As banks struggle in today’s environment of reduced fee income and weak loan demand, financial institutions need to figure out a way to sell more products to their existing customers. Shifting branch staff away from their transaction functions to more of a sales role is commonly seen as one tactic for accomplishing that. Been there, done that, Read More
The airline business has never been an easy one in which to make a profit as the companies routinely cope with roller-coaster fuel costs, fare wars and heavy government regulation, a tumultuous environment that tends to drive companies into bankruptcy or merger. One outstanding exception, however, has been Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, which has managed to stay consistently Read More
Bank marketing and product management executives have arguably never faced a greater challenge than they do today in the wake of recent regulatory changes involving overdraft fees and debit card interchange and even more heightened regulatory scrutiny expected from the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In this kind of environment, how do you design and market new Read More
Banks across the nation continue to robustly target the small business customer as a prime source of revenue and differentiation although the going has been tough lately. This sector of the market has been vastly fragmented over the past three to five years as banks found themselves restricting lending and credit due to the economic crisis and Read More
To the banking institutions that spend millions of dollars every year in the pursuit of satisfying customers, Jeffrey VanDeVelde has a bold statement to make – you’ve got it all wrong. VanDeVelde, director of client experience and loyalty at Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks Inc., says banks are asking the wrong question from the very beginning. “Consumers don’t want to Read More
Mired in a long-term revenue drought, the retail banking industry now must deal with the reality that the current branch banking model is unsustainable. Along with eroding sales productivity, today’s staff-intensive outlets are sliding in transaction efficiency as well. Between 2003 and 2010, the average U.S. branch experienced a roughly one-third decline in the number of daily Read More
With customer loyalty in the financial services markets still in flux, banks have an opportunity to strengthen consumer relationships through rewards programs that are relevant to their customers. This is particularly important because as many as 20% of banking consumers say there is a high likelihood that they will change primary institutions this year and nearly half Read More
As banks struggle with the current environment of weak revenue growth, effective cost-control returns to the fore. This provides the Collections function with an opportunity to demonstrate its value to the organization not only by recovering defaulted debt but also by salvaging customer relationships that are worth preserving in these difficult times. Long perceived as simply persistent Read More
Legislative and regulatory changes have reduced and are threatening to reduce further a substantial portion of fee income from retail banking activities, affecting what drives the profitability of a consumer checking relationship. In response, many large banks have eliminated rewards programs, instituted new balance or other requirements for customers to avoid monthly maintenance fees on core checking Read More
It’s certainly counter-intuitive, given the 2008-2009 financial crisis, but U.S. banks rank relatively high on a global scale when it comes to positive customer experiences. That was one conclusion of the 2011 World Retail Banking Report conducted by the Capgemini consulting firm, UniCredit and Efma (European Financial Management Association), which was based on a survey of nearly Read More
Most banks today have solid strategies in place for selling their services and providing high levels of customer service prior to each sale. Some institutions have even taken major initiatives to ensure quality service after a sale during typical customer transactions. There is, however, an evident lack of focus on the quality of service provided when a Read More
Delivering the right customer experience at the right time means understanding the wants, needs and expectations of your customers and designing an experience that meets those needs. While it may seem intuitive that an improved customer experience equals happier and more loyal customers, managers want quantitative proof. Fortunately, such proof is available in metrics such as increased Read More
Customer experience is much talked about in retail banking organizations today. The common wisdom holds that in an industry characterized by a high degree of commoditization (and perhaps overcapacity), the customer experience matters far more than do the products (easily obtained and copied) and prices (easily matched), particularly in the more affluent markets. There is no doubt that Read More
Based on the insights captured in our recent Ideal Banking and Small Business Banking studies, there is still a significant room for improvement in crucial customer experience categories. Many organizations continue to focus their efforts more on products and less on customer relationships as a way to recoup lost fees from recent regulatory reform. While adding new Read More
