Are your Bank Customers really Loyal or just sort of Loyal?
The trend toward online and mobile banking is accelerating faster than the Jamaican bobsled team after finally getting their equipment delivered to Sochi.
Online banking now accounts for 53% of transactions. Big conglomerates are shuttering branches, with smaller, rural communities taking an especially big hit. In New England and New York though, the trend is more muted.
Even customers who routinely bank online visit a branch occasionally, and when they do, it’s often to seek help with relatively complicated transactions or to speak with a representative in person about a loan, mortgage, or other potentially significant (and lucrative) topic.
But to get those customers to walk through the door in the first place, banks must place heavy emphasis on stellar customer service for even the smallest of transactions. To do so otherwise is to risk alienating what could end up being the branch’s best customers.
Yes, customers are deeply loyal about choices in online banking. As the industry knows so well, most would rather fight, than switch…simply because of the hassle! But when it comes to larger ticket items, just because someone banks with a particular company online does not mean they will automatically seek that institution out when considering larger transactions. The inclination to shop around will be even stronger if they have a lingering bad taste from a negative in-branch experience on a routine matter.
In a market where competitors are a click away, banks can’t afford to add fuel to that fickle temptation.
Make sure your front-line team is putting its best banking face forward, always.
Susan Powers
Partner & Certified Trainer
Susan.powers@sandler.com
You might also be interested in:
