Question

Banks have expanded from what were traditional services (checking, savings, and loans) and have begun offering many other services for customers. What are some banking strategies to not only attract customers, but retain them from a loyalty perspective? What services do you find important in a bank? How have banks leveraged technology to deliver a more convenient experience? Do you think this is good?---why or why not?

Answer 1

Banking is a service-oriented industry. No matter how many products you have, it always boils down to the customer experience. Before going to products and strategies, it is important to understand where the customer satisfaction figures in the priorities of the concerned Bank. Customer satisfaction can be achieved by several means, right from answering a simple question like how easy it is for a customer to approach a Bank. Customer Satisfaction is in itself a strategy for retaining customers.

The best Banks am aware of, provides a single point of contact to the customers. Just like a relationship manager to the corporate clients, the presence of a relationship manager to the retail clients helps in building a sort of trust with the client. And also at the same time, the Banks will now have a deeper understanding of each and every client that goes way beyond the KYC and the regular transactions information. This helps in cross-selling of different products to the customer.

This increases the loyalty of the customer to the bank. A happy and a loyal customer results in an increase in Banks wallet share of the particular client. The Bank is gaining wallet share through mindshare.

Technology is an important aspect and is one of the driving forces in today's world. The financial services sector has a technological revolution of its own. The initial lines at the Bank for drawing the money gave way to ATM. The ATM now giving way to credit and debit cards. With the increase in e-payments, people rarely go to withdraw money. Add to it the e-wallets. The Banks provide a one-stop solution now in the form of a mobile app. With this, you rarely find a need to visit a Branch. You can open a new account, apply for a new product, check your transactions, transfer funds, make payments and what not. Everything is at your fingertip. Increase in technology has its own pitfalls. Since the entire data is online, there is always a risk of data hack. But the pros of properly implemented technological use in financial institutions goes way beyond the cons.