How financial institutions can lower the cost to serve and improve customer experience

 Across the financial services industry, organisations are grappling with a complex dichotomy. Customer expectations are soaring; but so too is the pressure to reduce operational costs. Is it possible to simultaneously reduce costs and enhance CX? 

As leading organisations are proving, the answer is yes. Let’s take a look at how they’re striking the balance.

Lowering the cost to serve in finance

The cost to serve customers in financial services varies wildly depending on the nature of the service. But it’s safe to say that, across the board, costs have been rising in recent years. In financial planning, for example, the average cost to serve is around $4,000-$4,500, covering everything from financial planners’ salaries to operational costs and licensing fees.

Typically, the bulk of costly, repetitive customer interactions come from high-volume, low-margin customers. And this is the space where the biggest opportunities lie for reducing costs. 

For these types of interactions, leaders across the industry are veering away from high-touch, manual channels toward digital and automated solutions. This can include shifting routine enquiries from call centres or within branches to digital self-service channels; or automating basic account maintenance tasks. All while balancing the complex compliance requirements of the financial sector.

Banks need to be careful that their cost optimisation strategies don’t impact CX, particularly in this era of perpetual dissatisfaction with financial institutions. According to this recent report from Salesforce, only 15% of customers say their bank or financial institution exceeds their expectations for actionable insights and tips that improve their financial health. What’s more, over half (56%) say their bank doesn’t proactively anticipate their financial needs. What if financial institutions could free up bankers’ time to deliver on these expectations while, at the same time, making it easier for customers to do business with them? 

Balancing customer expectations and compliance

Financial services organisations can easily and cost-effectively set up systems and processes to enable greater self-service and automation. Platforms like Docusign Intelligent Agreement Management (IAM) for Financial Services are designed to connect and automate key steps in banking agreement processes, driving efficiencies at scale. 

For example, say a customer needs to change the address associated with their bank account. They start filling out a Web Form. Based on the information entered, Docusign Maestro uses predefined conditional logic to determine next steps and automatically pre-fill data fields in the template to minimise errors. If necessary, the customer receives a prompt to upload documents or verify their identity. Once the form is complete, the data flows to the relevant banking systems or CRM, where fields are updated automatically. 

This is just one example of how, with the right technology in place, account maintenance tasks are streamlined and simplified for the benefit of both the customer and the bank. The customer enjoys a much more seamless experience – and the bank saves money on administration costs. 

The bottom line? Improving CX pays off

Need any more convincing that investing in CX is good for the banking bottom line? Consider this insight from Accenture: banks with the highest advocacy scores (top 20%) have grown their revenues 1.7x faster than those with the lowest scores.

To learn more about how Docusign IAM can be used to streamline customer interactions while optimising operational costs, get in touch.