So, I have been having a lot of conversation on what customer experience will look like under Open Banking this week. Everything from using the Payment Services Directive (PSD2) as a leverage point to re-think the customer proposition, to genuine concerns over losing control of the Bank digital channel as aggregators get a march on.
So, some thoughts, learnings, and ideas from the week:
PSD2
The teams that sit and work through the compliancy angle typically sit outside of the customer proposition team. This leads to some of the richness of thinking falling through the cracks. As we get close to P-day early next year, there is a need to build closeness between these teams to help evaluate what the customer value proposition needs to morph into for this new era.
The spirit of PSD2 and Open Banking is to drive more competition and innovation into the market…this spirit needs to be carried forward into considerations for the business strategy.
What’s the opportunity for the emergent market?
There has been a lot of conversation in the industry around how to extract value form Open Banking. This has necessitated the need to compile some quality questions, and points to debate. I have attempted to capture the salient ones to get the grey matter going.
What is your Next Gen care proposition?
For each product that you offer e.g. current accounts, loans, mortgages, insurance and investments, what are the life stages these relate to? What are the life events that require a consumer need to be considered and fulfilled? I work through the home buying example to give a perspective of how to move from a provider of products to becoming a “having your back” specialist.
When a customer thinks moving home, they are thinking wow this is going to be a stress. “I need to sell my home, find another that works for me and my family. It’s going to be costly, I am worried about how we will make the money side work. The process of re-mortgaging is so opaque”
The bank sees an opportunity to talk “mortgage” and what is the right deal I can sell here.
Seems logical to try and navigate a middle ground to help both sides in this scenario. A good starting point for the bank, is to try and align to a customer centric view of selling and buying a home, as opposed to the product view. Hence, once we move into this part of our mind palace, what can the bank really do to help, i.e. create an ecosystem that makes this journey easier and less stressful.
The customer care ecosystem
Sticking with home buying, what are the elements that can be brought together as an ecosystem to make this work better for all involved. Some 101s ….
- Rapidly identifying the best way to help customers set financial goals
- Giving a selection of personalised products that are congruent with those goals
- Making the application journey super-fast, easy and transparent
- Keeping the customer advised on where they are in the process, in a way that works for them
- Offering customers access to relevant and cost-effective services that they can use during the home buying process e.g. removal companies, access to legal services, packaging relevant insurances, painters, decorators, home clearing, etc.
- Ability to help the customer integrate into their new community by highlighting what’s on locally, what are the best places to eat, and personalised MeetUp groups
- Continuously monitoring valuable services to ensure the best offers are put to customers
All of a sudden, a very different customer and bank relationship begins to form. This feels like a more balanced, and caring, “all-win” scenario. Customers get support while moving, and banks are able to widen the services they offer out to non-financial providers who are also key to some big life events.
This process of connecting becomes increasing easier as we leverage the power of the API economy to connect needs and services. Additionally, as bank P&Ls come under more pressure, these new services and collaborations offer new sources of revenue. Feels like an all-around win win to me!
