Making the Business Case for Unifying Channels Part I: Making the Customer’s Channel of Choice the Right One for You

It used to be that the branch was the customer's channel of choice-and actually, not long ago, the only channel. During the past 30+ years, many channels have evolved with the objective of improving service, or at least improving the availability of service for customers/members. And, just when you thought that the number and types of channels might have stabilized with the Web, along comes social media, mobile banking and even customer interaction options that are variations of these many channels. The good news is that with the introduction of multiple delivery channels, interaction volumes have grown, but there's bad news too. Most institutions will find that the growth has not necessarily been in ways that are most profitable for them. 

Without stating every challenge that is presented by hosting and supporting four, five, six or more channels, suffice it to say that while the types of channels have multiplied by five, the number of customers at most institutions have not. At the same time, customers you hoped would use the lower cost, self-service channels often do not, while the people you would like to see in the branch in hopes of doing some cross selling, prefer the web.  

What is going on? Well, people choose channels based on their own preferences, lifestyles, or maybe life stages. I recently heard a statistic that 70% of people looking for a financial product today conduct their search on the Internet. Yet, 50% choose an institution based on convenient, local branch locations. (I'd still like to know where there are convenient ATMs.)  

The competitive reality is that most, if not all, banking channels need to be supported well if an institution hopes to attract and retain the best customer relationships. The key is to excel in usability across all channels and do so profitably. Here's how. 

You must find a balance in channel investments as a whole vs. individually, and to teach your customers to love the channel that provides the specific service they need at the best cost (to you).  For example, account balance inquiries have always been one of the first functions offered as new channels have been introduced; now the cost can vary from several dollars in a branch, to pennies on the Web. And, let's face it oftentimes it's your least profitable customers that queue up in the branches to obtain their balances. 

The way to begin to remedy this? Unify your channels. This will give you the ability to consolidate customer information, improve the availability of service and enable you to start a transaction in one channel, but complete it in another-this is crucial today if your institution is to remain competitive. You must also be able to make special offers and set up new accounts without requiring customers to visit the branch; then in the case of my example, you can also begin to migrate customers simply seeking their account balances to a more cost-effective channel for the bank. 

The fact is that unifying channels is not, and does not have to be, as painful as you think; it is a technical reality today vs. simply a promise of recent years past-and there are affordable options. It's time to optimize your existing channels so that you can serve customers well with each interaction, while lowering your operating costs across the board. By achieving a unified enterprise, you will also be prepared to easily integrate any new interaction options that your customers demand in coming years.   

By connecting all the dots and eliminating silos of information you can appeal to the customer's needs with each interaction and when possible, drive them to lower cost channels. At the same time, on the self-service channels, you can further cultivate the relationship with special offers and incentives that get them in front of your customer service representatives; ultimately, enabling your institution to gain a greater return on its brick and mortar investment. In the end, it's about putting in place an infrastructure that enables your institution to make all of your customers' preferred channels profitable for you.