How to Enhance the Financial Services Customer Journey
Studies have widely shown a negative correlation between wait times and customer satisfaction. When wait times are, or perceive to be, too long, satisfaction declines. Whether you’re responsible for managing the customer journey in a bank, credit union, lending institution, real estate office or other financial services, it’s important to understand how customer satisfaction and loyalty might be impacted by the length and management of your queues.
A key to a better customer journey lies in efficiency. And efficiency is gained when your people, processes, and technology are optimized to reduce wait times, increase productivity, and enhance customer satisfaction. How can you accomplish this?
1. MATCH TELLERS/REPRESENTATIVES TO CUSTOMER NEEDS BEFORE SERVICE.
When tellers or associates are aware of a customer’s needs in advance of a visit, they are better able to serve that customer more efficiently and in a more personalized manner. With visibility into customer information, the associate best suited to serve the customer can step forward to meet their needs. For example, in a bank setting, commercial or VIP customers can be directed to a specialized teller. Those looking for loan information can bypass a general waiting line and go straight to a qualified loan consultant. And the list goes on.
Information about customer needs and preferences can come directly from the customer when they register into the waiting line via a virtual queuing system or it can come from a customer information system that delivers insights on current status or past preferences. Empower your associates with information to tailor a superior customer experience.
2. AUTOMATE QUEUE MANAGEMENT AND CALL-FORWARD PROCESSES.
Today’s queuing technologies can allow you to automate processes to increase efficiency, improve service times, and shorten waits. Features can include customer routing, agent availability signals, call forward alerts, and much more.
You can even combine solutions to automate entire processes, saving both customers and staff time. For example, you may be able to integrate your queue technology with real-time analytics to:
- Send customers to the shortest available queue
- Manage customer expectations by publishing estimated wait times
- Call customers forward in a discreet manner
- Redirect service agents to respond to an influx of customers
- Send alerts to open/close service positions
Make the most of automation and allow your associates to attend to what matters most, serving your customers.
3. ENSURE REAL-TIME VISIBILITY INTO CUSTOMER TRAFFIC.
To provide excellent customer service, associates must be able to accurately assess the customer experience in real-time and be empowered to respond. When they have visibility into traffic via real-time footfall analytics, associates can monitor how many people are in a service area or queue. With this information, managers can re-route staff to service the increased demand, and associates, themselves, can engage customers with personal attention or redirect them to alternative queues.
A more efficient customer journey equates to a more efficient financial services operation and a more satisfied customer base. How will you optimize your people, processes, and technology to improve the customer journey this year?