Customer experience (CX) is defined by the perceptions customers have regarding their interactions with an organization – how a provider treats them, respects them, and serves them across each stage and touchpoint of the customer journey. The components that drive a customer’s perception are influenced by three elements:
- Success;
- Effort; and
- Emotion
Customers need to be successful when they interact with their financial institutions, whether it's depositing a check or applying for a mortgage. Not only do they need to successfully transact business, but they want it to be easy. Regardless of the complexity of the transaction, it should not be excessively difficult. The final and oftentimes overlooked element is emotion. At the end of an interaction, the litmus test of a positive customer experience is how the client feels. Do they feel good about the institution? The employee that assisted them? The website?
Delivering an excellent customer experience requires factoring all three elements into the design. Listening to customers provides insight into experience elements. Only 1 in 26 customers will notify their FI on why they left. Institutions often miss this in their strategy plans. For example, customers respond negatively to:
- A poorly designed website that includes cumbersome navigation, difficult searches, slow response time, insufficient depth, or low value, unhelpful content;
- Lingering unresolved issues;
- Too many choices;
- One-size-fits-all solution; and
- A barrage of irrelevant information
In each of these examples, either customers were continually unsuccessful in their attempts to interact with the institution, or it was too difficult to accomplish their goal. The result was a negative emotional experience that led them to end their relationship with the institution. Early detection of dissatisfaction signals mitigates loss. A digital solution with the necessary technology framework can identify areas of improvement based on customer insight and strengthen the institution’s CX strategy.
For more information, download the Increasing Market Competitiveness through Customer Experience interview document.
