FinTech disruptors are driving their digital fleet into competitor customer heartlands and upending expectations on what a great experience looks like.
Add in game-changing financial products and experiences from Apple, Amazon and Google and it’s easy to see why incumbents are putting their foot on the accelerator to keep up with FinTech disruptors. In the experience economy, there is no immunity from the digital prophets and tech giants. Moreover, competitors set the bar high on experience. As a result, businesses are busy working out how to strike the right balance between providing real-world IT solutions that wow customers and sustaining the relentless pace of disruption in their marketplace.
Consequently, this brings us quickly to the big question that providers need to ask themselves. Are we doing enough to keep our customers happy? It’s not news that keeping your customers happy means keeping your customers – which in turn keeps your bean counters happy too. For instance, take research by Bain & Company. Additionally, the study tells us that in the finance sector, a 5% increase in customer retention rates can increase profit by 25%.
FinTech disruptors are casting off the legacy shackles
Legacy products or legacy attitudes do not shackle agile FinTech disruptors. They build digital products and services guided with laser-precision by experience and customer happiness. Let’s look at the customer-centric traits that make experiences hyper-personalised and hyper-convenient to boost satisfaction and deliver superior experiences.
Knowing your customer
Without a doubt, financial services customers are more willing than ever to share their data. But they want to know what their services provider is going to do with it to enhance their experience. And help them better manage their money and make more informed spending, savings and investment decisions. This is backed up by research by Accenture which found that consumers want data sharing to power integrated propositions and offers that are tailored to their needs.
Digital firebrands are built to do this. They leverage machine learning, artificial intelligence, predictive analytics and data science to deliver a differentiated, superior experience. These journeys will drive growth through sharper, segmented customer targeting. Furthermore, Accenture research discovered that almost 50% of consumers expect providers to offer propositions that meet their core needs and their expectations go beyond traditional financial products to include say a health proposition that provides wearable devices, points-based rewards for healthy behaviours or access to wellness services.
Meanwhile, Digital Banking Report and Salesforce found that 73% of consumers expect specialised treatment for being a good customer. In other words, customers will always turn to brands that listen and learn from them.
In summary, there is an opportunity here for brands that are playing catch up to develop a proactive, strategic response. This response will help evaluate their data plan. Companies can implement operational and technology capabilities to deliver the data-driven hyper-personalised experience that customers crave.
A superior user experience
Digital leaders are using online models to grow market share by offering a highly customised user experience. They are meeting the service and information needs of customers that live on their mobile devices. These same customers do their own research, use self-serve tools and value content-driven engagement. In an omnichannel world, they are providing seamless, consistent interaction on every channel and touchpoint – on their website, social media platforms, messaging channels – email, live chat, SMS and beyond.
For example, co-browsing software allows customers and insurance, lending and financial advisors to collaboratively ‘browse’ together on a website or app in real-time. For brands without a cohesive omnichannel strategy, valuable engagement and insight dwindle. Moreover, customer expectations are unmet.
These are just two of the traits that FinTech disruptors leverage to build their proposition around customers’ expectations, needs and wants. Traditional financial providers have been slow to adapt. However, it’s clear they can’t afford to ignore their competition.
Are you doing enough to keep up with FinTech disruptors?
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