Retail Banking - A New Way For Customer Service
As the rumbles begin to fade it's clear that the retail banking business has been through exceptionally turbulent times. The longstanding contract involving banks and their retail clients has been shattered. Those people who are long in the tooth recall the long gone branch Bank Manager whose steadiness represented the reliability of his bank, and the long-term trust that his customers placed with them. It truly was 'relationship banking' - building and keeping engaged customers utilizing face to face contact. We've seen enormous job losses and big adjustments to the branch structures already but have yet to see the regulatory structural outcomes from the current turmoil. What is as clear as day is that we'll continue to view flatter organisational arrangements. Retail banking has witnessed the technology-enabled rush to provide customers with solutions at less price - and this trend will continue. Will your lender see that the tech can - if tapped properly and coupled to good strategic moves - also help in rebuilding this crucial engagement with your clients?
Compared to the price cutting approach your clients need your lender to be faster and much more flexible in your own interactions. They wish to have the ability to tell you how they want to get solutions, and what types of services people should be, instead of being handled down a systematised straightjacket of stiff procedures. Their needs will change - and change is happening faster than ever - as the pace of growth of the enabling technologies shows no indication of slacking. Significantly, the price of hardware, software and communications is also falling extending the range of technology to groups who were outside its reach so opening up additional opportunities. The 'bleeding edge' of this is the rapid rise in mobile apps and the effect of online Social Media. Customers discuss your lender on their terms and in their choice of websites. Yes, social media is increasing in influence as a marketing medium, but it's the interaction which will grow to be the key to building those long term relationships. Research has indicated that your customers would prefer this on-line conversation space to be provided by your bank to ensure their views could be more surely heard - and answers provided. Another blow to banks' fortunes is that the loss of trust in individual banks means that customers now tend to spread their financial activity over a wider set of suppliers. This puts immediate pressure on your operating margins and has already signalled the demise of 'free banking'. If the retail banks are not careful about the way they move forward you could easily become merely 'white label' money transactors. So how can this embattled industry begin to make sense of the new world order - and make a profit too? All marketers know the truism that it is far more effective for both parties to sell more products to an existing customer, so a clear strategy is needed to underpin the rebuilding of your customers' confidence and a path to gain is required to sustain your business over the very long term. The answer lies well within your grasp and is with your participated clients, not with internal control introspection. It is these precious people who hold the key and understand what is desired. By finding out what drives their engagement with you and then mobilising your banking skills to provide it in an attractive and cost effective way you'll be able to reconstruct that bond of confidence. You may use it to find more clients to whom you can provide services effectively and at lower cost. This will lead to flexible customer segmentation. A segmentation that can adapt to a client's current wants and empower various services as those needs change with time. You can just manage this by a regular, vigilant and pro-active review of changing customers' requirements with time.
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