Customer complaints against financial services institutions have hit a 5-year high year, with payday loan complaints surging 130%, according to data just published by the Financial Ombudsman Service.

New agile fintech entrants who offer a streamlined, customer-centric experience are threatening traditional banking heavyweights; with 20 per cent of their market share now under threat. To compete, traditional establishments are heavily investing in digital initiatives; Santander alone is funnelling €20 billion into digital transformation over the next 4 years.^[1]

The cost to the financial services industry in 2018, due to poor customer service, was £37 billion, a staggering £31 billion increase from the previous year. According to Business Process Management specialist Signavio, if financial institutions are to retain their leadership position in such a crowded market space, they must prioritise customer centricity across all processes.

Dr Gero Decker, CEO and Co-founder at Signavio comments: “Customer service is the new battleground for the financial services sector, and the customer journey must be placed at the centre of operations to deal with the record number of complaints––and to remain competitive.

“Through integrating a system which logs all incoming complaints, classifies them and solves their root cause, banks can gain full visibility over existing customer pain points. Constructing this real-time picture, whereby data is used to resolve complaints faster, can result in vastly improved customer satisfaction as well as lower operational costs.”

Gero continues: “One way to approach this is through customer journey mapping, where every employee is empowered to uncover customer insights from different touchpoints along the customer journey. This customer data can help alter processes to enhance customer experience and reduce complaints.

“Today’s organisations are competing on value, and winning over the modern customer often requires much more than a price reduction. Customers want an enriching and seamless experience across all touchpoints. By aligning customer journeys with internal processes, we can shift the mindset from internal efficiency to external, customer-driven success––providing the much needed competitive edge in an increasingly saturated market.”