8 Min
“Show me the money!”
And the above line successfully raises all our pulses; after all, no mortal can ever really part ways from the magic of money. Though the art of money management dates back to barter exchanges and mints in the division of 1/16th, the challenge we face today is to satisfy a customer without working much on the same.
Tricky isn’t it?
Actually, it isn’t that tricky after all if you master the cheat code to self service platform management in the business of money management.
Table of contents
Need of self service in banking sector
Banking has always been an independent and rather secretive matter thus making self service popular on its own. However, the world post-pandemic has taken up new trends altogether making self service essential. It is because of this that all banking apps and websites, nevertheless hosting a small scale operation, should emphasize a smooth and easy UI for digital self service kiosk.
This should not be merely left as a deployment but must be integrated properly with the central knowledge management software to provide service over all channels. Its timely update and testing too must be carried out under the supervision of a team of financial, digital, and content experts.
Digital transformation of banking self service
Gone are the days when the bread earner was the financial advisor of the house. Sooner one starts to earn, sooner they invest and save. This, alongside digital transformation, has given rise to multiple policy formulations with minimum interactions. The earner can now, solely, with the help of financial advisors, decide where and how to invest their income. It can be a small stipend during a summer job, a part-time job, an internship, or a fresher looking to secure their future with financial independence.
Instead of calling up a support agent and hanging up the call in disbelief about their financial expertise, the policy makers can use complex computer algorithms to help the user interact with their self service platform’s automated assistant. A string of questions, answers, doubts, and preferences being discussed, and voila! Your visitor is your customer now. Just keep them close and mint your milestones to success!
Channels of interaction between a customer and the financial institution
The customer can reach out to an organization over any channel for complaint. In the digital age, customers prefer to use publicly accessible records like social media or community forums to register their complaints. The nature of these complaints directly becomes the feedback on service quality.
The above statement is a threat to service quality metrics and puts agents on a strict time clock to close or at least address as many issues as possible quickly.
However, when it comes to pouring in an inquiry regarding bank statement, equity rates, collaterals, and investments; the customers tend to be nervous, detailed, and anxious. A good self service platform should thus begin each such interaction with
AI powered smart bot that could use ML and NLP to comfort the visitor and take them into confidence of professionalism and security of data. It must be informal while introducing or concluding a session while the tone must be formal and straight forward while making a suggestion of financial expertise.
The channels to such queries usually are bank’s own website; mobile app’s ‘ask me anything’ corners, mails, or direct support texts/calls. A note to remember for any query for financial nature though is- keep your waiting time as close to 0 as possible or the anxiousness of your target customer shall easily drive them away from you, and might even help them land on the doors of your competitor.
Hacks for building better self service in banking
Traditional methods of self service in banking include:
- ATM
- Bank kiosk
- Mobile app
- Internet banking
- E-wallets
Basic functions provided with traditional self services include:
- Check account balance
- Transfer money to accounts
- Pay for a due, fee, premium, subscription, etc
Here’s how you can escalate your profits while shrinking the investment and time curve with better self service for banking…
Queries like “How to activate my card?”, “How to auto update my passbook?”, “How can I reset my PIN?” etc. need an expert to guide the user step-by-step to solution. Any difference in the details leads to confusion and misguides the user. It is because of such complexities that the use of an efficient and updated self service platform is current VOC.
A good self service platform shall reduce the burden of mini and repetitive queries from over the agent’s shoulders helping them take up issues that require more personalised attention. The employees are no more required to assist each user till they finally get out of the trouble and keep a long queue waiting.
Tips for self service platforms in banking
Tutorial mode
Tutorial mode helps the first time users to navigate the self-service platform freely. This increases the speed of resolution thus enhancing CX and FCR. A smooth UI helps the users to find solution without scrolling to and fro around finding the right tabs and icons.
Automated response
The customers do not like to wait and the agents are always decked up high between on going and pending tickets with more complicated issues at P1. Deploying automated response system like AR, VR, mixed reality or AI bots help not only in reading through the question and using Google like search to find relevant answers but also in striking up a conversation keeping user involved and providing solution at a slow but gracious pace.
Interactive UI
A good UI is extremely important to keep the visitor on the platform. The self service platforms are a target to resolve problems and relieve customers of their stress. The good mood followed by this is deviated to increase the average session time. This indirectly leads to them exploring the platform. The more they interact, the better they get brand tone, colour, and USP imprinted onto their minds.
The speed of resolution improves and the customers can directly put forward their thoughts through community conversations, helpdesks, feedback forms, and surveys. Visual hierarchy can be established making the portal look more sorted through, clear, and professional. Unsolved tickets can directly be transferred to the experts preventing multiple calls or delay in closure.
Make bold appearance
If you bury your self service portal or service helpdesk icon in the smallest corner thinking about a negative impression, you are actually telling your customers that neither do you take responsibility for their problems nor are you supporting their journey through it. The portal should thus be an easily visible icon or tab that owns up to the buffers possibly being faced by customers.
Top queries can be put top in the list and FAQ page could be developed around it. It eases the customers’ anxiousness. The solutions must be presented as a chart, bullet pointers, or visual/AV aids.
Be authoritative
Marketing folks must all be familiar with the concept of ‘customer is the king’. However, both online and offline markets have now been saturated with multiple dealers and even more intense competition. To break the ice is a way to strike up a conversation taking the leader’s seat and very formally engaging your lead to get involved with you. Being authoritative is not being negative; the content tone just goes a level up and instead of persuading through deliverables, you could just let your numbers speak thus building up customer’s trust for the long run.
