Be aspirational
Imagine a more human future and make it a reality
42% of consumers say their bank cares for them as a person, not simply a customer. These “connected consumers” are 22% more likely to buy services from their bank without price comparison.5
5. The Banking Human Experience| Accenture, 2019
“When I had my wallet stolen…I went to the branch and they were very polite and took good care of me to make sure that I got it the next day and that my account would be frozen… that is when I felt that they actually cared.”
– Bank customer (USA), Temenos Survey 2021 respondent (4,700 banking consumers)
Make human impact a measurable priority
To make an emotional connection, you must understand customer experiences at a deeper level. Quantitative measurement of emotional connectivity can be difficult, but traditional tools such as user satisfaction surveys and NPS scores can be adapted to measure sentiment. Even better, you can use AI to analyze the emotional content of conversations with and about your bank. Pair these with feedback from real customers and employees to get a fuller picture of the emotional connectivity from both sides.
Make it central to your mission
Increasingly, customers want to interact with companies that have a positive impact on the world. Identify what matters to your customer base, comparing it to your organization's mission, vision, and offerings, to find the area of overlap. Be sure that if shared values are there, you are surfacing these with customers. If there aren’t shared values present, it might be time to invest in refining your purpose and aligning it to something greater than banking.
Traditionally, banks have developed mission statements that are centered on their organizational values, goals, and strengths. Purpose statements however, buck the passive voice of a mission statement. They build trust and create value for people by giving concrete actions and eliciting emotional responses that customers can get behind.
Aspiration in context: Virgin Money Australia
Virgin Money Australia, a division of Bank of Queensland (BOQ), has a clear ambition to simplify banking, reward customers and help them achieve their financial goals, putting customers at the center of their growth. That’s why it chose Temenos’ cloud-native banking software, to enable it to benefit from a single digital SaaS platform to create a simplified digital business model.
At the center of their digital banking experience is the bank’s recently launched Virgin Money Rewards program. The program seeks to reward and recognize customers in a multitude of ways, from everyday transactions to improving their overall financial fitness. Unlike other programs, customers will be recognized when they spend and when they save, and they’ll be supported with hints, tips and real-time alerts to achieve their financial goals. The benefits of these programs reach deeper into customers’ lives, allowing their money to go further, and setting a new standard for customer engagement.
“We are at the beginning of an exciting journey as we build an industry-leading digital bank that will be beautifully simple and rewarding. We are committed to delighting our customers by providing a seamless, end-to-end experience across all channels. With Temenos’ advanced cloud technology, we will have the agility to bring new products to market and differentiate the customer experience.”
Greg Boyle, CEO, Virgin Money Australia CEO
