Bill Hanifin
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This is the time of the year when every journalist, publisher, industry expert, or just plain old bloggers are compelled to channel their inner Letterman and post a Top 10 list for the year. Rather than compete for the sake of competing and add more noise to your inbox, I thought you might place better value on a distillation of a few lists I have read, with a valuable highlight or two to take away from each one to aid your early 2013 planning.
I’ll cover a different list or topic each day this week and start with Loyalty in Retail Banking.
Bain & Company published its annual survey of consumer loyalty in retail banking and I highly recommend that you give a read here. The survey is composed of queries posed to 150,100 account holders in 14 markets: Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, the UK and the US.
There were some expected findings surrounding mobile banking, punctuated by the statement that “mobile banking is more likely to increase a US customer’s likelihood of recommending the bank than any other channel interaction.”
Two other highlights caught our attention:
- There is tremendous difficulty in creating loyalty among affluent consumer groups and the value proposition offered has to lean more heavily on service and recognition than tangible rewards. As Bain noted, “affluent customers generally insist on premium service and tailored, expert advice. They want personal banking relationships, not just the convenience of digital channel.” This perspective is in line with our thinking and work we have done recently in the credit card industry.
- With an unintentional nod towards our thoughts on Contextual Loyalty, Bain shared that “The future is here and its name is “omnichannel”. The role of retail banking branches is changing and Bain stated that branches will serve more as showrooms and hubs to deliver “expert financial advice on complex matters, and less as transaction mills.” In our language, we prefer the word “Contextual” when describing how to engage and build loyalty with today’s digital consumers across multiple channels. “Omnichannel” makes us think too much of the channel itself when the emphasis should be on meeting the unique needs of customers where they are and when they need our help.
