In a recent study by the FCA on banking customer satisfaction, challenger banks Monzo and Starling ranked top of the leaderboard for overall service quality, scoring 86% and 84% respectively. Traditional banks, including some of the UK’s largest financial service providers, performed less well. During the course of the pandemic, customers have had additional time to reflect and more opportunities to switch to their bank’s competitors, so tackling poor customer service should be made a priority. But at a time when interest rates are low, banks are adding new criteria for lending, and the number of vulnerable customers is growing, consumer expectations are high and banking staff are feeling stretched. With all of these factors threatening customer satisfaction and retention, what can traditional banks do to improve customer service?

The answer lies in intelligent automation, software that allows banks to easily and efficiently manage every single task they need to complete for each customer with automated processes. There are three key benefits of using this technology to improve customer service.

1. Reduce costs and increase efficiency

During the pandemic, major high street banks’ call centres have been under pressure, and customers have been forced to wait on hold for hours. This has resulted in numerous complaints to customer service teams, which in turn has created more work for banks to resolve.

Intelligent automation can help by supporting digital self-service, so that customers have the tools to find out the answers to their queries quickly and easily, removing the need for them to speak to a person. By automating routine work, people are freed up to work on more complex tasks, including those that benefit from emotional intelligence and a personal touch, such as customer liaison and relationship building.

For example, email bots can automatically analyse an email from a customer to understand the request, level of importance and even sentiment. If an email is from a customer asking about a new offer, an email bot could automatically respond with the right information. At the same time, if another message is from a victim of banking fraud, and the customer is angry or upset, the email bot can route it to the right person so that it can be prioritised. Software can also send automatic reminders to make sure work stays on track, so cases are resolved quicker and are therefore less costly, and customers don’t have to wait as long or need to follow up, boosting their satisfaction. In addition, taking away mundane tasks could mean customer service staff benefit from a more interesting job day-to-day, and that enjoyment of their role positively impacts how they treat their customers, making them happier too.

2. Drive personalisation

In order to provide good customer service, and therefore retain customer loyalty, banks need to show empathy towards customers, especially in times of uncertainty.

Intelligent automation allows banks to improve customer service by driving personalised engagement. Banks can use AI to carefully consider each case, analysing each situation to help customer service representatives choose the next best action that will be beneficial to both the customer and the organisation. For example, it can help banks spot that a customer has already bought a particular product, and decide whether it is worth suggesting another particular product that they may be interested in, personalised to them. It is important, however, to make sure that the AI is transparent rather than opaque, meaning that decisions made by algorithms are fully explainable. This enables banks to make sure they are treating customers fairly to maintain satisfaction and be regulation-compliant.

3. Decrease errors

By deploying intelligent automation, banks can drastically reduce the number of administrative errors, helping reduce time wastage as well as customer complaint numbers. Software bots work 24/7, 365 days a year, with no breaks needed. Plus, with bots taking on mundane tasks from real members of staff, employees are less overloaded and human error is less likely.

Intelligent automation – the way forward

By investing in intelligent automation, traditional banks can tackle poor customer service head on. Properly managing each case and treating each customer with empathy will allow financial service providers to build trust and boost customer satisfaction. In turn, they can retain customers both throughout 2021 and for the long haul.