Last week started poorly for NatWest - another mobile banking service outage left customers of RBS and NatWest without access to their account on the morning of the 20th April. Both banks were fast to tweet the news:

"We're sorry if you're having trouble getting into Mobile Banking, we're working hard to resolve the issue. Thank you for your patience."

By 14.00 the mobile banking service was back online and functioning. Job done? Not quite. It’s great to see banks being both mobile and social, but there are many more touch points than just Twitter by which you can keep your customers not just informed of outages and emergencies, but also of opportunities. Communications has moved on from just being present - it needs to be personable too.

We live in an omni-channel business world - SMS, email and Facebook sit alongside channels as methods of preferred communication and banks should be utilising them all, not just one. This is a recent and somewhat negative example - the key point to take from the above is that customer touchpoints continue to be missed by banks. RBS did nothing badly on Monday, it just didn’t do everything it could.

What’s interesting is that in 2016 the The European Parliament’s Directive on Payment Accounts looks to come into force, and with it will come a standardisation of not just marketing material but also fee statements. Standardised terminology will do wonders for customer understanding, but little for differentiation between rival banks - something that banks have historically struggled with, and has drawn them under the eye of regulators.

Banks must see this upcoming change as not only a challenge but also an opportunity  - considering not just how to present the new fee statements and marketing material but the where and when. It is a customer touchpoint, and so needs to be considered as more than just a function.

There’s evidence that this shift of thinking from function-based communication to more customer-centric models has already started at many of the high street banks. The Institute of Customer Service’s latest UK Customer Service Index report - which once again placed First Direct highest for customer satisfaction score in the banking and building societies sector. But it’s even more pleasing to see that Santander, HSBC and Bank of Scotland have also increased customer satisfaction levels.

Whilst account switching rules will have no doubt had a part, it does suggest a trend - that banks have recognised that poor service is something customers will no longer stand for.

However, both the above outage example and the report also finds that some organisations are still struggling when it comes to customer communications. Banks need to create a human connection with customers through personalised communication, whether it is through print, online or mobile channels. Customers value having their voices heard, no matter which channel they use - and will appreciate it more when banks respond in a timely, personable and professional manner.