Our customer, Regions Financial, was featured in the great article this week – Bank Branches Are Still Good for at Least One Thing in American Banker.
According to the article, Regions Financial, the Birmingham, Ala., bank recently launched an online tool (from Ignite Sales!) that helps determine which checking account is best for its customers — or prospective customers — by asking a series of questions: what features they need, how much they receive in direct deposits each month, how many checks they write in a month, and so on.
The interactive tool is meant to recreate the experience someone might have in the branch as they talk to a banker who would go through a similar process in person. At the end of the session, the tool gives the user a recommendation and two options: open the account online or schedule an appointment in the branch. Preliminary results show the branches are still a draw.
“We are less than two months in, but our customers are choosing both options,” said Andy Hernandez, head of digital banking for Regions. “For us, it is not about making them choose. It is about simplifying the experience and acknowledging that many customers may want to start the process online but finish it face-to-face.”
More Ways to Engage Prospects
Offerings such as mortgages and wealth management require deep expertise during the sales process. To make it easy for prospects to gain more information, banks can also integrate Live Chat allowing customers to access bank product-specific expertise instantly which enriches customer interactions and advances the customer experience. With Live Chat no matter which channel the customer is engaging, the customer is able to directly access the expert they require. Ignite’s solution also integrates into Instant Scheduling to arrange a time to meet face-to-face with a banking expert or schedule a call making it easy for prospects to get the information they need.
From what we have seen over the past few years, the customer journey is starting online and banks need an easy and consistent way to capture the prospect’s needs, just like if the bank was meeting in person, to provide a personalized 1:1 service throughout the entire customer journey. True personalization can only begin when the bank is able to capture the prospect’s current financial needs and banks need to do this early on in the process.
Results Are Real
The infographic below illustrates what we have learned across all of our customers during the past five years.
84% of prospects are eligible for the bank’s most profitable products. Each prospect is qualified for 5.5 products but on average banks only open 1.3 products. The average profitability prior to using Ignites tool is $360 per client annually as compared to $1050 using Ignite Sales. Simplifying the customer expertise translates into more revenue and profitability. The results are real.
