The findings of a study by Kony, Inc, referenced in The Financial Brand found, that while companies are investing heavily in digital transformation, consumers say the instances of real improvement to their customer experience are fewer than expected.
Across four verticals, namely banking, retail, utilities, and healthcare- the study found that, despite nearly $5 trillion in overall investment, only 19% of consumers report any significant improvement in the experiences received.
Why this large gap between CX investment and meaningful outcomes?
The study also found that “only 28% of digital transformation initiatives are started with customer needs being the priority, with 68% focused on business processes, and 4% focusing on employees.”
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Our expert’s view:
Digital transformation is too often centered on process efficiencies when the heart of the matter should be customer needs. Companies get side-tracked into targeting internal improvements and fail to ask customers for their input into designing the digital experience.
The Kony, Inc. study asked customers what they felt was the most important CX outcome from digital transformation investment in financial services. The results might surprise you.
- Making customer data more secure 47%
- More comprehensive online/mobile capabilities 23%
- Updating & improving online customer support 21%
- Updating & improving online customer support via mobile 20%
- Providing exceptional digital applications – able to do everything in every channel 20%
- Improving web XP – easy to navigate, engaging and intuitive to use 18%
- Enabling full e-commerce services 18%
- Customer data analytics to predict needs/recommend products or services 17%
- Integrating all social, mobile, web service efforts for frictionless interaction 16%
- Better/more targeted marcomms that feel personal and relevant 14%
- Offering cutting edge digital experiences e.g. AI, chat bots, augmented reality 13%
Source: The Financial Brand
By far the majority of respondents mentioned ‘making customer data more secure’ as their most important outcome. But, there’s an obvious disconnect here: Kony found that “31% of businesses are currently investing heavily in this, but only 15% of consumers perceive that they have.”
This is not just something that financial services providers should note – this has real-world business implications. 54% of respondents said, “they will consider switching providers if their bank or credit union did not deliver the digital experiences that they demand and expect”.
Financial services companies must involve customers in designing their digital initiatives or risk the outcome – being an undifferentiated experience for customers.
James Hall
Commercial Director, UK
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