Time to Get in Your Customers' Face
But now, access is mere hygiene. Given the relentless pressure of competition and the need to differentiate, reach is all about engaging closely with customers and insinuating oneself into their emotional space. Which is impossible to achieve with a clinically efficient but totally impersonal channel experience.
Asking customers to walk into a branch for a face to face is obviously not a viable option. So what can banks do?
The answer lies in upping the interactivity of new channels so that customers can connect with their banks on a variety of issues even as they go about their mundane transactions on their own.
Social media is made for this. Look at all the conversations happening out there amongst friends, peers and their wider circle of influence. It's a cinch for banks to reach interested prospects through targeted advertisements on discussion forums or getting existing customers to recommend their services within themselves. Many banks are trying to harness the power of social networking by registering a strong presence on Facebook ,Twitter et al, even dedicating an identifiable person to participate in their interactions.
Humanising ATM, kiosk, mobile or Internet banking with an option to video chat with a bank executive will go a long way in making customers comfortable with non-branch banking. So will co-browsing - getting the service representative to view the same screen as the customer - while trying to solve a slightly complex problem.
Banks can also improve the effectiveness of their digital campaigns through interactivity - using analytics to tailor their messaging to the current context or interaction to make sure that communication right-sells rather than carpet bombs.
What else?
