How Challenger Banks Are Increasing Efforts to Gain User Trust
What do you think are the most important factors consumers are looking for when choosing banks?
Price? Convenience? Trust?
Well, according to research by Capgemini, the top four factors influencing clients’ decisions to pick a bank are as follows:
Clearly trust is an integral part of any banking user experience and challenger banks are not oblivious of this fact.
So, as relatively new players in the financial sector, how are challenger banks going about securing user trust and getting people to buy-in to what they are offering?
Let’s explore.
1. Personalizing the digital banking experience
You see, by their very nature, challenger banks have an unfair advantage over traditional financial institutions.
Techslang.com defines a challenger bank as:
“…an online-only retail bank that typically directly competes with well-established traditional banks.”
Because of this digital aspect, these entities can collect and analyze enormous amounts of data in order to understand just what it is clients want. And leaning on insights gleaned from such data analysis, these banks are able to tailor their services to provide a personalized banking experience.
Using this strategy, challenger banks are able to win user confidence by proposing relevant financial solutions to clients.
2. Making themselves truly accessible to users
When it comes to setting the standard for customer care in the digital banking sector, Ally Bank deserves special mention.
As one of the older challenger banks in the United States, Ally Bank understands this principle of being available to clients very well. That’s why they have gone to great lengths to establish and cement user trust from the beginning.
What are some strategies Ally Bank has employed?
They have clearly displayed their toll-free number on each and every page of their website. That’s not all, but users can also see how long they can expect to wait before being attended to by an associate.
This goes a long way in reducing friction particularly when one cannot go to a physical brick and mortar building to talk to someone in person. Having excellent online and mobile services is paramount to building trust, which brings us to the next point…
3. Leveraging AI to educate users on financial matters
The biggest hurdle challenger banks have to overcome is that of maintaining open communication channels with users largely because the only recourse users have is via online means.
Thankfully, gone are the days of regulated banking hours. Because of artificial intelligence and machine learning, challenger banks can provide clients with a round-the-clock customer care service.
Chatbots and robo-advisors are now the order of the day. These automated algorithms, while not designed to completely replace human interaction, do help in bringing down barriers in communication and provide users with a platform where they can address their concerns.
Conclusion
If challenger banks hope to capture more market share, working on gaining user trust is not an option. To learn more about what’s happening in the digital banking sector, check out my blog Why Dismissing Challenger Banks in Today’s Market Would be a Huge Mistake.