Bill Gates once said, “ Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”
And that’s an area where financial analytics can pay off this year – growth through complaints. It’s a tactic that’s recommended by research from both Ernst and Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Use Data to Fix Bad Experiences
In its annual Experience Radar: 2013, US Retail Banking report, PwC says that banks should “fix the bad first.”
“Two out of five customers shifted business to another bank after a bad experience. Turn issues into opportunities to build loyalty,” one key finding suggests.
One way to do this is to is to seek customer feedback on service delivery changes before implementation. In Ernst & Young’s report, Effectively Leveraging Consumer Complaints for Competitive Advantage, just 10% of organizations say that they’re performing this function well.
This could help ease complaints and address one of the biggest challenges retail financial institutions face – the fee war, which is tied to one in four bad banking experiences, PwC reports.
Arm Frontline Employees to Solve Issues Live
Another key area where financial analytics can spur a positive experience is in arming frontline employees with data. The PwC survey suggests that a “consumer would typically be willing to pay a 9% premium for issue resolution with a live representative.”
A robust financial analytics dashboard can help the customer service representative handle issues live and spend less time “hunting” for data. And that’s a key area for improvement, according to Ernst & Young’s report.
Ernst & Young’s research shows that 50% of companies are “not confident that their frontline employees understand problem resolution or their escalation process.”
Use Data to “Close the Loop” and Discover What Customers Want in New Offerings
A final step financial institutions can take to improve service through analytics is to look at “closing the loop.” According to Ernst & Young’s survey, just 44% of companies “close the loop to ensure that the solution met their needs.”
This data could greatly improve word-of-mouth marketing, which is where 50% of customer recommendations come from. PwC reports that experiences matter much more than rates, discounts or free products.
This data can also be leveraged for customer education initiatives. According to PwC, customers want banks to offer more digital product information. They don’t like consulting a bank employee on services. Complaints could provide valuable marketing information and opportunities.
Next Steps:
Join us tomorrow at 2 p.m. EST for a complimentary webcast, “Spotfire Analytics for Customer Complaints.” Lisa Ducharme and Jacob Thiel of the Financial Services Office of Ernst & Young LLP will showcase how implementing a complaint dashboard can improve customer service and “close the loop” for competitive advantage in banking and financial institutions.
Amanda Brandon
Spotfire Blogging Team
