Adrenaline’s CXO tapped for her expertise in customer experience and her fundamentals for financial services in 2021
Wednesday, November 18, 2020 – As the most unusual of years in recent memory begins winding down, the Financial Brand is taking stock of the role of customer experience in the wake of COVID. In 6 CX Developments Banks & Credit Unions Can’t Ignore in 2021, the publication of record in financial services marketing says, “You can’t take COVID-19 out of the picture as you assess the future of this key marketing discipline.” From the rise of digital technology to repurposing channels, three influencers in the CX space share their insights about the thinking and themes that will shape a new year.
Spotlighting trust as a thread that runs throughout all customer interactions, the Financial Brand highlights powerful thoughts from Adrenaline’s CXO, stating, “Gina Bleedorn… says it might not seem to be part of a discussion of customer experience. However, she continues, trust has to be embedded in every aspect of efforts to improve customer experience or financial institutions will be wasting their time.” She says transparency is part of building that trust and “makes it clear that any new experience that smells like it is more for the institution’s benefit, instead of the consumer’s, violates both trust and transparency.”
On key technology, Gina emphasizes the importance of bridging physical and digital and believes that ITMs are made for the moment. As a solution on multiple levels, she says, “You are piping in ‘physical’ service” into a digital technology. Not as a replacement for human-based counsel that happens inside branches, Gina believes ITMs should be deployed as a stand-alone tool to “improve the optimization of branch networks.” ITMs can provide a remaining channel where a bank is closing a branch and otherwise exiting a market or put in place where a branch may have once been built.
Another technology that has worked well during COVID is telehealth. While consultations via video are making their mark in healthcare, it’s not a technology that’s had as much traction in banking, yet. Gina thinks the “weakness lies not in video technology, nor in acceptance of it, but in a simpler element: appointments.” Gina believes appointment-setting software and interfaces with video consultation would accelerate its adoption. As evidenced by community banking’s success in appointment setting in lobby hours, customers like the convenience and knowledge that they have a banker’s undivided attention.
For more customer experience trends, be sure to read all six of the Financial Brand’s CX developments for 2021 is a digital publication covering marketing and strategy in the financial services industry. A resource for banking executives, the outlet focuses on issues vital to retail banks and credit unions.
Also, be sure to join us on Believe in Banking to stay up to date on a variety of issues facing financial services in our COVID-era. To speak with one of Believe in Banking’s thought leaders or Adrenaline’s industry experts, contact us at [email protected].
Adrenaline is an experience design agency that creates and implements end-to-end branded experiences through creative and environmental design. We enhance our clients’ customer experiences across digital and physical channels, from their branding and advertising to design and technology in their spaces. After transforming an organization’s brand, Adrenaline extends it across all touchpoints — from employees to the market to in-store environments. And, we focus on serving industries that sell human experiences including financial, healthcare, sports and entertainment.
