6 CX Challenges and Solutions for Financial Services Providers

When it comes to customer experience (CX), the financial services industry faces a unique set of pain points, notably cybersecurity risks and ever-evolving compliance rules. But, at a time, when there is more competition than ever in the banking, insurance and credit union sectors, companies must also do more to avoid frustrating customers and differentiate their offerings through superior customer service.

Fortunately, recent advances in technology means many of these CX challenges can now be tackled using the latest platforms and tools. Here we look at some of the unique pain points facing financial services providers and the solutions available.

Challenge: Many financial products, such as mortgages, investments and insurance policies are complex and difficult for customers to understand. Moreover, lengthy turnaround times when processing and approving these products can make competitor offerings more attractive.

Solution: Help portals, knowledge libraries, interactive tutorials and advanced chatbots can help customers get the answers they want quickly. This frees up agents to deal with more complex queries, while AI can accelerate the time to process an application from weeks to minutes.

Challenge: Money is one of the biggest sources of disputes for businesses. For those working in the financial services sector, these can be hugely time-consuming and costly, draining company resources. Any technology that can speed up dispute resolution processes and free up resources will deliver significant ROI. As for customers, being funnelled through multiple channels, departments and documents to resolve disputes can be hugely frustrating.

Solution: Implement customer journey orchestration (CJO) to ensure that all touchpoints and processes provide a consistent and reliable experience. Invest in a unified system that ensures agents have all the information about the customer and their previous interactions with the firm in an instance.

Challenge: The financial services industry has always been subject to stringent and ever-evolving regulatory rules, such as KYC, AML and GDPR. These can lead to cumbersome processes and a less-than-seamless customer experience, involving excessive paperwork, lengthy verification procedures and incomprehensible terms and conditions.

Solution: Automation tools can greatly streamline compliance processes, while carrying out KCY/AML/digital signature checks simultaneously. Meanwhile, paperwork can be reduced and managed more efficiently and securely through the cloud.

Challenge: Fraud and cybercrime have become huge pain points for the financial services industry and a big source of mistrust for customers. High numbers of data breaches, security concerns and a perceived lack of transparency erodes trust, resulting in customer churn and reputational damage.

Solution: With massive amounts of transactions flowing through financial systems, AI is able to detect subtle changes in patterns, anomalies and unauthorised access attempts that indicate fraud, neutralising issues before they become costly breaches.

Challenge: Customers expect to be able to interact with financial services companies through the channels that suit them, whether that’s a mobile app, website, email, chatbots, phone or in-branch. Companies must create a consistent and seamless omnichannel experience that meets growing customer expectations.

Solution: The latest cloud platforms can facilitate a unified customer view for all employees interacting with customers whether online, on the phone or in-branch. These platforms can be customised to ensure messaging and branding is consistent and, importantly, allow customers and agents to pick up where they left off – if first contact resolution isn’t possible.

Challenge: Financial transactions and decisions can often be emotionally charged for customers, especially during times for economic uncertainty or hardship.

Solution: By integrating financial wellness programmes and help tools into apps and training agents to act with empathy and offer personalised advice, financial institutions can build better customer relationships, boost reputational value, enhance loyalty and retain customers. Tools such as call recording and sentiment analysis can help companies identify touchpoints where empathy and the human touch can make a big difference to outcomes.

The rise of digital banks, payment platforms and other fintech companies means that businesses within the financial services sector need to work harder than ever to retain existing customers and win new ones.

Investing in the latest technologies can solve CX challenges, boost loyalty and help businesses thrive in a highly competitive marketplace. Statistics show that retail banks that optimise CX and use customer insights to improve their service grow 3.2 times faster than their industry peers.

Meanwhile, insurers are also facing stiffer competition. 80% of policyholders will consider switching as a result of poor customer service experience. The latest CX tools can help simplify policies, accelerate claims processing and help insurers demonstrate empathy and understanding.

Credit unions in Ireland have always ranked highly in customer service, and the passing of the Credit Union (Amendment) Bill 2022 has created new opportunities for the industry. Those that embrace the latest CX tools to offer omnichannel support and highly personalised member services will be able to compete more effectively with traditional banking institutions, as well as recent alternative entrants to the market, win market share and differentiate their offerings.

Find out more about how the latest technologies can help your organisation solve CX challenges and do better in the marketplace. Contact a representative at DigitalWell to find out how we are uniquely placed to develop a CX solution that works for your business sector.