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The banking and financial services industry is undergoing a digital renaissance.
In 2022, over two-thirds of Americans prefer to do their banking digitally, with Millennials and Gen Z leading the pack.[1] The convenience and accessibility of handling your finances from the comfort of your home provides an unmatched level of service.
While consumers prefer digital banking, it often lacks the human touch that people still crave. Customers believe internet banking falls short in understanding the nuance of human interaction and communication. This disconnect can pose a risk to banks’ relationships with their customers.
Conversational banking offers the best of both worlds, elevating your customer’s digital banking experience while offering them personalized service on digital channels. If you want to stay relevant, you must implement conversational banking to provide a customer-centric experience.
In this article, we’ll tell you why conversational banking matters more than ever and walk you through a real-life example of conversational banking in action.
Conversational banking involves providing digital solutions and engaging with clients through online communication channels like chat, text, voice messaging, and visual engagement tools. This customer service approach leverages AI-powered chatbots and human advisors to engage in meaningful, two-way conversations with customers.
The hybrid approach of melding AI technology and the human touch provides the ultimate customer experience — a convenient yet personalized solution for a digital world. The younger generation may prefer digital channels — 75% don’t go into a branch unless needed — but they still expect a high service standard and a personalized banking experience.[2]
AI chatbots can offer quick, simple, and intuitive solutions, guiding customers to resolve common queries from checking account balances to recommending investment products.
Freshchat’s AI ‘smart’ bots, for example, use artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing (NLP) to understand the context of conversations and have intelligent, two-way conversations with customers using natural, human language. These smart interactions free up agents’ time to focus on other banking issues only human advisors can resolve.
Mastering the art of conversational banking brings long-term value to your customers and your business.
Integrating conversational AI technology into your digital banking creates a richer customer experience. Messaging software with advanced chatbot capabilities provides fast, precise answers when customers need assistance.
Chatbots built with Freshchat bot builder can understand the intent behind questions and can provide customers with instant resolutions. They can also be designed to answer commonly asked questions, so your team has more free time to handle complex banking requests and offer advice.
Since 50% of people still prefer to switch between digital channels and humans, Freshchat bots offer seamless agent handoff - understanding when human intervention is needed and handing over the conversation to a human advisor.[3]
Conversational banking also empowers agents to have smarter conversations with customers. The information gathered by AI software gives agents complete customer context to resolve issues quicker. Instead of starting each conversation from scratch, agents already have access to a client’s full history before they begin engaging with them.
Contextual support removes the need for customers to repeat themselves to multiple agents about the same issue, improving their overall experience. A hybrid, digital-first service experience will improve customer satisfaction, leading to happier customers.
Modern customers value convenience and prefer digital experiences that are fast and easy to use. Customers no longer want to go to a branch when they have a simple question or call a 1-800 number just to wait in a virtual line.
Through AI integration, conversational banking ensures customers receive 24/7 support to help them with common financial queries, significantly reducing wait time. Live chat software allows customers to speak to their bank at their convenience and preferred pace.
Customers also get to choose the method most convenient for them to interact with their bank.
Based on our findings, 40% of customers expect businesses to solve issues on the channels of their choice. Accessibility and 24/7 convenient support increase resolution speed and customer satisfaction.
A lack of personalization is where digital banking falls short.
Some customers still prefer to visit a branch because they value receiving tailored advice from an advisor that knows them and their unique preferences. To survive in the digital age, banks need to offer that same level of personalization online. Customers feel valued when a business understands their unique needs and provides them with a tailored solution.
Banks can bridge this gap by leveraging conversational banking to learn about their customers’ behavior and needs. Finance chatbots can gather data about customers through each interaction they have. These insights help banks deliver relevant advice and solutions that fit their unique needs.
Another way AI-powered chatbots can deliver personalized experiences is by offering multilingual support. Multilingual chatbots can converse in multiple languages, so customers can bank in their preferred language on their terms.
Banks that invest in scalable solutions like conversational messaging platforms will operate more efficiently and reduce their operational costs in the long run. Chatbots can resolve up to 80% of incoming customer requests without human intervention. Banks can easily scale up and handle millions of daily requests without having to hire more agents.
AI technology enables banks to provide more advice on more channels to more customers without increasing costs.
As we mentioned before, chatbots significantly free up agents’ time. This leads to more productive customer interactions and a reduced average handling time. More satisfied customers mean a lower churn rate, so there’s less budget required for attracting new customers.
The insights gathered from AI software deliver a personalized customer experience and provide banks with a wealth of customer insights.
From tracking customer spending habits to learning their pain points, chatbots gather a ton of valuable data. This information can help banks develop new product offerings or easily upsell products that meet customer needs.
At the same time, advanced AI can learn from past conversations and improve the way it interacts with clients, leading to a better customer experience over time.
Consider these tips when developing a conversational banking solution:
Create a customer journey map: Mapping out your customer journey helps you identify areas where you can add value for your customers. For example, identify the digital channels customers prefer to interact with your business. Figuring out these touch points will help you provide a consistent customer experience across all channels.
Identify commonly asked questions: Train your chatbot to answer your customers’ most frequently asked questions and their variations. Your bot can be deployed to answer repetitive questions, direct customers to the right answer, or connect them to an agent.
Choose the right platform: Selecting the right platform is one of the most important steps in designing a conversational banking experience. Consider a scalable solution with features that support intelligent conversations, simplified experiences for your agents, and cost-effective support.
Track your success: Measure the impact of your conversational banking strategy by tracking chatbot metrics like customer satisfaction scores, retention rates, or total interactions. Monitoring your progress will help you identify areas to improve and deliver a better customer experience.
Freshchat’s modern messaging software brings together artificial and human intelligence to help businesses have smarter and more intuitive conversations with their customers.
One of these businesses is a leading US credit card company with more than 57 million customers around the world. This financial services provider values customer experience and always looks for new ways to improve it.
When they partnered with Freshchat, their goal was to improve three key areas — customer experience, business results, and agent experience.
Freshchat upgraded this client’s live chat interface to a messaging solution that was more intuitive and familiar. By integrating their messaging on their website, mobile app, and iMessage, Freshchat helped them provide a seamless experience for their customers.
Unifying messaging channels meant that customers no longer needed to restart their conversations when they switched from different messaging channels.
This continuous messaging approach also helped agents provide a more personalized experience. Agents could access all messaging history and maintain the context of past issues faced by clients. This personalized support increased customer satisfaction scores to 96%.
Freshchat’s intuitive interface also reduced agent training time by 60%. Having a platform that’s easy to use created a less stressful environment, allowing agents to focus on the customer experience instead of struggling to figure out clunky software.
Lastly, this Finserv company saved over 10,000 hours in valuable agent time and solved more customer queries than ever, thanks to customer-facing chatbots. Freshchat’s messaging software transformed this credit card company’s customer and agent experience, as well as their business results.
The adoption of conversational banking will be a key differentiator for banks and financial services companies in the years to come.
Conversational banking empowers companies to deliver a superior level of service and build lifelong relationships with their customers. If you’re looking to elevate your customer experience, Freshchat’s smart messaging platform can help you connect with customers and build strong digital relationships.
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