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Whereas on the other side, there are Fintech companies that are growing rapidly, with nearly 45% of customers opting to stay with Fintech services because of the personalized services offered. To sustain the competition and provide the same experience as Fintech companies; banks, and financial institutions will have to redefine their operational and communication process at a swift pace. 

Today, customers’ interaction with their bank is mostly one-way on their digital devices. When customers access their banks’ mobile banking applications, they are provided with a finite set of transactional choices that are primarily one-way. If a customer has any additional set of questions that are outside the given set of options, they do not find the answer within the banks’ app. This is where a two-way communication process is necessary between banks and customers; otherwise, the customer will be frustrated and will either request a transfer to the bank agent or, worse yet, discontinue the service.

Here are five reasons why the BFSI sector must consider using messaging to create a better customer experience.

1. Better digital experience

Consumers of the modern era are used to digital experiences in all areas of their lives, and the standard is no different when it comes to financial services. However, the BFSI sector often falls short. As per a survey conducted by Bain & Company
, only 44% of web customers and 34% of mobile customers reported that their net banking service was easy to use. Many Fintech firms are using traditional banks’ shortcomings as an opportunity to enter into finance with improved digital offerings. 

Companies like Apple and Amazon have started granting small business loans and credit cards to consumers. Interestingly, consumers are eager to try them. One of the reasons why consumers prefer banking with these tech companies is because of the kind of digital experience they enjoy.

Also, with more than 61% of consumers reporting that messaging is the easiest and the most convenient way to connect with a business, many fintech companies are enhancing their messaging services to attract next-gen customers and deliver on the promise of an improved digital experience. Now, the pressure is on traditional financial firms to follow their lead, or their customers will switch to their competitors. 

For instance, Google Pay users can send money to their contacts using a payment method of their choice and also receive money or transfer it directly to their bank account- all through an SMS experience. Facebook rolled out a similarly seamless experience in the U.S., enabling users to send or transfer money within Messenger.

2. Omnichannel experiences

With messaging, users can continue their conversation across multiple communication channels. Seamlessly switching between private and public channels is particularly vital for financial services since they deal with sensitive information. For instance, a customer might reach out to a support agent through a public channel like Instagram/ Facebook for convenience. If the support team needs to retrieve sensitive information, they can transfer the customer to its secure chat portal or an encrypted messaging channel like WhatsApp. 

Omnichannel banking experiences seamlessly hand-off conversation between bots and humans. A study conducted by Bain & Company
reveals that customers prefer chatbots for routine financial inquiries. However, they often want to speak to a customer representative about anything more substantial. With role-based messaging permissions, financial organizations can connect a customer to the right support agent and ensure that only the right agent can access that customer’s information.

Whether a user is transferring between a virtual assistant and a customer representative or between channels, it is always a bad experience to repeat themselves. This is why banks need that same connectivity layer to prepare them with context and conversation history.

3. Proactive support

Organizations can anticipate their customer needs before they arise with proactive messaging support. What is vital about proactive messaging experiences is that they are actionable. For instance, Robinhood Markets, an American financial services company, proactively sends regular updates to their users via messages about their holdings such as options, stocks, and cryptocurrencies. 

Outbound messages are proactive; however, most of the time, they are not conversational in nature. Financial firms must enable customers to respond to their notifications; this requires a connective layer that can unify messages from multiple channels into a single conversation. 

This will help support agents with a context that allows them to know what outbound messages the users respond to. Without access to these vital details, agents cannot do much, and providing quick resolutions becomes next to impossible. 

4. Next-gen self-service

Many companies in the BFSI sector have embraced virtual assistants for everything- from customer support to lead generation. However, self-service is one area where this trend stands out. Self-service is essential now more than ever, as customers move from bank branches to 24/7 account access. Chatbots help banks keep up, enabling quick responses and always-on support.

When compared to live chat, messaging is asynchronous. This enables users to begin and end the conversation at their convenience, which is why messaging has the highest satisfaction rating compared to other communication channels. 

With virtual assistants, the financial sector is drastically improving customer experiences. For instance, Bank of America’s virtual assistant (Erica) reached a million users in two months. Customers can message the virtual assistant and request to replace lost cards, dispute charges, and get weekly updates of their monthly spending. People can also communicate with the virtual assistant via calls for improved accessibility. 

5. Personalized experience

As per a survey conducted by Accenture, nearly 71% of customers consider their relationship with banks to be purely transactional, rather than relationship-driven. Interestingly, 40% of consumers say that they would be loyal to their banks if offered a customized experience. Messaging itself is more personal than any other channel, which is why many financial companies are using messaging to provide customized financial advice.

With messaging, customer conversations are also more complete and available in one central place. Again, having a comprehensive view of the customer is imperative to a personalized messaging experience, as it gives companies the necessary context for more intimate interactions. 

Organizations can use the conversational information that customers voluntarily share, of course, keeping privacy in mind, to amplify the customer’s voice by drawing insights that create better-personalized experiences.

Conclusion

When banks and financial institutions use technology to become active listeners, they can better respond to their customers’ individual needs and requirements. However, they shouldn’t just communicate better via existing channels, but also attempt to expand their reach into new communication channels as they move toward an advanced omnichannel model. 

The BFSI sector can complement these channels with enhanced in-person communications that are powered by data. These combined efforts are essential to attract and retain millennials, who have more choices than ever before, and who will always go for the most convenient solution.