Creating a successful omnichannel customer experience is not simply about multiplying touchpoints. Each stage of the journey needs to be optimized to ensure it’s friction-free. Plus, it should be personal, customized to the visitor’s unique demands in that particular moment.

This might mean the option to transition to speaking to an advisor, for example. Indeed, 74% of those surveyed by Salesforce expressed their desire to switch brands if they find the checkout process too difficult. According to the same study, half of consumers would stop doing business with a company if that company didn’t anticipate their needs and offer a personalized service.

A disrupted customer experience
In digital banking, customer support teams often focus on optimizing each individual interaction with customers. They identify the different touchpoints in a customer journey and aim to ensure a positive experience at stage.

However, focusing on touchpoints alone fails to take into account the wider picture. While each individual interaction might fulfill the customer’s immediate needs, if their journey is disrupted, their overall impression will not be hugely positive. 

For example, with a query about a mortgage application, a customer might have to speak to multiple advisors over the phone, plus organise a meeting in-branch. Each conversation may deliver the necessary results, but, as a whole, their experience has been fragmented and inefficient.

Instead, the customer journey should integrate multiple touchpoints into a single friction-free experience. A visitor might begin with a live chat conversation with an advisor before starting a video call session to take it to the next level. 

Envisaging the journey as a whole
With omnichannel banking, Unblu’s various digital tools allow for different touchpoints that are all incorporated into a single friction-free process. This seamless journey offers multiple opportunities for conversation. Customers are satisfied because they can communicate with banks at their convenience and in the manner that suits them most in that particular moment. The experience is high-tech, high-touch, and, most importantly, personalized.

For example, an experience that incorporates live chat, which connects customers with advisors at their own convenience, allowing them to chat at a time that suits them and in a medium that’s familiar. Or co-browsing, which provides a visual context to a conversation, allowing advisors to see what the customer sees, therefore gaining a comprehensive image of what the problem is. Video call is another tool that adds a more personal dimension to an exchange as customer and advisor chat face to face.

Following on from the mortgage application example, an omnichannel journey might begin with a customer talking to a chatbot before taking advantage of the opportunity to transfer to a specialist advisor. When the customer requires additional reassurance, they could then request a video call. Finally, they could make use of co-browsing so that the advisor can point out and explain details on a particular mortgage deal.

In this way, we can see that focusing on touchpoints alone is not enough. When financial service providers perceive each event in a customer journey as discreet and unconnected, they fail to see the experience through the customer’s eyes. But by adopting a more customer-centric viewpoint, they can envisage the journey as a whole and create a more positive and efficient experience.

Digital banking & Unblu
Unblu’s conversational banking solutions allow you to create an omnichannel experience that increases opportunities for meaningful conversation and boosts customer satisfaction and loyalty in the process. Discover how Unblu can help enhance your digital customer service on multiple levels by booking a demo today and a member of our team will be in contact.

See original blog: https://blog.unblu.com/en/why-focusing-on-customer-touchpoints-diminishes-a-winning-banking-customer-experience