Meeting e-Expectations

By Thomas P. Johnson Jr.

Troubleshooting online initiatives is important, but the larger challenge is meeting rising customer expectations.

Financial services providers surely are challenged by the various requirements and opportunities presented by the wholesale adoption of e-mail by U.S. consumers. Flooded with online customer inquiries, providers are scrambling to strengthen response capabilities, while also threading the maze of online marketing.

It is understandable and appropriate that institutions focus on the many important details of these e-initiatives. Doing so in a strictly reactive mode misses the larger point, however, which is meeting what has become a highly sophisticated set of expectations among customers in the online realm.

It is not enough to solve institution-specific problems or match what direct competitors are doing. Nor can customers be forced into a particular arrangement specified by management. Online customers have built a composite set of expectations based on positive experiences with providers in multiple industries, and those views must be incorporated into the developmental activities of the institution.

With e-mail marketing, customers have become disgusted with the torrent of unwelcome messages being pumped into their online mailboxes, prompting financial services providers to observe strict protocols in their own efforts. Most banks are asking permission from customers before broadcasting e-mail marketing messages, even though they are not legally required to do so.

To handle the exploding volume of e-inquiries, banks have been experimenting with automated response systems. Here too, the customer perspective must be addressed. Because of their service experiences with other online providers such as Amazon.com, customers expect rapid and personalized responses. To meet that requirement, banks must specially train their reps and make sure that the increased efficiency of automated response doesn't translate into reduced accuracy.

Though the responses in these two areas are sound, strategists still risk missing the boat if they wait until they are mid-stream in the next big project before considering the customer's viewpoint. The new way of life for financial services providers entails continuous monitoring of online customer perspectives and requirements ? and the incorporation of such feedback at the onset of developmental activities.

This is not to suggest that providers include every conceivable bell and whistle in their online offerings. The electronic channel already is proving overly expensive to operate, given the limited revenue-generating potential that has been demonstrated to date. Great sensitivity and selectivity must be exercised in identifying and then implementing programs that truly make a difference with customers.

Indeed, making a difference is the goal that constantly must be kept in mind. The companies that have become market leaders in the online medium achieved that not because they figured out the technology, but rather because they figured out what customers want.

Mr. Johnson is publisher of Banking Strategies and president and chief executive officer of BAI.

Copyright © 2003 by Banking Strategies, published by BAI.

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