Bank & finance: Key omnichannel lessons from retail

How Nordic banks and insurance companies stand out

The Nordic financial sector has been at the forefront of embracing digital solutions. Early recognition of the need for seamless customer experiences has resulted in highly efficient omnichannel strategies. Banks in the region have integrated digital channels such as mobile apps and online banking with traditional branches and call centres, ensuring a smooth and cohesive customer journey.

Mobile banking apps play a key role in this strategy. Known for their user-friendly design and functionality, these apps maintain consistent messaging, branding, and customer service across both online and offline channels. By leveraging data and analytics, Nordic banks gain valuable insights into customer behaviour, enabling them to offer personalised services and improve customer satisfaction.

Security remains a top priority. These banks use branded, verified senders and robust encryption within their apps, offering customers peace of mind when interacting with their bank.

Retail’s omnichannel standard: A benchmark for financial services

Retailers have embraced omnichannel communication across social media, SMS, email, messaging platforms, phone, and chatbots, setting a standard for customer engagement. This approach has transformed service delivery, making interactions more personalised and efficient. Financial services can draw valuable lessons from the retail sector by adopting similar strategies to engage customers through their preferred channels.

What can financial service companies learn from retail?

The financial sector could benefit from expanding its communication channels beyond email, phone, and proprietary apps. Instant messaging platforms and chatbots offer new ways to connect with customers where they are. Research shows that consumers are 35 times more likely to open mobile messages than emails, making channels like RCS and WhatsApp ideal for non-sensitive communications, promotions, and surveys.

Younger audiences, in particular, prefer instant messaging apps due to their convenience and 24/7 availability. These platforms support multimedia messages, file sharing, and secure real-time interactions. While retail has successfully embraced messaging apps for communication, marketing, and sales, financial services can harness these tools to boost customer engagement.

Five messaging use cases for banks and insurance companies

1. Personalised communication: Instant messaging can deliver real-time updates, alerts, and notifications tailored to individual customers. Providing timely and relevant information builds trust and loyalty.

2. Product recommendations: Messaging and chat agents can analyse customer data to suggest suitable financial products, such as recommending a higher-interest savings account based on spending patterns.

3. Promotions and incentives: Banks can encourage customers to switch to messaging platforms by offering exclusive promotions. Messaging channels offer a faster, more direct way to share these opportunities while respecting customer privacy and preferences.

4. Customer feedback: Messaging is an effective tool for gathering immediate customer feedback. Insights from this feedback can drive improvements in products, services, and overall customer experience.

5. Customer support: Messaging apps like RCS and WhatsApp enable secure, real-time support. Customers can report lost cards or ask questions, receiving prompt responses from representatives through encrypted channels.

Key challenges and opportunities

While adopting new channels, banks and insurance companies face challenges similar to those in retail. Seamless integration across platforms, including SMS and its more advanced replacement, RCS, is essential to provide consistent customer experiences. Managing and safeguarding large amounts of customer data requires robust systems and compliance with data protection regulations. Despite these challenges, overcoming them presents an opportunity to enhance customer engagement and foster stronger relationships.

ABOUT LEKAB
LEKAB provides advanced mobile messaging services, including messaging applications, APIs, and software for process automation. Our solutions help businesses optimise communication with customers and employees through mobile channels, enhancing productivity, availability, and customer experience.

If you want to learn more about how LEKAB’s solutions can support your business, please get in touch with us.