What Customers Need from Their Banks

The Banking Administration Institute (BAI) conducted interviews with customers of lending institutions, hoping to gain insights on digital lending. These clients were from small and middle-market businesses and, as the BAI’s efforts found, they were more than willing to talk—in fact, they gave straight and direct comments. Turns out they were eager to talk about their banking experiences!

This begs the question… are banks listening? Do they want to listen?

Of course, many banks value customer feedback and sign up for syndicated research and other like services. These services are not funded by any particular client and therefore offer broad and generalized feedback. The research conducted is created by market researchers and is not specialized for specific fields, which doesn’t help bankers attend to the specific needs and views of their customers.

With managers looking to discover the role digital plays in their institution, it’s important to understand what role their customers even want digital to play in their banking relationship and what the customers find important.

In BAI’s interviews, they discovered a wide variety of desires. Many small business owners want around-the-clock access and complete transaction transparency, while some still prefer to fax documents in. Many middle-market companies have delayed incorporating technology for financial reasons. Some companies even mentioned that their reason for choosing a bank is based mainly on interest rates and fees. Conversely, many are frustrated by the slow introduction of commonplace technologies such as e-signatures.

Customers mentioned that many times they’d seen banks offer solutions that they didn’t want or that they found to be premature considering other problems they saw with the bank’s day-to-day operations.

Many banks have opted for a digital front end while still running traditional branches with classic methods. Digital means different things to different people. Interest levels and abilities of customers should also be taken into account. The “one-size-fits-all” methodology does not apply to digital banking.

One key finding in their study was that customers really value a strong personal relationship with their banker. With larger banks, many experienced frequently changing bankers, slow approval processes, and the stress of continually having to teach the business to their banker. The personal relationship mattered more than the lower interest rates other places might have offered.

The caveat—those personal relationships are often the deciding factor on where a business will bank, but most still want the convenience of digital banking. Finding a way to merge the two, to create these relationships digitally, may be necessary for maximum profitability as we move forward in the digital age.

One customer mentioned that his banker never asked him what he needed or valued, but rather told him what they think he needs. As banking remains in its volatile state as it searches to find balance between tradition and the digital age, it’s important to examine how they’re approaching customer outreach and sincerely listening to what customers are saying rather than hearing what bankers want to hear.

Sources:

1. https://www.bai.org/banking-strategies/article-detail/the-key-to-discovering-your-customers-digital-needs-asking?utm_medium=email&utm_source=bsd&utm_campaign=banking_strategies&utm_content=bsd_120419&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTnpsaE9UVmtNR1JtWm1KbSIsInQiOiJKejZNa1JjZ282Zm55MDZGTEVoVWZ3TnR4T3hZcjZycElNdmpKUzFQUnNcLzNlVjk0d3BuNFVTTlQ3MTNLQjhMaTJaZmVWM0ZoeU1QZDc1R0tzcWF6cEU4OXZBRGRDNWdNWVV5UDM1Z3JKejB5MERXaFwvanY0Rm5mT21wSnV5WDNJIn0%3D