Despite the abundance of data, corporations and banks fail to personalize and deliver engaging customer experiences. The article provides some alternative solutions and models developed by fintech to address this gap.
Mobile phones are our ultimate companions today as they serve multiple roles throughout a typical day; our alarm clock, nutritionist, fitness coach, financial advisor, and even our inspirers and planners for dinner recipes and home décor. This close bond is also reflected in our emotional and biological responses. Social media interactions such as likes and comments trigger dopamine, a chemical that is usually released when we feel good[1]. Hence, mobile phones are rich data mines that corporations target to understand their users’ characteristics, preferences, and aspirations. Yet despite the availability of this data, my bank still sends me school fees offers, even though my records reflect that I don’t have any dependents attending school. My nearby grocery store sends me pet food-related discounts, although I don’t own any. Clearly, there is still a gap between consumer preferences and corporate communication, which may potentially be bridged by solutions offered by new players.
The existence of such data mines doesn’t mean corporations have easy access, nor does it imply that the data they have can be translated into actionable insights. In the example of the bank, a customer would probably have multiple banking relationships, which are managed through banking apps that don’t necessarily speak to each other. Even if you work with just one bank, there are multiple systems and teams handling different transactions. Hence, your credit card offers may not speak to the aspirations you shared with your financial advisor when crafting out your investment portfolio.
To address these gaps, especially in banking, fintechs[2] have launched several solutions that are better aligned with customers’ engagement with social media platforms, either through a banking experience that mimics Instagram stories, or through integrating social media accounts to the banking experience itself. Russia’s 2017 bank of the year, Tinkoff, uses Instagram-like stories on its app to share tips on personal finances or communicate about the bank’s products and pricing. Those stories are personalized based on personal preferences and interests. Alternatively, other banks have enabled their users to make money transfers via keyboard payments on frequently-used apps such as Whatsapp and/or allowed users to run different transactions through a chatbot integrated within a bank’s social media page. Not only does this connectedness with social media enable banks to acquire further actionable insights on their base, but they also allow banks to leverage the power of social media to go viral without doing much.
While such integrations and changes in the customer experience have recorded positive results, other fintech startups have introduced a more revolutionary approach. For instance, GoHenry’s online tool integrates financial products with financial literacy and child-focused responsible financial management. This is not just for financial products but loyalty programs such as Skywards family bucket, to enable the entire family to collect miles together for their summer holiday. Bunq, a Dutch neobank, has introduced an environment-friendly version of a banking experience whereby a tree is planted for every €100 spent. By doing so, fintech startups are crafting a ‘help us, help you’ model. The fintech will help you reduce your carbon footprint or achieve your savings target if and when you provide enough information about yourself, your family, or your next friends’ trip.
In conclusion, there are several examples today on mobile-based solutions that have changed the customer journey, speak better to customer preference, personalize communication better, and enable users to achieve their short and long term aspirations. However, winning solutions are those ‘dopamine generating’ experiences that customers associate with positively instead of daunting negative experiences with robotic call center agents, long Terms and Conditions, and hidden costs. The key here is to be customer-passionate, leveraging available insights to sustain favorable happy engagements, and ultimately motivate customers to become unofficial brand ambassadors.
References:
http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2018/dopamine-smartphones-battle-time/
https://finovate.com/tinkoff-brings-stories-mobile-banking/
[1] As per Harvard Business Review, dopamine is ‘a chemical produced by our brains that plays a starring role in motivating behavior. It gets released when we take a bite of delicious food, when we have sex, after we exercise, and, importantly, when we have successful social interactions. In an evolutionary context, it rewards us for beneficial behaviors and motivates us to repeat them’.
[2] Startups and new entrants that integrate technology with financial services
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