One of the great things about living in the 21st century is choice. I can choose where I want to live, what cereal I want to eat, what television program to watch – including watching when I want to watch and how I want to watch it: DVR, Netflix, Hulu, etc. Every day we are able to customize our lives by making choices about what we do or what we purchase. But sometimes having a myriad of choices becomes paralyzing. There can be so many options and so much information that we struggle to know what will be the best fit. Who will help me make a decision?
The customer experience for a financial institution is not so different than for any other industry.
Customers want choice.
Customers don’t want to feel as if they are settling.
Just like staring at a shelf of cereal varieties, customers want to be able to pick which financial institution they go to. Of course, you hope that they decide to use your company because of the great things they’ve heard or that clever commercial currently running on TV. But sometimes customers are limited depending on their personal financial situation. Perhaps, due to a credit rating, your institution is the only one that will lend to them. Or your interest rate for a savings account is the highest they’ve seen. If they are forced to use your institution for a particular reason they may feel pigeonholed. Your challenge is to make customers feel like they’ve made the right choice for their original need and then want to use your other products.
Help them grow.
Customers see finances as a personal business – they want that business to grow and make money. They count on their financial institution to provide scenarios and plans for growth. You want them to succeed as much as they want to succeed. Help them see what combination of products and services would work best to meet their needs and why. In other words, be a business partner or consultant. Customers don’t mind working with financial officers, but they want to know that the solution you’ve created is customized to their situation. In that way, the decision will feel like a choice and not a forced solution.
Give them the resources they need.
When customers buy cars, computers, or refrigerators, they tend to do some kind of research. They might search the Internet, look up the product in Consumer Reports, or talk to friends and family. Ultimately, the decision is theirs based on the information they’ve gathered, and that information has to be clear and understandable in order for them to make a choice they are comfortable with. he same applies to financial institutions. Help customers: understand the paperwork, create a database of the information they’ll need to fill out the paperwork, comprehend what their options are, and know what scenarios are available and what it will cost. The key is to break it down in a way that is relevant to them and to their particular situation. Your consumers are smart, but they aren’t financial gurus. They want to be able to leave your meeting and be confident in their decision-making.
Here at The Pert Group we have experts in the financial services industry who understand how to improve the customer experience. We know that choice is important and we can help provide insights into why your audience makes the choices they do. Understanding your customers’ motivations and needs can allow you to make confident business decisions. Striking a balance between giving options and dictating a solution can be difficult, but we can help. Everyone has options. We choose Clarity Established.
