A pointed question to ask yourself from McKinsey’s latest banking review:
Do we have highly differentiated customer relationships? In which cross-industry journey can we claim true customer ownership? A successful digital strategy is no longer just a matter of migrating sales and servicing from branches to an app. As customers move toward life goals such as buying a home, planning for retirement, or opening a new business, banks need to move from a product-centric perspective to an end-to-end view of customer journeys, both within and outside of banking (say, housing or SME short-term financing). This broader view can build deep relationships and unique access to target segments.
Apply this to the five major consumer financial areas:
- Spending
- Saving
- Investing
- Borrowing
- Protecting
You may not directly provide all of these, but are you serving as a trusted source of advice? Are you the first place your customers turn to first for a qualified referral or how to evaluate their situation?
Forget whether or not you have a business relationship or referral program with a provider; are you the first place your customer go to for help because they know you will put their interests first before your own?
If the answer isn’t a qualified yes, and one that shows in your CSAT/NPS scores, then here is a place to start thinking about building your reputation and shoring up a position of essential partner in your customers’ lives.