Self Service Banking in 2022

We are living in a world of self service. Digital tools have been empowering customers to perform many business interactions for themselves for some time now, but the global COVID-19 crisis has really compounded the trend and made self-service far more essential than a "nice to have” option.

"Banks had started to see the vast potential of self-service to meet evolving customer expectations and increase efficiencies even before the pandemic, but the last two years have highlighted the range of the opportunities that exist,” reports Fintech & Finance News. "With lockdowns and social restrictions inhibiting traditional customer-bank interactions, self-service and digital channels have really come into their own.”

According to research by Super Office, the most important aspect of the customer experience is a rapid response time with three quarters of respondents placing this factor at the top of their preference. However, many businesses struggle to meet this expectation and instead use self-service to give customers a way to circumvent many direct interactions and thereby reduce the time it takes to resolve queries or carry out tasks.

As a result, 40% of customers will now choose self-service options over human contact when interacting with a brand and will actively seek out businesses which offer it and abandon those which don’t.

Ease of Use

While live chat, social channels, and SMS have all seen increases when it comes to customers’ preferred methods for interacting with self-service options, by far and away the most popular channel is your company website. 73% of customers prefer to use a company website, compared to 31% for social, 27% for SMS, and 20% for live chat.

However, over half [55%] of customers admit they find web-based self-service portals difficult to use and, while this is likely largely a generational issue which will phase out with time, there is still a need to ensure that your self-service portal is simple to operate and has clear signposting on where customers need to go.

Having an easy to locate FAQ section, as well as simple to understand audio or video guide can go a long way to making your self-service portal easier to navigate. Most people visit self-service portals to ask a question and it’s very likely that question comes up regularly, so make sure the answer is easy to find.

Making sure content is up to date may seem like a no-brainer, but you would be surprised at just how many businesses neglect to update information when things change elsewhere in the company. If new rules or regulations – or even company policy – changes, make sure those changes are reflected in your self-service areas.

The vast majority of internet activity is now carried out on smartphones, so ensure your self-service areas are optimized for mobile. The very nature of self-service means people need to be able to use it on the go, so smartphone compatibility should be a top priority.

Revenue Opportunities

The realm of self-service doesn’t just provide a means for customers to perform business interactions for themselves. Self-service portals also provide banking brands with a new avenue through which to sell additional products or services.

As well as investment and insurance products, banks can also leverage data from self-service interactions themselves to recommend products or services to their customers. For example, if a customer is regularly checking their balance or receiving incoming amounts from parents or lenders, you can recommend overdraft or personal loan options to help them out of a bind.

Almost any financial product can now be arranged without the need to set foot in a branch or even speak to a human being. Banks which are able to utilize self-service portals effectively to market additional services will see their revenue steadily rise – just make sure that advertisements and product recommendations don’t disrupt the self-service experience for the customer.

"Digital channels are moving beyond the provision of services and can be used to generate sales; [such as] banks that are successfully leveraging digital to sell a range of investment and insurance products,” continues Fintech & Finance News. "Self-service and digital banking services are more efficient and less costly than more traditional channels and so they can be deployed more easily to reach the unbanked and the underbanked.”

Final Thoughts

Self-service is the new normal for banking and brands in the space need to make sure their self-service portals are simple to use and regularly updated, whilst simultaneously leveraging sales and marketing opportunities through such platforms.

Self-service is sure to be part of the conversation at CXFS Connect 2022, taking place in December at the Marriott Hilton Head Resort & Spa.

Download the agenda for more information and insights.