Empathy and data reshape digital banking, driving personalization and customer loyalty amidst tech evolution.
Erin, to kick things off, could you share a bit about your journey and what sparked your interest in enhancing financial fitness for consumers?
I began my career working at a bank in 1998 and then shifted to the fintech side in 2002 when I joined Digital Insight (which was acquired by NCR in 2014). Now, I am the executive director of product management for digital banking at NCR Voyix, helping community financial institutions digitally transform and enhance their product roadmap initiatives.
I have always been particularly passionate about financial health and wellness. After all, even small behavior changes can lead to meaningful impact. Over the past couple of years, my team and I have been focused on how we can empower community institutions to better support their customer and communities through unique experiences and easy self-service tools. This initiative is especially important as consumers across the country struggle with persisting inflation and a high cost of living.
I believe in community institutions’ power to help their customers improve their financial fitness and gain confidence in their financial decisions, and I’m proud of my team’s work to create tools to support those efforts.
In today’s economic climate with high inflation and living costs, what do you think are the most pressing challenges for lower and middle-income consumers and how can financial institutions help?
Inflation, loan interest rates, rising cost of living, and most recently the resumption of student loan payments have added significant financial burden to consumers across the country. As this economic uncertainty continues, one challenge is that many banks and credit unions still have a ‘one size fits all’ approach to helping customers and members with their financial fitness. There is a significant opportunity for community institutions to leverage data to create unique experiences for different segments, using technology to personalize experiences at scale and having a “one-to-one” experience.
However, there are challenges associated with where their customers are receiving their financial advice. Younger generations are generally not coming to the branch when they need assistance; instead, they’re looking to unverified influencers on TikTok or other social media sources.
To help overcome these roadblocks, banks and credit unions are taking on a more informed approach powered by real-time data, providing customers with resources, tools, and education within the context of their individual journey. Incorporating resources where customers are allows them to better understand, apply and retain the information, ultimately making it more impactful.
Community financial institutions remain the backbone of local economies and are uniquely positioned to support consumers and businesses during economic turmoil. To effectively do so, they must adopt personalized and contextual insights, backed by data.
Open APIs are becoming a game-changer for financial institutions. How do they foster innovation and broaden the range of tools available to customers?
With the advent of open APIs, it is suddenly possible for banks and credit unions to innovate more quickly than ever before, connecting with partners of choice or creating their own content to offer new and exciting technology. However, this can only happen if the bank or credit union’s architecture enables it. Platforms that are cloud-based and API-first, with a proven track record of reliable, successful integrations, should be prioritized.
Such architecture is also critical to unify channels, which is becoming increasingly critical for institutions. Traditionally, channels such as digital banking, the contact center, the branch, etc., have operated in siloes, creating disconnected customer and member experiences and inefficiencies for the institution. With an open, API-first architecture, it becomes possible to connect touchpoints, creating a consistent, efficient experience that isn’t defined by channels alone.
In a digital-first world, how can banks and credit unions ensure they maintain the human touch in their digital interactions?
Effectively humanizing the digital experience has never been so important. This means leading with empathy throughout the customer experience – in person, online or on their phones. Even something as simple as analyzing the language used in an error message can have a major impact. Banks and credit unions should evaluate everything with a person in mind – are you delivering relevant information in a human way, making them feel comfortable and supported along the journey? Personalization is a key factor here as well. Money and finances are extremely personal and should be treated that way.
Humanizing digital in this way is only possible through the effective use of data, using it to uncover crucial consumer behaviors, channel preferences, transactional patterns, and key events in the consumer journey. The banks and credit unions that prioritize looking for ways to incorporate more empathy and personalization within their platforms will be well positioned to strengthen relationships and drive loyalty with their customers and members.
What are some practical steps financial institutions can take to lead with empathy and personalize the digital experience for their customers?
Personalization really means showing the consumer that you know and care about them; they’re not just another number. Doing so effectively requires creating digital experiences that feel like they’re catered to each individual user. Even if low loan rates or high deposit rates are what got the consumer in the door, it won’t be what keeps them there. The financial institutions that emphasize building and maintaining relationships will be better positioned for loyalty and success.
AI is rapidly evolving in the financial sector. How should banks and credit unions approach AI integration to ensure it adds real value rather than just following trends?
There’s no denying that AI has significant potential, from creating personalized interactions with each consumer at scale and increasing efficiencies. Institutions should evaluate how AI can help institutions improve certain processes. For example, more are leveraging AI for lending decisions instead of just relying on traditional factors.
Banks and credit unions should keep in mind that AI, and especially generative AI, is only as strong as the data and information behind it. AI is not a magic bullet; there is notable work required to train AI to make it effective. The right data and training are needed, as well as ongoing human oversight.
Speaking of data, we’ve already established that the effective analysis and use of data is critical across the institutions. This is also where AI can have significant impact, allowing banks and credit unions to better collect and analyze this data. Such efforts will enable them to better anticipate customer and member behaviors and offer more accurate contextual assistance, such as tailoring their website content to specific needs.
For institutions starting their AI journey, what advice would you give on setting realistic expectations and effectively managing the implementation process?
Banks and credit unions should first ask themselves what they’re trying to accomplish with AI; it shouldn’t be adopted just for innovation’s sake. For example, do they have more of a need to enhance back-office efficiencies or do they need to offer different ways to support users? Be selective and prioritize; you don’t have to do everything all at once. Experimenting and making adjustments along the way will be critical in the process.
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