is looking forward to a lot of things eventually returning to normal. The return of concerts, sporting events, and international travel will be a welcome relief. But some of the changes we’ve experienced over the past year will be permanent. One of those is the change in the expectations of banking customers, who have grown accustomed to the seamless convenience of the digital banking experience. From mortgages to car loans, customers are ready for more swipes, using their smartphones. As traditional banks have struggled to meet this demand with a patchwork of legacy systems and homegrown technology, fintechs have raced ahead, enjoying the benefits of tech infrastructure designed and built for the needs of today’s digital customers.
In this series, we will explore what customers are demanding from their digital experience, what banks can do to meet this demand, and how they can leverage technology to keep up with their rapidly accelerating competition.
Consider a customer who goes online to take out a loan for a car. They have chosen this lender because of a promotional rate, have worked out what they will be able to afford in terms of monthly payments, and are now imagining themselves sitting in a new car. Unfortunately, the credit decisioning engine determines that their credit score is a few points too low to qualify for the promotional rate.
If this were taking place at a dealership, the dealer would immediately have a conversation with the finance department to figure out the best next steps. Instead of coldly telling the customer they do not qualify, the dealer would seek out other options in terms of both rate discounts and alternative financing products. The first thing the customer will hear is not “you cannot have what you want” but rather “look at this great offer that we’ve personalized just for you!”
While this process of understanding and communicating with a customer may not be rocket science for a seasoned banker or salesperson, it represents a deceptively complicated task to replicate digitally. There is the consideration of alternative data for conditional credit approvals, the nuance of each customer’s financial situation, and their existing banking relationships. Likewise, there is the ability to make this process as seamless as possible so that the customer does not just move on to the next lender’s digital platform.
Today’s customers demand more than just digital banking – to win their business, lenders must deliver personalized banking digitally.
Earnix provides a suite of products that leverage powerful data and analytics to both understand what to offer customers, as well as deliver those offers across all the bank’s channels. From optimized pricing that maximizes customer retention, to bundled offers that deepen relationships and expand customer lifetime value, Earnix allows you to compute and deliver those offers in real-time with pricing software. Our powerful analytical platform allows for rapid cycles of test-and-learn, so that banks are not just able to meet customers where they are today, but to evolve with them as their needs change.
Digital Banking Presents a Huge Opportunity.
Banks have never had so much knowledge about their existing customers and so much power to reach new ones. However, they must also be sure not to lose the human touch that has helped them understand their customers’ needs. To do so, they must employ systems that possess both the intelligence to turn data into actionable insights, as well as the technical capabilities to deploy those insights across an ever-evolving range of digital channels.
Want to know how to accelerate your digital transformation journey? Download the eBook.
In this series, we will explore what customers are demanding from their digital experience, what banks can do to meet this demand, and how they can leverage technology to keep up with their rapidly accelerating competition.
The Demands of the Digital Customer
Customers still expect the human touches they have been accustomed to, but now delivered to their smartphone instead of sitting across from someone in a branch. They want prices that account for the depth of their relationship with the bank, and alternative offers presented intuitively. They want to be treated with compassion around the sensitive subject of credit approvals.Consider a customer who goes online to take out a loan for a car. They have chosen this lender because of a promotional rate, have worked out what they will be able to afford in terms of monthly payments, and are now imagining themselves sitting in a new car. Unfortunately, the credit decisioning engine determines that their credit score is a few points too low to qualify for the promotional rate.
If this were taking place at a dealership, the dealer would immediately have a conversation with the finance department to figure out the best next steps. Instead of coldly telling the customer they do not qualify, the dealer would seek out other options in terms of both rate discounts and alternative financing products. The first thing the customer will hear is not “you cannot have what you want” but rather “look at this great offer that we’ve personalized just for you!”
While this process of understanding and communicating with a customer may not be rocket science for a seasoned banker or salesperson, it represents a deceptively complicated task to replicate digitally. There is the consideration of alternative data for conditional credit approvals, the nuance of each customer’s financial situation, and their existing banking relationships. Likewise, there is the ability to make this process as seamless as possible so that the customer does not just move on to the next lender’s digital platform.
Today’s customers demand more than just digital banking – to win their business, lenders must deliver personalized banking digitally.
Personalizing the Digital Banking Experience
The delivery of data files or streaming video may be a straightforward problem of bandwidth. But delivering personalized banking services requires the real-time deployment of sophisticated intelligence across core systems, sales channels, and mobile apps. To truly create personalized offers, banks need an analytical framework that can account for multiple products and integrate behavioral data with financial forecasting. Once the right offer and the right price have been calculated, these analytical systems need real-time connections to multiple parallel sales channels to deliver these offers to customers.Putting it All Together
These are lofty goals, that with the right technology and know-how, there is an opportunity for forward-thinking banks to race ahead of their competitors and future-proof their infrastructure for changes to come. Digital channels offer an opportunity to not just meet the needs of current customers, but also to reach customers who might have otherwise been outside the bank’s current footprint. Likewise, machine learning can provide fresh insights into both customer behavior and cross-sell opportunities. With the right pieces in place, a personalized digital experience can increase both profitability as well as customer satisfaction.Earnix provides a suite of products that leverage powerful data and analytics to both understand what to offer customers, as well as deliver those offers across all the bank’s channels. From optimized pricing that maximizes customer retention, to bundled offers that deepen relationships and expand customer lifetime value, Earnix allows you to compute and deliver those offers in real-time with pricing software. Our powerful analytical platform allows for rapid cycles of test-and-learn, so that banks are not just able to meet customers where they are today, but to evolve with them as their needs change.
Digital Banking Presents a Huge Opportunity.
Banks have never had so much knowledge about their existing customers and so much power to reach new ones. However, they must also be sure not to lose the human touch that has helped them understand their customers’ needs. To do so, they must employ systems that possess both the intelligence to turn data into actionable insights, as well as the technical capabilities to deploy those insights across an ever-evolving range of digital channels.
Want to know how to accelerate your digital transformation journey? Download the eBook.
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