Leveraging technology to transform account statements into dynamic customer-centric relationship builders

By Mike Davies, Vice President EMEA North, GMC Software Technology Limited

We are all aware that a monthly account statement is one customer communication that has the potential to build strong and loyal relationships with customers. Given that 95 percent of transactional documents are opened and read—and for many customers these statements represent the only regularly-scheduled contact with their bank—it can be a competitive differentiator to make these statements as clear, satisfying and customer preference-driven as possible. Being a customer-centric bank today means allowing the customer to control the conversation—across all channels of communication.

The latest vehicle to improve the customer experience is something relatively new to most banks producing statements—the dynamic statement. It is a concept that may be as game changing for customer relationships as social media.

Dynamic statements are interactive, digital customer statements that deliver intuitive charts, graphs and other graphical representations of customer financial information. The rich, user-friendly functionality of these statements allows customers to drill down to a granular level of detail and have highly relevant, personalized views with just a few clicks. Meeting the needs of an ever-increasing mobile population, these next generation statements can be viewed on any PC, tablet, smartphone or other mobile Android or iOS device, tapping into the rapidly growing mobile device trend and taking mobile banking to a whole new realm.

Gaining the benefits of a closer look

At first glance, customers viewing a dynamic statement see an overview of their financial data represented by charts, graphs and account balances. Using a simple browser or a mobile app, the user can click on the different charts and graphs to view, for instance, a more detailed bar graph of expenses during a particular month. And from this bar graph, the user can click again to drill down even further to a list of the transactions that are included in the table. The customer then will sort these transactions by date, by summary or even by value.

Financial institutions and third-party print service providers have traditionally generated paper statements using transaction data, which is typically encrypted XML or similar data. Using exactly the same data sources and the right software solution, these organizations can now create interactive statements instead of—or in addition to—the paper statements that are typically produced in AFP or PDF formats.

Dynamic statements serve the ever-increasing customer demand to be better informed, and to view the information they want, how they want and when they want. A solid dynamic statement strategy will enhance the customer experience by providing:

• Deep interactive capabilities – customers can view their statement information with attractive graphs and charts that can be clicked on to provide detail that is more specific. Customers can drill down to a granular level and vary the views with a few clicks.
• A higher level of personalization – customers can decide what information they want to see and how they want to see it. For example, a credit card customer can choose to track his or her accumulated credit card points by a line or bar graph.
• Accessibility online or offline – customers can interact with their statement anytime, anywhere to manage their money at all times.
• Multichannel delivery options – dynamic statements can be viewed through any PC, tablet, smartphone and/or other mobile device.

Making every customer a priority

Additionally, while dynamic statements provide a customer with instant and comprehensive access to their transaction information that helps them better manage their own accounts and assets, these statements offer banks a number of advantages as well. Offering interactive statements enables a you to reach customers on the go and according to their preferences. The convenience, clarity and level of personalization that dynamic statements provide strengthen customer communications and the customer experience, which in turn is proven to foster loyalty.

Furthermore, dynamic statements offer banks a number of new capabilities that include:

• The ability to track the customer’s clicks and views, providing valuable insight into their interests and needs.
• The ability to use this data to present relevant, personalized offers and messages to customers — including videos—to closely target new products and services and build stronger relationships.
• The ability to interact with customers through personalized surveys and live chats, all of which can be incorporated into the dynamic statements.

Leveraging a customer communications management solution that can deliver the benefits of dynamic statements to your customers and your business will transform the customer experience. Next-generation dynamic statements will enable your bank to engage with customers on the go, in real-time—winning the loyalty and trust that is essential to long-term customer retention.

Mike Davies is Vice President EMEA North for GMC Software Technology, an award winning provider of multichannel and highly personalized document outputs for customer communication management. For more information please visit www.gmc.net