Bank executives are aware that customers want personalized service that meets their needs. But even armed with that knowledge, banks still fall short when it comes to the level of personalization they provide.
Engageware recently conducted its annual survey of 100 C-level banking executives and asked in-depth questions regarding plans for enhancing customer experience at their branches.
But while more than half (52 percent) of the executives surveyed said they provide a “high level of personalization” and another 40 percent believe their bank provides an “acceptable level of personalization,” those numbers don’t jibe with how customers actually feel.
More than half of 2,000 consumers surveyed for a Q2 2016 Engageware study indicated they do not feel their local bank branch knows them as a customer.
On the positive side, 50 percent of the C-level bankers surveyed said customer experience solutions are the top investment area for their bank over the next 18 months.
Here are some other key survey results:
- Nearly half (44 percent) of bank executives report that providing new products and services are their top in-branch priority. Others include providing wireless devices and Wi-Fi for customer use (32 percent), changing branch design (26 percent), improving wait times (22 percent), and providing more specialists to serve customers (21 percent).
- The majority of consumers (69 percent), however, said the ability to bank outside of typical business hours was the service enhancement they want most, followed by the ability to schedule appointments (46 percent).
- Half of bank executives see improving their social (51 percent) and mobile (50 percent) channels as the best way to enhance interaction with customers.
- Though café-style branches have generated industry buzz for a few years, survey results reveal that less than one-third (29 percent) of bank executives plan on introducing them.
- More than half of executive respondents (60 percent) provide a customer survey after an in-branch visit, which demonstrates a desire to learn what customers do and don’t like about their banking experience.