5 Ways Banks Can Leverage Customer Feedback
Many financial institutions recognize that sourcing and collecting customer feedback is important in a vague, nebulous way. Some send out an annual survey or otherwise periodically ask their customer base about satisfaction. Even an annual survey can produce a wealth of informative responses. But having these responses is just the first part of the equation; they do you no good just sitting in a spreadsheet or making up a single chart in a growth strategy meeting.
This begs the question: what do you do once you get that valuable data?
At Avannis, we make it our business to help you gain a deeper understanding of your customers, collecting a wealth of significant data through a variety of surveys and tools. But we stick around afterward as well, working with you to analyze these responses and improve customer loyalty. Here are just a few actionable tips you can implement with the help of customer feedback.
Address Pressing Issues
The first – and most important – use of customer feedback is addressing existing issues within the customer experience. Surveys can reveal significant pain points that aren’t outwardly obvious on a large scale, such as negative teller experiences. Work with your internal and external service teams to resolve these issues quickly and efficiently.
Additionally, customer feedback surveys provide financial institutions with a handy list of at-risk customers. All too often, these customers are viewed as an aggregate, perhaps a symptom of a larger problem, and never addressed individually. Instead of just looking at the overall numbers, make use of this insight and reach out to these customers – before you lose them for good. Avannis offers an easy-to-use closed-loop feedback system, which allows banks to track and document complaints and at-risk situations, as well as the associated solutions. Ideally, this type of attention to detail and stellar problem resolution will actually increase loyalty and help you retain your customers.
Solidify Moments of Truth
Each interaction that a customer has with your financial institution – whether it be a routine transaction or a more complex request – is an opportunity to build trust and increase brand loyalty. Analyze your survey results to identify any irregular services or interactions. Once you’ve isolated these small but crucial moments, you can work to create a more seamless customer service experience, keeping simple interactions easy and consistent while ensuring that more complex interactions receive the proper guidance, personal touch, and strength of ownership needed to influence customer opinion. We find industry comparisons to be particularly helpful here, so we take things a step further and break out survey results by specific experience types, like teller transaction, mobile banking, and new account experience.
This is also a great opportunity to talk to your staff about the results you’re seeing and get everyone on the same page in terms of approach. All of that data can be used to coach personnel and prepare them to better recognize and capitalize on those “moments of truth” when they do occur in the future. And, of course, this is also a good time to recognize stellar service levels.
Increase Strength of Reputation
There’s no way around it: in today’s online world, customer reviews are more important than ever. Their import is twofold: not only does a positive review let potential customers know that your business is trustworthy and worth engaging with, but it also aids in search engine optimization (SEO), which works to bump your institution up in search engine rankings.
To tap into this potential, reach out to survey respondents who say that they would or have recommended your financial institution to a friend. Up to 23% of banking customers are willing to share their positive experiences on social media networks, so invite them to do just that, whether through email or a simple, built-in technological solution. When Avannis runs surveys, we make things simple by asking banking customers if they would like to post their survey comments to social media—and then we take them straight there! Google My Business reviews are also growing increasingly important to individuals seeking out specific services or products.
Predict and Plan for Upcoming Needs
Foresight can save you a lot of time and effort in the long run, so put on your fortune telling hat and utilize customer data to produce valuable insights into developing or potential future customer needs. Perhaps there isn’t a problem yet, but examining existing responses can point you in the direction of potential pain points or unsustainable processes. Some areas to look into here are how your staffing decisions have impacted the customer experience in wait times and knowledge, as well as how your online banking experience compares to that of your competitors’. You can also gain an even greater understanding of what may come by segmenting your respondents based on demographics and looking for specific behavioral patterns that indicate exactly how a particular group is feeling.
Protect the Positives
When it comes to customer feedback, it’s almost instinctual to focus on the negatives. That is, after all, the goal of many customer service growth strategies: to identify exactly what isn’t working well and work to improve it with a new approach. But don’t forget to utilize your customer feedback to identify the bright spots, areas in which your financial institution excels. Whether your customers rate you highly on professionalism, reliability, or ease of doing business, recognizing your strengths allows you to maintain and continue to refine that excellence. At Avannis, we don’t let the positives fall by the wayside; we utilize industry comparisons to help clients identify their own “best-in-class” areas when compared with their competitors.
Enhancing the Client Experience with Unmatched Insight
It’s never too late to pivot existing practices and improve your current customer support offerings. But you don’t have to engage in trial and error or muddle through endless feedback surveys alone – we already know what works. If you’re interested in deepening your understanding of your financial institution’s existing customer experience and optimizing your customer journey, contact Avannis today. We’ll get you set up with a dedicated representative, along with customizable tools, relevant industry benchmarks, and everything else you need to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.