Customer experience management
so more is done by phone or by logging into the mobile app, some of them for the first time. So, they need some hand holding with self-service.” Overall, both organisations have worked hard to ensure that the personal element in service is maintained in a multichannel environment. “One-to-one interactions in the branch are more limited now, so keeping the human element across all channels is important,” remarks Chapman of Nationwide’s efforts. “CX is about really looking at the end-to-end journey from our members’ perspective and understanding what it feels like. For digital channels, it is about giving members the feeling that their experience has the characteristics of Nationwide – empathy, efficiency, effectiveness and the sense that they are being cared for.” Even so, it’s important to emphasise that neither bank is moving away from physical channels. Rather, they’re focusing on getting the basics of in-person service right – then replicating it online. “Customers are increasingly comfortable with doing some things digitally, so we may see their behaviour change in the post-Covid world,” Robinson believes.
“Some things have shifted towards digital channels, where some customers will stay, but there is an important role for our colleagues to play in that digital transition – when they use webchat or call they can speak to a person, not just a chatbot.”
Computing power alone is not enough Covid did more than drive more traffic to digital channels. It also forced banks to look closely at how customers want to interact with them during the pandemic, and to look ahead at whether those choices will be permanent once lockdown restrictions are eased. For her part, Robinson emphasises that many customers want to interact with people, not just systems.
“People and processes are more of a focus for us than technology,” she says. “It is more about bringing people together than implementing a clever chatbot. Our challenge now is to bring the brand to life more in the digital channel. The customer journey must be suitable for each customer – quick for some and hyper-personalised for others. We have to adapt to a diverse customer base.” At Nationwide, technology’s role is not only to facilitate the transition to digital channels, but also to monitor and measure the quality of customer experience. The institution has, for example, deployed artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse customer interactions and solve members’ problems faster. Working with analytics specialist SAS, Nationwide has also used AI and natural language processing to identify inefficiencies in customer interactions. One key finding being that over 50% of all email enquiries
Future Banking /
www.nsbanking.com
can be resolved by guiding members towards digital channels. It has also implemented KPMG Nunwood’s ‘Fizz: Voice of the Customer’ software, which captures customer feedback and couples it with operational data to provide insights into potential blockages in the customer journey.
The result of its CX investment has resulted in an increase of Nationwide’s market share – it now has 10% of the UK’s current accounts, as well as 15% growth in 2020 in the number of committed members (those who have at least two products with the building society). Nationwide’s success can also be measured by how quickly it can now help customers. At the start of the pandemic, many members needed payment holidays on loans and mortgages as their income fell. Nationwide processed 250,000 in a few weeks, relying heavily on automation and the use of AI. In terms of CX, meanwhile, AI is being used predominantly for analytics to improve the efficiency of service, rather than in customer- facing applications. “We are starting to explore the deployment of AI in customer experience, but we want to do it thoughtfully,” says Chapman. “It is important for our members to interact with humans.”
27%
Companies that acknowledge how people are often overlooked when planning and executing digital transformation projects.
IFS
“We are starting to explore the deployment of AI in customer experience, but we want to make sure we do it thoughtfully.”
Janet Chapman
“The last year has been a period of forced experimentation and adaptation that will have a lasting impact,” she adds. “So much has changed in the context of the pandemic that expectations of service and customer experience are very different.” Metro Bank is focusing on successfully replicating the basics of its in-branch experience in the digital channels and is waiting to see whether customer behaviour is permanently changed by the pandemic. “Some aspects of technology have been accelerated because of Covid,” says Robinson, “such as virtual meetings and the use of digital channels, but not all of it will stick. Post-Covid, we need to listen more closely to our customers to see whether they want richer digital services or whether they want to return to our branches.”
For that reason, AI is less of a focus for investment than it is for Nationwide, but when it comes to CX, both long-established institutions and newer challenger banks face similar challenges and are responding with similar tactics. Technology plays a key role, certainly, but consistency of service and brand identity across all channels is also based firmly on person-to-person interaction. ●
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