Customer Experience Management (CXM) in Finance

CXM has transformed in recent years across financial services. There was a time when financial services firms very much operated in a sales role, selling products such as bank accounts, savings and insurance to the masses. And that was it. However, this has evolved due to a mixture of regulations, changes in the industry and the new ways consumers interact with goods and services.

In recent years, people are able to be much more selective about their financial services’ providers. There is now greater competition in the industry with fintechs and challenger brands holding the incumbents to account. This has forced traditional firms, like the major banks and insurers, to evolve and listen to audiences instead of dictating to them. Regulations with a greater emphasis on providing value for money, and treating customers fairly, have compounded this shift.

This is particularly evident in the use of comparison sites. Websites like CompareTheMarket and MoneySuperMarket are now most people’s first destination when looking for products such as insurance and loans. These platforms have placed greater power in the hands of consumers who are more willing than ever to hold brands to account, comparing them on factors like price and bonus features.

Simply put, in financial services the customer has never been more powerful. One study found that banks could record a 27.5% growth rate in revenue simply by improving customer experience scores by 10%. This means CXM is now a critical component of financial services’ companies’ brands. People don’t just want a savings account or a loan, they want excellent customer service. Will onboarding be seamless? Can they easily get in touch with someone who can answer their questions? Can the company meet requests for personalised services they have?

Technology is crucial to this. Amazon gave people unbridled flexibility in their shopping experience, right in the palm of their hand, and this is a success story in CXM. In a recent study Amazon ranked highest across selection, price and convenience. Similar trends can be seen in how technology has revolutionised CXM with holidays, hotels and taxis through sites like Booking.com, AirBnb and Uber, respectively.

Expectations of heightened customer experience aren’t confined to retail or hospitality. Financial institutions are now embracing the concept of CXM, and investing heavily into this with technology to ensure it becomes a core part of their brands. Here are just a few ways technology is transforming CXM in financial services:

• Chat bots – Through innovations in AI, chat bots have become an increasingly popular way to deal with customer concerns and queries. This can allow simple issues to be quickly nullified, benefiting the customer, and offer an invaluable to gather data insights about user experience.
• Mobile first tech – Having mobile app capability has long been a must-have for any financial services brand, not just a nice-to-have. This can empower the CXM function of a company, giving them greater access to a customer and allow them to build a much stronger relationship as a result.
• Personalised recommendations – Communications that champion CXM do so with personalisation. Generic nudges and emails are quickly unsubscribed or turned off, but the use of cookies and similar software can allow deeper insights to be gained into an individual which can then directly influence personalised recommendations and advice.

With so much data to coordinate, this has led to a rise in CXM platforms for financial services brands. These can include OpenText, HubSpot, SalesForce And Zendesk. Pioneering these kinds of innovations are crucial to improving customer loyalty and satisfaction.

As an industry, financial services has had a less-than-positive reputation. Economic crashes, bailouts and scandals have led many people to distrust these firms. At the same time, a proliferation of fintechs and challenger brands mean people simply have more choice than ever before and therefore may be more willing to switch providers. A stronger customer experience will not fix these problems overnight, but through championing CXM the foundations can be set for better relationships. This can be made possible through using technology in new ways, leveraging the data that financial services already have access to.

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