A Path to Predictive Customer Service

A Path to Predictive Customer Service

By: Tyler Brown

OCTOBER 22, 2024

Customer service in banking has changed as new channels emerged and old ones evolved. Its gradual shift from in-person, branch-based interactions to include contact centers, self-service via phone, messaging via digital banking, virtual assistants, and live chat almost certainly pushed down costs per interaction for the bank and in many cases made customer service more convenient for customers. The next step is stitching together modernized channels into an uninterrupted customer service journey that optimizes the personal touch.

The key for customer service channels today is to balance cost efficiency and customer experience. It requires a multifaceted strategy and a modernization plan that includes platform integration. Customer service channels are often siloed, interfering with attempts to seamlessly and efficiently address customers’ inquiries. Automated and intelligent routing for customer service inquiries could help by getting the customer answers faster and cutting down on bank employees’ time. Additionally, real-time recordkeeping within channels may improve the customer service experience by, for example, passing notes from agent to agent in a call center or chat, reducing the number of follow-up questions.

Interactions are most cost efficient and offer the best customer experience when they optimize conversations based on a customer’s immediate needs. In the context of customer service, it may work like this: A customer asks a question to a virtual assistant. The virtual assistant can’t answer, and intelligently routes the conversation to an agent. The agent resolves the issue, but the customer visits the branch for something else. A banker uses information to follow up in person, enhancing the personal relationship with the customer. This provides self-service capabilities when they make sense, but pulls a human into the equation when necessary, keeping interactions personal.

The next evolution in customer service may be predictive: By the time a customer reaches out through a self-service channel, the bank is ready to address their request from any channel. A customer’s financial wellbeing, product ownership, banking activity, and previous interactions with the bank may all be analyzed to create this picture. It’s then even faster to resolve a problem. Handoffs between channels may not even be necessary if information about the customer is centralized and accessible.

The endgame is channel-agnostic, real-time predictive customer service based on the bank’s wealth of data about its customers. For the “personal touch,” a branch banker has an individualized starting point for a conversation with the many customers who use multiple banking channels. That includes anticipating new questions and being able to follow up on previous interactions with the bank.

This customer service ideal is a distant destination for many banks, given the technological hurdles. But a vision is crucial. Without one, banks may fall into the trap of channels driving customer service strategy. To innovate, they must break free of that mentality.


What Big Banks’ Confidence Tells Us

OCTOBER 24, 2024

By: Kate Drew

Competition and Growth in Banking

There is a major gap between larger banks and everyone else when it comes to confidence in their growth prospects. Specifically, while 66% of bank executive respondents to KPMG’s 2024 US Banking Industry Outlook Survey said they were confident in their growth prospects over the coming year, that came in at 93% for those with over $50 billion in assets. Of those with less than $50 billion in assets, only 48% felt the same way.


The data suggests that, as small- to mid-size institutions continue to contemplate the challenges of the current environment, from regulatory scrutiny to economic headwinds, big banks are largely forging ahead. This is important because large institutions, unbounded by geography due to their digital footprints, are a major competitive threat to community banks. Moreover, this isn’t about confidence alone; it is about what confidence does to inform strategy. Put simply, if a bank is confident, it will act differently.

This is especially relevant when it comes to future-proofing efforts. It is quite plausible that the confidence these bankers are exhibiting will lead them to continue to invest in innovation and technology, to continue to push the envelope on the art of the possible. On the other hand, many smaller institutions are pulling back and shying away — they are steadfastly focused on keeping in line and getting back to the basics. As a result, we could end up seeing not only a gap in confidence, but also an even wider delta on capabilities between these big banks and other institutions.

That is a problem because competing effectively requires keeping that delta as narrow as possible. It is always going to be there, and it is probably not even realistic to try to keep it from getting bigger. But putting pressure on the speed at which it is growing is a worthwhile exercise. That means continuing to invest in the future in ways that make sense. Those ways are going to be different for every institution and will always come back to strategy. The goal, though, should be to resist the urge to do nothing or to “wait it out.”

Often, innovation is talked about with risk on the other side of the coin. That is fair. However, there is another risk that is less often discussed — the risk of inaction. Taking a “wait-and-see” approach when another (quite fierce) segment of the market is perhaps seeing things differently is in and of itself a pretty risky endeavor.

To view or add a comment, sign in

More articles by CCG Catalyst

Insights from the community

Others also viewed

Explore topics