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It's a smart move, which has been validated by many studies, including a recent FICO survey where 88% of customers confirmed that customer experience is as important and more important than the products and services offered by an institution.
To deliver tailored experiences, BFS organizations have invested heavily in multiple communications vehicles to give customers the opportunity to engage on their terms. Customer hotlines, chatbots and live chat, email, social media, in-app messaging, and texting—all represent an opportunity for an exceptional, personal interaction. At the same time, all these systems have also created information silos, not only limiting consistent customer experiences across the channels but also significantly limiting an institution’s ability to understand their customers on a deeper level and deliver those personalized experiences that keep your customers around for years to come.
What’s now needed, more than ever, is an omnichannel approach that continues to provide customers with flexible engagement options while uniting their interaction data for seamless cross-channel experiences. Thanks to the advancements in technology, achieving this next benchmark in CX excellence is becoming more accessible.
From Multichannel to Omnichannel
Before we dive deeper into the omnichannel benefits, it’s important to note that each generation may have its preferred channel of communication, but a real-life customer journey is never limited to a single channel. The examples below highlight just a few examples of how customer preferences converge in real life and why an omnichannel is crucial for continuity.
A Boomer customer calls their financial institution to inquire about investment options, speaking with a representative for about 15 minutes. A few days later, they decide to visit their local branch for an in-person consultation. In a true omni-channel experience, the branch should already be informed about the phone conversation, prepare the relevant materials, and continue a seamless discussion without frustrating repetition.
A millennial is ready to purchase their first home and begins searching for mortgage options. To speed up their search, they leverage the chat option on the website to get some initial information and ask to schedule a call with a mortgage specialist to start the qualification process. The specialist should understand the customers’ needs based on previous interactions to quickly and efficiently guide them through the qualification process.
A Gen Z customer wants to start a business bank account for their influencer business. They call their financial services provider, go through an automated pre-qualification process, and are seamlessly transferred to a human agent for further assistance. That agent should have all of the call information available to them to complete the application with minimal friction.
A true omnichannel experience crosses the boundaries of channels to deliver a seamless experience regardless of where conversations begin or end. The results?
- Personalization at scale with data united across touchpoints. BFS organizations gain unprecedented understanding of each customer’s journey, including transaction history, communication preferences, life stage indicators, and behavioral patterns. This, in turn, enables them to proactively engage with their relevant offers before their need arises.
- Retention and loyalty numbers should reflect your investment as customers start to feel more valued and understood by their organizations. In a highly competitive BFS space, creating an emotional connection that transcends the transaction-based relationship will have a long-term benefit on the bottom line.
- New product and service ideas emerge when you start collecting and comparing customers’ asks across channels. From identifying an unmet need to friction points that fuel innovation, your customers are a source of valuable insights that represent a competitive advantage to your organization.
Two Tech Solutions That Can Help
Tapping into omnichannel benefits will require a strategic investment in AI-driven technology that either replaces legacy options or helps unite existing channels.
Connect interaction data across communication channels. Conversation intelligence solutions tap into conversation data across call, email, chat, and more to unite data for a 360-degree view. By working with your existing solutions like CcaaS and CRM systems, these go beyond transactional data to maximize real-time customer agent assistance, deeper insights into customer sentiment resolution effectiveness, regulatory adherence, and deeper customer insights.
Automated voice AI agents. Conversational AI is being replaced by new GenAI-powered voice solutions that understand caller intent and deliver human-like, efficient support that Millennials and Gen Z demand. Such solutions show much stronger performance results compared to the previous generations and effectively address the needs of today’s consumer and contact center alike.
Uniting Generations and Technologies
Today’s BFS customers may span multiple generations and preferences, but they agree on one thing: exceptional customer experience is a must. To accomplish this, BFS organizations cannot afford to ignore the current multi-channel state and must aggressively invest in an omnichannel experience that will ensure their long-term strategic success.
The future belongs to institutions that recognize that customer experience isn’t just about offering every communication channel possible. It’s about connecting those channels to maximize customer insights and understanding to shape personalized experiences and new services and products that successfully evolve with each generational shift.
Check out our Banking and Financial Services page to learn more.
