Five Things That Digital Customers Expect From Their Bank

What does today’s digital banking customer expect? Read on to discover what a CIAM system has to do with excellent customer satisfaction (UX).

Dec 9, 2021 - 3 min.
Picture of: Adrian Straub
Adrian Straub

Meeting customer expectations in the era of digital transformation is one of the major challenges facing the ‘traditional’ sectors. One of these is the banking sector. While private and corporate customers operate in their digital ecosystems as a matter of course, availing of an ever-increasing number of services in digital form, the major European banks and financial institutions are lagging far behind the digital curve in many areas. They need an overview of existing customer expectations: What do consumers want from their banks, and what do they expect from the digital customer journey? Nevis informs you about current customer expectations and sheds light on how modern customer identity and access management systems help build customer satisfaction.

People who want to check their bank account online quickly while on the move usually do not have time to wait several seconds for a page to load on the internet. This might not seem relevant for companies at first – but it should. After all, the longer customers have to wait for a company web page to load, the greater their dissatisfaction and, therefore the risk of them switching to services offered by a competitor. The key factor here is impatience on the internet and a large number of online providers. This makes it all the more important to have an exceptional digital customer journey (UX) that begins the moment a user thinks of their intended action. It is only with the help of the UX that a company can set itself apart from its competitors and secure its long-term success. 

Customer expectations are the key to the customer experience

Every digital customer experience is built on the expectations of customers. It is only with their help that a company’s activities can be modified accordingly and new services developed in the next step. Expectations in the banking sector are based on the personal interests of private and corporate customers, which they increasingly expect from their own principal bank – starting with a broad range of services and extending to sustainable financial products. 

  • Support me
    Consumers often regard the relationship with their bank as something to be endured rather than celebrated. Interactions, which range from infrequent to non-existent, are impersonal and not tailored to the needs of customers. The fact that the bank’s own interests appear to come first merely adds to the frustration. So, what customers would ideally like from their bank is a lasting relationship based on partnership rather than on commissions. This can be achieved with the help of a personalised marketing approach tailored to customer requirements. 
  • Let me choose
    Consumers are used to having a large choice of products from which to choose the best solution – and they expect the same from a principal bank: be it the choice of access channels, financing options or services. Customers want to make decisions based on their personal preferences. However, professional interaction with the bank is also necessary – either online or offline. 
  • Keep me informed 
    Although online banking is already an everyday reality for consumers, there is still scope for improvement. From a customer perspective, mobile banking apps, as well as online trading portals, could offer additional functionalities. For instance, the ability to manage personal securities deposit accounts on smartphones is often limited, and key figures are not presented clearly for customers interested in trading on the stock exchange. Other functions that are often requested but not always available include mobile alerts to inform customers in real-time about news and important events from the financial world. Combining these types of user-friendly solutions in banking with a good user experience is a great way to strengthen customer relationships. 
  • Educate me
    Customers who are new to the stock market often get very little support from their principal bank. The offers are frequently unattractive, information is not readily available, the fees charged for personal securities accounts are high and the range of shares, ETFs or similar financial products on offer is limited. As a result, many of these customers will open an account with a digital secondary bank. Therefore, customers expect the following from principal banks: proactive support for novice traders as well as intuitive and up-to-date information about financial products. 
  • Let me trade sustainably 
    Up to now, sustainable trading has been a foreign concept for many bank customers despite the strong demand for environmentally-friendly trading options. Even though customers have long since embraced sustainable alternatives in supermarkets and other retail environments, this new awareness has not yet spread to their personal financial investments. The reason? Insufficient knowledge among consumers and poor communication on the part of principal banks about sustainable trading to date. What’s needed here is transparency – about the meaning of the term ‘sustainability’ with regard to banking and the availability of green financial products from principal banks. 

Implementing customer preferences with CIAM

Banks can optimise their services based on these customer expectations with the help of modern customer identity and access management (CIAM). For this purpose, a customer’s user data is stored as a digital identity, and an individual customer profile is generated. As the personal preferences are then known, the customer in question can be provided with suitable offerings. This increases convenience for users, which positively impacts their customer experience; at the same time, their banking data is fully protected.

 

Security meets customer experience – the benefits of CIAM