The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will undoubtedly continue to have further effects as the situation evolves. In this scenario, leading banking executives need to prepare for the ‘next normal’, whatever that proves to be.
In its report on the impact of the pandemic on banking, PWC said that while it might be too early to imagine a post COVID-19 world, institutions need to start “taking the long view”.
Finding the ‘segment of one’
Offering personalised experiences tailored to personas is definitely the ‘next normal’. As a recent survey by Accenture revealed, there are considerable variations in terms of the types of experiences valued by different customer segments.
Serving the unique needs of every customer, with hyper relevance and convenience might seem daunting. But when providers find the patterns among their consumers they can navigate towards offering trustworthy, omnichannel and personalised services.
The great news is that banks and wealth management firms can develop new capabilities today, specifically by using technology to create personalised experiences for increasingly different customer segments – ultimately down to a ‘segment of one’.
An interactive hub
Financial institutions that had already invested time and resources in digital services before the COVID-19 crisis have acquired valuable experience of optimising digital customer interactions. Now they can leverage those personalised experiences for success in the ‘next normal’.
It’s important for them to look beyond generic websites and chatbots and provide an interactive hub over digital channels for customers to engage remotely. Financial institutions can now develop a ‘virtual banking ecosystem’ that delivers unique personalised services to users, whilst simultaneously scaling as a platform.
Pedal to the floor
Any break in their core customer journeys will prompt banks to ‘put the pedal to the floor’ and accelerate digital transformation.
Over the very short term, acceleration towards personalised digital banking will help banks reduce costs, as well as provide much better customer experience. That will result in much higher customer loyalty and new business conversion rates.
This at least is a bit of good news for both financial institutions and their customers who find themselves beleaguered by the impact of the crisis so far.
