The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is causing widespread concern and economic hardship for consumers, businesses and communities across the world. It is impacting many sectors including travel, transportation, retail and financial services, and causing significant stock market volatility.
Although many businesses have a contingency plan in place, it may not take into account the current magnitude of coronavirus’ impact, such as working from home, school closures, event cancellations and businesses temporarily/permanently closing.
In an effort to communicate the business impact we’re seeing across industries, we will be sharing insights and strategies to help cope with the changes.
What are the top impacts of coronavirus on the banking industry?
The lending needs of consumers and businesses will heighten as hard times hit. With many people losing jobs or being unprepared to take the financial hit, consumers will be tapping into their credit lines to cover basic living costs. As a result, we’ve seen an increased number of banks temporarily deferring loan repayment (i.e. mortgage, credit cards) requirements and fees for struggling consumers and small businesses. Make note of the terms and conditions of these deferments as many charge interest on the deferred amount - so if you can pay, it’s cheaper to do so!
With the current protocol of keeping physical distance from one another and staying home, consumers will make fewer branch visits and up their usage of digital channels. In fact, many local branches are also closed meaning long line ups for the few that are remaining open. Although digital tools have already been implemented in the banking industry, it will force many new customers to adopt the technology. For businesses, this will drive more to only accept wire transfer payments. This will hopefully be the death of the check!
How To Support and Build Trust With Your Customers
During these challenging times, building trust with your customer will be top priority. Customers want reassurance that their financial institutions are strong and stable — even if their own finances are under stress. The customer relationship is one of the most important concerns for any financial institution and to maintain a trusting relationship, the banking institution must dedicate time and effort to the process.
There are plenty of ways to build and instill trust with your customer, including offering proactive customer service and demonstrating security in online payments. It is important to communicate frequently and honestly with your clients to update them on your business approach, any shifts within the company, and changes that may affect your customers. Updating your mobile app or website with branch opening hours is paramount today.
Email Automations & Chatbots for Customer Service
With a spike in calls to customer care centers, you may be required to reassign staff or scale up by employing contract workers. Depending on your current setup, there may be an opportunity to automate systems to help lessen the volume of inquiries. For example, implementing a chatbot can handle routine requests and free your agents to handle more complex issues. Bots can also gather pre-chat information to save your agents time. This delivers superior customer service to all your customers as they seek information fast.
Benefits of chatbots for customer experience
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Reducing customer waiting time
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Resolving support cases
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Handling efficient redirects for customer inquiries
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Providing agents with leads
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Instant responses to frequently asked questions
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24 hour customer service
Another strategy to help improve your customer experience is providing consistent email communication. By sharing online resources and guiding your customers through a step-by-step process to better utilize your services and products, you can instill confidence in your customers and answer frequently asked questions. You can also trigger an email after each online transaction asking for feedback or complaints to better serve your customers.
When it comes to financial clients, it’s important to provide positive and reassuring messages. Customers will rely more than ever on their financial advisors and banking institution to help them navigate through these challenging times. It’s up to you to adapt to the changes and implement a digital transformation strategy that better serves your customers.
Looking to deliver cross-channel personalized experiences at every step of the customer lifecycle or implementing Einstein Bot to assist customers? Contact us today.
