A Little More Magic, A Little Less Friction
As the BFSI industry continues to innovate and re-imagine digital customer experience, are brands successfully driving ROI? John Woods, CRO at Zenus Bank reminds the industry that when demonstrating ROI, it’s important to present performance numbers too.
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In the UK, ease of banking is taken for granted, but this experience is not matched globally. Zenus aims to take banking beyond borders. It distinguishes itself from other digital banks, wallets, or fintech by possessing an international banking license. This feature enables them to offer individuals and businesses in more than 180 countries the opportunity to open their own bank account rather than a virtual or sub-account tied to another entity.
It’s a small but significant distinction that delivers substantial advantages, including enhanced financial freedom and expedited, cost-effective international banking services. John Woods, Chief Revenue Officer of Zenus Bank, said, “We live in a fantastic time for financial UX and CX. Twenty years ago, you had to commission expensive competitor and user research.
Today it’s easy to acquire quantified and qualified research for financial services business globally. With each individual task scored it becomes very easy to identify friction points and how to improve them.”
According to Woods, digital banks have effectively shaped the media narrative, showcasing their superior customer experience compared to traditional banks. However, both sides can benefit from adopting successful practices and innovations, leading to further advancements in the industry as a whole. “There’s a lot that can be cross-pollinated.”
Over two billion people will use online banking by 2024, and the global digital banking platform market is expected to grow by 11.3% in 2026. Seamless digital transformation and experience has become an inevitable strategic shift across the BFSI industry today, and it’s for the best. But is the ROI still on track?
Advancing technology acts as a catalyst for change, enabling BFSI institutions to adapt to evolving customer needs, optimise operations, mitigate risks, and embrace new business models in an increasingly digital and interconnected world. And moreover, with the increasing pace of intelligent technology, innovation is going to be the cornerstone of every success.
“New AI-driven tools are making it easier than ever to undertake sentiment analysis and draw our measurable and actionable insights. When demonstrating ROI, it’s important to present both the performance numbers and measures of how the user has been left feeling, even if this is done with anecdotes,” added Woods.
But how can companies do better at measuring ROI on banking CX efforts? Pro Tip: Don’t start with the tech. “Work out the customer and employee experience you want to deliver and then investigate what is available to deliver it. The conversation invariably evolves into selecting one provider that can do everything you want to a degree, or selecting best-of-breed parts and configuring it yourself – each approach has its pros and cons,” said Woods.
As access to insights, technology, and tools becomes easier for everyone, user expectations are continuously rising while both direct and indirect competitors are enhancing their experiences. This creates a demand for constant improvement.
“To get the biggest return on your efforts, for both you and your users, focus on the magic moments, these are the interactions that users deem the most important. Aim to heighten the satisfaction of these experiences and look to minimise the friction on the lesser moments. This will have the biggest overall impact and help drive the best ROI,” said Woods.
