Customer retention strategies in the banking industry have shifted drastically in the last few years. In the past, in-person interaction at physical branches was the primary means for traditional banks to attract, engage, and form relationships with customers. Today’s customers, however, are less inclined to visit banks in person and prefer to do most of their financial transactions online through websites or mobile apps. They prize convenience, ease of use, and connectivity in the services they choose to patronize.
In response to changing customer habits and expectations, financial institutions are searching for ways to establish a stronger presence in digital spaces, expand their reach, and secure customer loyalty. The emergence of new and high-performing competitors such as fintechs and challenger banks makes this need to innovate especially urgent for traditional banks. A significant percentage of consumers report that they would switch banks when presented with better recommendations, plans, and rates. Many are also open to the idea of moving their investments from banks to solutions from big tech companies.
For many banks, investing in an up-to-date digital core banking system can be a game-changing move in the push to improve customer retention and ensure business longevity. Here are five important things the latest core banking software can do to help your bank keep its customers in the digital age:
Supports Efficient, User-Friendly Digital Services
Today, practically all banks allow customers to make online transfers, deposits, and payments via the bank’s website or its official mobile app. Many contemporary clients, however, would like their banks to expand beyond these basic online services and develop a larger and more diverse pool of digital offerings.
Today’s banking customers want to be able to open accounts, apply for loans, make investments, and perform other complex financial tasks online. Moreover, they want to be able to utilize these services as independently, conveniently, and quickly as possible, with minimal paperwork and human contact.
Current core banking solutions come with intelligent automation capabilities that can help banks achieve the high levels of digitization their customers desire. The software can replace paper documents with digital files, automate decision rules and approvals conditions, and speed up account and loan processing cycles. By using these solutions, banks thus save abundant amounts of time and resources, bypass the potentially damaging human risks manual processes pose, and boost client satisfaction.
Expedites Product Origination and Onboarding
How fast, smooth, and convenient a bank’s customer onboarding process is can often make or break a customer’s overall impression of the institution. Legacy banks are frequently bogged down by time-consuming and laborious onboarding procedures, which frustrate clients and may lead to abandoned applications and lost revenue. Banks that upgrade their core banking infrastructure, meanwhile, can take advantage of artificial intelligence and machine learning features that can accelerate onboarding.
In a similar fashion, good banking software can also help banks develop their product origination processes to be more personalized and accessible to clients. For instance, banks can use the system to create helpful product catalogs that customers can consult. The software also helps streamline workflows on the back end, enabling teams to develop customizable products and bundles that are genuinely reflective of and responsive to real customer needs.
Enables Multimodal Customer Communication
Improving customer communication and facilitating personalized engagement across a variety of platforms is a reliable way to increase consumer loyalty. With modern banking software, banks can communicate with and assist customers through a variety of digital channels, allowing the client to choose the platform that is most comfortable for them. Turning over basic self-service transactions to chatbots can also allow bank staff to focus on more involved customer concerns.
Empowers Front-Line Bank Staff
One of the most significant benefits of extensive automation is that it frees front-line bankers from mundane tasks and basic manual labor. These team members, many of whom are digital natives themselves, can then dedicate their time to becoming trusted counsels and sources of support for their client base.
The robust technology at frontline bankers’ disposal won’t just enable them to engage a larger number of clients. Machine learning can mine a bank’s data for deep customer insight and holistic perspective, which staff members can then use to make better predictions and deliver more effective financial advice.
Improves Overall Brand Reputation
Financial crises and volatile economic conditions have made banking customers today more discriminating and cautious about their finances than previous generations. As a result, brand affinity has become a crucial factor for choosing financial services. Surveys show that a majority of customers look for trustworthiness in a long-term financial partner and that many value trust even above attractive plans and competitive rates.
Banks have a natural competitive advantage when it comes to nurturing trust and fostering lasting relationships with their clients, as many people do still prefer to bank with the same institution long-term given the right incentives. Banks that prove their willingness to adapt to changing client needs and embrace innovative solutions to emerging problems are much more likely to secure customers’ trust.
If they wish to survive and maintain a competitive advantage in today’s rapidly changing business landscape, banks must strive to become as deeply involved as possible in their customers’ businesses and day-to-day lives. For many banks, investing in the right technological infrastructure may be the crucial step toward becoming the adaptive, flexible, and future-oriented institutions their clients need.
