Digital transformation is aimed at digitizing the old methods, including the banking sector. So, what should banks take cognizance of this transformation?
How does Digital Transformation Affect the Banking Sector?
Due to the digital transformation, traditional banking transaction methods and processes are moving to digital platforms. The goal is to speed up processes and facilitate transactions conveniently on multi-platforms. Customer experience takes an essential place at this point. Clients who carry out their transactions without a banker’s support are working with banks that provide the best experience.
In this digitizing environment, mobile applications are almost becoming a must. Thus, banks constantly interact with their customers, and they need to turn this interaction into an advantage.
We can understand from this example that the first initiative a bank should take during its digital transformation is customer experience. A change that makes a difference is not about updating the application but creating a better banking experience for the customer.
Customer Experience and Commitment in Digital Banking
Digital banking customers want to have a good customer experience and handle all their business remotely without difficulty. If this customer experience is not provided, the risk of losing customers and falling behind in the market increases significantly.
Customer Journey Analytics significantly contributes to the banking sector by understanding precisely what the customer wants and ensuring what needs to be done. Customer Journey Analysis examines and analyzes customer behavior and conveys customer experiences over a certain period. In this way, bank management can make critical decisions based on data, prioritizing and understanding what needs to be developed in the future.
After learning what the customer wants from the customer journey analysis, the next step for the customer experience should be the Next Best Action (NBA). This marketing method makes the "best" decision for specific customers and offers them products in this direction.
NBA increases your chances of getting a positive return by 7x to 14x by offering timely and most suitable offers to the user. For example, with the Market Acoustics platform produced by JForce, banks can collect data from multiple channels, examine customers' behavior and then create market-appropriate campaigns without sophisticated IT developments targetting each micro customer segment. The marketing activity results are than collected and reported on monitoring dashboards which can be used for increasing efficiency of subsequent campaigns.
The Best Methods to Improve the Customer Experience in the Banking Sector
Banks now need to switch to digital platforms to keep up with the new era. But the digital transformation is gradually increasing its scope. Improving the customer experience has become one of the biggest goals of digital transformation. The methods that will provide this are pretty diverse.
Event-Based Marketing
Event marketing is different from conventional marketing, which tries to reach potential customers by calling and emailing them on the phone. It is based on presenting customers with proposals using a particular event in their life. When the end of a service provided is about to end, the customer is contacted, taking into account this event.
As it is shaped according to the events in the customer's life, the event marketing method creates a more customized and functional communication opportunity. Return on investment allows you to take more significant steps, as it will provide exactly what the client needs.
Big Data Analytics
Big data is the state of the data that occurs after it is analyzed, processed, and classified. The analysis of this data is called Big Data and Analytics. By using big data analytics, you can access more customer information and improve customer experiences by using this information.
Banks can grow rapidly by leveraging big data analytics and deliver better value for their customers because they can access where their customer is, what is their financial status and which product best fits their requirements. At the same time, this method, which can also detect fraudsters, turns out to be one of the best methods available to stop fraudulent activity.
Ensuring Transparency and Safety
Transparency and safety are other key points when improving the customer experience. Since transparency in the provisions and service policies will give customers more apparent expertise, it is necessary to focus on them.
Sharing with them how their customers ensure the security of their data helps create an environment of trust. As a result, they would begin approaching the bank with loyalty, trust, and interest because they would feel safe and cared for.
Using the Internet Of Things (IoT)
The Internet of Things is a technology that can share information by connecting to the internet and thus establish a connection between other objects and people. Although it seems like something new, banks have already used this technology with ATMs for some time.
Banks that measure the intensity of use in ATMs with the Internet of Things technology and make ATM settlements also use this technology to collect customer information. With this technology, banks that can learn their customers' spending habits, wishes, and earnings can use the information they collect to provide their customers with the most appropriate solutions. In this way, they are able to provide a more comfortable and comprehensive experience for customers.
Increase Bionic Representatives
Another method that can be used to improve the customer experience is to increase bionic agents, that is, representatives who are augmented with AI&ML tools processing millions of data points and providing them real-time feedback. In this case, we can say that humanizing digital channels by humans or augmenting human representatives with digital is key. More 'human interaction points’ where the bank interacts with customers will collect more accurate and comprehensive information about the customer, which will lead to better results in the field of sales.
Being bionic during the interaction with the customer will provide the customer with a more friendly atmosphere, which will also help get good returns by increasing the customer experience during the operation process.
Real-Time Customer Support
One of the most critical things banks should provide customers is customer support. As technology progresses rapidly, a new feature has been added to customer support: Making it real-time. Meeting customer needs immediately and instant communication at the time of a problem is now one of the first things users are looking for in their customer experience.
A customer with a customer support system that can listen and respond immediately when he needs support will become a regular customer, as he will be satisfied with the experience at his bank. Using this method, the customer experience in the digital environment could be improved very much.
Adapting to the Onboarding Process
A bank experiencing a digital transformation should not ignore the Automatic Participation process, which will digitalize the entire customer experience. The onboarding method, which allows everything from opening an account to sending money to be digitized, eliminates the need for the customer to go to the branch, quickly taking care of bank business.
Satisfaction with the customer experience will increase, as everything will be at your fingertips. However, in digitalization, onboarding should also not be forgotten. It should be ensured that the customer can open an account remotely and do an interview with the bank.
Developing the Mobile Application and Services
For daily transactions, it is no longer necessary to go to the branch, and everything can be taken care of from the mobile application. That is why it is required for a bank to have an excellent mobile application so as not to give its customers a negative bank experience.
At the same time, it is also crucial for the customer experience to ensure that the services provided are adapted to the technology. Unfortunately, a bank that does not pay attention to those details will not be able to provide a good customer experience.
Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)
Artificial intelligence is a computer's ability to mimic the human brain's problem-solving and learning abilities. This technology collects and processes data, enabling the development of systems and infrastructures. Banking applications on digital platforms are also being developed with artificial intelligence.
Machine learning (ML), on the other hand, is the self-continued learning and development of a computer with artificial intelligence. As ML communicates with customers and collects information, it improves itself accordingly and constantly enhances the experience it provides to the customer. A set of techniques that improve the machine learning process and make it open for cooperation is called MLOps, and large banks use this technique for customer analysis.
Use of Data Citizen
Data Citizen is a person who uses data to do their job. For example, data is now becoming even more critical in banks, and this method allows you to collect and process data.
For creating Data Citizens in their organizations' banks needs to raise access barriers to the vast amount of data and simplify those assets so that they can be consumed by DataCitizens without learning programming or excelling in statistics.
Data Citizen employees who can access the data, use it to increase the customer experience and lead digital transformation in their line of business.
Conclusion
With the digital transformation, banks are moving to digital platforms and taking the customer experience to the highest essential levels. There are various methods to improve the customer experience. For example, it is becoming more functional to reach potential customers using NextBestAction, while practices such as artificial intelligence, digital onboarding, and event marketing are just some of the best techniques to improve the customer experience.