how banks can avoid creating cranky customers with seamless user experiences

Listen to 7 Ways Banks Can Deliver Customer Satisfaction (7 min):

When it comes to irritation, there’s no shortage of sources. Spotty WiFi connectivity, waiting in line at the DMV, and late deliveries are all sources of frustration. Banks, unfortunately, are not immune to this phenomenon. Frustrating user experiences, declined card transactions, or cumbersome logins can quickly create cranky customers and hurt customer satisfaction with their banks.

In the digital trust age, banks that fail to address customers’ pain points risk losing them to competitors. Addressing some of the most persistent pain points can both cure banks of cranky customers and allow them to build a relationship based on digital trust.

7 Steps for Banks to Improve Customer Satisfaction

Here’s what banks can do to address common customer frustrations and build digital trust at the same time.

Communicate Clearly & Appropriately

Building a strong digital trust foundation is crucial in the digital banking ecosystem. Banks must deliver a top-notch customer experience that enables customers to quickly authenticate their identity and complete transactions. For banks, building digital trust starts with proactively communicating their risk strategy and its impact on customers. This communication should outline how banks will confirm their customers’ identities and alert them if suspicious activity is detected. Banks should also communicate how customers can set travel alerts and how to reach the bank if they encounter trouble during their trips.

At the same time, banks should take care not to send too many alerts to customers and ask “was this you?” for common transactions. Customers could interpret a flood of check-in communications as a sign that the bank doesn’t have its act together. Overwhelming amounts of alerts can frustrate customers and diminish their trust in your organization. 

Create a Feedback Loop

Banks should also outline their communication strategy to their board. This strategy outlines how the bank will address different levels of risk for different types of customers. For example, a student checking account requires a different level of response than a wealth management account. Banks should also review the strategy’s effectiveness periodically with their board, solicit feedback, and look for opportunities to improve it.

Forget the One-Size-Fits-All Fix

A bank’s fraud prevention strategy should be tailored to the financial services market and programs that it intends to service. A smaller credit union, for example, will have different security requirements than a major global bank. Banks need to invest in fraud solutions that address the specific needs of their customers and community. This should not be treated as a “set it and forget it” task. Banks should revisit their strategy to understand how fraud trends are evolving and make sure they can respond to emerging fraud trends.

Establish Relationships with Law Enforcement

It’s important for banks to build trust with law enforcement agencies who are tasked with investigating and pursuing fraud-related crimes. If a fraud attack occurs, banks that have built these connections are in a stronger position to work with law enforcement to investigate the incident and recover funds than a bank that is starting from scratch. 

Invest in Authentication and Prevention

Banks that implement strong authentication solutions are well-positioned to solve most of their fraud-related problems. But authentication has come a long way. Banks can now collect large troves of pre-transaction data that occurred prior to the transaction. Access to pre-transaction data enables banks to shift from fraud detection to fraud prevention. Banks that have access to pre-transaction data such as device hygiene or web session information will also have a more comprehensive view of risk and be able to deliver a more seamless customer experience. 

Drop the ‘Terms and Conditions’ Excuse

Authorized push payment fraud is one of the most persistent types of fraud for two key reasons. First, customers can quickly send money with a few taps of their phone. Second, digital technology and social engineering make it easy for fraudsters to scale these tactics to numerous targets. APP fraud is so persistent in the U.K. that some banks have agreed to compensate victims up to a certain amount. Banks that hide behind the terms and conditions of their service and claim they can’t help customers resolve the issue are bound to incur their customers’ frustration and anger. Customers expect their banks to support them if they are defrauded. Banks that can’t demonstrate this support risk eroding customer satisfaction.

Improve Lax Fraud Controls

Customers will also be frustrated if their bank’s controls are too easy to maneuver. After all, they want to ensure their funds are in good hands. This means they want to know it’s not too easy to fool the bank online or in person. Calling a call center and not being asked for any personal information or visiting an ATM and being shown a balance without entering a PIN can rattle a customer’s confidence. If they find their bank’s security protocols are too easy to circumvent, they will lose faith in their bank to keep their finances or personal information safe. 

Customers have enough sources of irritations in their lives. Banks that take the lead on building digital trust with their customers will be well-positioned to solve the cranky customer conundrum.

Digital trust is the foundation of today’s connected economy. Watch our on-demand webinar, 4 Key Elements of Digital Trust to learn how to build digital trust across the customer journey.