November 17, 2016 // By Heather Zimmerman
The new catchword in the banking industry? Friction free.
Banks are increasingly realizing they need to make transactions transparent, immediate and as easy as possible for their clients in light of ramped-up competition from the innovative startups of the world.
The first wake-up call for banks was the advent of ultra-convenient mobile devices able to access people, places and information most anywhere at any time. That led to customer demand for better on-the-go services, which led to a growing number of FinTechs offering fast loan turnaround and other nimble services for time-starved customers.
As such, banking has become all about making transactions painless for the customer, which often means forming complete strategies around removing friction from each process. The primary goal should be ensuring customers can complete sales or service transactions smoothly and interchangeably on different channels. In accordance, websites that used to simply provide information about banking services have turned into highly interactive marketplaces for financial services.
In today’s market, customers are accustomed to taking care of their banking business when, where and how it’s convenient for them. Financial institutions that can’t make that happen through technological innovation are about to lose their pieces of the pie.
Many have already seen the light and are investing accordingly. This year, 40–50 percent of banking CEOs in the U.S. budgeted for “substantial increases” in technology, reports American Banker.
Eliminating pain points for customers may also require online tools that allow you to segment your audiences and target your marketing to their wants and needs, often by accessing big data sources. When it comes to email campaigns, for example, research shows that segmentation improves clicks by 59 percent and opens by 15 percent.
Another huge part of becoming friction free is maximizing mobile accessibility for busy clients highly dependent on their phones and tablets. In a Bain survey last year, half of U.S. respondents said they’d rather forego their wallet for a day than their mobile phone.
If you're embarking on a digital transformation for your company and would like to learn more about removing friction for your customers, read our white paper "Banks Going Digital (Almost) All the Way."