By Fiona Coleman, co-Founder at QStory 

The latest Customer Experience survey comes out and shows that financial services have done well during the pandemic – but as leading players are challenger banks, established players need to keep working

The latest KPMG survey has found that overall in the UK customer experience has improved for the third year running, despite the presence of COVID-19 presenting brands across all sectors with real challenges. The pandemic has also seen a shift in customer expectations, and as a result an acceleration in technology trends. One of the leading sectors was financial services, coming out second in the research, behind grocery retail.

Whilst it was true that the financial services sector has, on the whole, reacted well to the pandemic and the challenges of having an entire customer services team working remotely or from home in many cases, there is still work to be done.

Looking at the research the two outstanding financial services companies were challenger banks, First Direct and Starling Bank. This highlights the issue that many established and larger financial services organisations are facing. These new, agile organisations have been set up with customers at the front of their strategy.

They are based on customer’s expectations of rapid issue resolution, an effective and efficient digital and online customer support program and not having to wait to speak to a bank representative. If the financial services sector as a whole is to build on the good work that has undoubtedly been undertaken during the pandemic, then larger organisations will have to look to technology in order to support their customers and cut churn to challenger banks, as Fiona Coleman, co-founder of QStory explains.

“It is really positive that the financial services sector has come out so positively of what has been a very challenging period. It speaks volumes to the work that has been undertaken across the board that it has come out so high. However, digging a little deeper shows where the challenges lie for the more established and large organsations lie.

“The pandemic has meant that customer expectations have changed (if they hadn’t already prior to COVID-19), and are now searching for organisations that can deliver on these expectations. Customer service has to be at the top of the everyone’s agenda and that will be harder for some than others, with particularly the larger more established firms having to turn some of their old processes on their heads. This is made more complicated with a hybrid workforce.

“Making this transition is not always straightforward. It requires changes to technology, infrastructure and attitude. Most importantly, businesses need software platforms which ensure remote/hybrid working staff have all the support and oversight they would have received in the office, whilst ensuring that those back in the office are not forgotten.

“When this is put in place even those with the large amounts of legacy customer experience technology can improve their customer service quickly, and begin to reduce churn of customers to the smaller, agile challenger banks,” concluded Coleman.