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The cumulative experience of your account holder is the only genuinely durable competitive advantage you have. It is not your interest rates. Nor is it your locations or convenience. Everything rides on the consistent delivery of positive client experiences, or CX.
Cumulative CX is determined by how effectively your financial institution engages with account holders through every aspect of day-to-day interactions. Positive CX is linked to increased loyalty and spend. Today the primary driver of CX is the digital experience.
Changes made to either online or digital interfaces can significantly affect how account holders view your financial institution. How you handle these changes can mean the difference between satisfaction and a decision to move financial providers.
In their webinar "Delivering a World Class Experience: Best Practices for Digital Banking Conversions," Harland Clarke notes several steps any financial institution should take to encourage a positive transition for every change in digital platform and experience.
- Put your account holder at the center of the journey. Determine how the update or change will affect each of your account holders. Remember that any change is a disruption, no matter how small.
- Create an action plan. Set up a program of proactive outreach which includes personalized email, direct mail, and outbound on-boarding. Customers should be driven to understand and anticipate the change with a positive attitude. The goal is to avoid as many post change calls contacts as possible. They are almost always negative.
- Improve your account holder data. Accurate account holder data is essential to successful outreach. While no financial institution wants to think they have outdated information, it is not uncommon to have old email, phone numbers, and physical addresses in any system. Validating the data is critical.
- Centralize your approach. Avoid spreading out responsibility for change management and implementation to separate branches or departments. It is far more useful to create a central conversion team to handle messaging, implementation, and post-change management. A centralized team will help keep training, tone, and consistency across all levels of communication.
- Follow up. Post change does not mean an immediate sigh of relief. This period is an opportunity to increase the use of the digital platform and the new changes. Surveys, calls, and additional information will not only reduce inbound calls; they will help ensure satisfaction.
Digital technologies and consumer demands continue to shift. Which means an eventual change to account holder platforms is inevitable. Following these steps can help you maintain or even increase CX the next time your institution needs to make an update.
View the full webinar from The Financial Brand here.