Banking and financial service customers today have enhanced information at their fingertips via the Internet, and expect a connected business that instantly responds to their needs. And customers familiar with the digital landscape have high expectations regarding differentiated services. As a result, customer preferences for online/mobile platform services are rising while face-to-face interactions are decreasing.
But customers still want to engage with a personal banker when dealing with serious financial decisions, opening new accounts and making major transactions.
In response to the declining foot traffic the financial services industry is transforming. Finance companies are remodeling their brick-and-mortar locations and reinventing their customer experiences to be more welcoming, more accommodating and more valuable, and therefore more likely to get customers to come in, stay longer and return often. It’s a strategy similar to what we’re seeing in brick-and-mortar retail stores, as they evolve their in-house digital experiences to increase ‘stickiness.’
Starting with a warm, digital welcome. With strategic use of digital signage in the front of house, finance companies can keep their customers engaged, informed and even entertained. Digital signage enhances the customer’s experience in several ways: It could be by providing way-finding directions, product and service information, the latest company news, or infotainment to reduce stress for customers waiting in line to do a financial transaction or speak with a representative. There’s never a shortage of relevant, current content for a finance company and digital content can be created and managed remotely, even across branches, or down to individual displays.
Finance companies are using digital signage creatively too. Some use large format displays or video walls to show compelling content while their customers relax in coffee-lounge areas staffed with baristas. Others are offering displays in specified areas for their business customers to use for client presentations. Still others use dual-sided displays near the front window, with content facing out to attract passersby and content facing in to engage customers further. It’s all to drive the value of the in-person experience.
Engage customers with a personalized experience. Commercial displays with embedded Beacon and Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE) technology can enable individualized messaging to customers that have the business’s app on their smartphones – the most effective types of messaging make the customer’s immediate experiences easier and richer. In addition, displays equipped with touch screen technology can enable interactive way-finding and invite customers to learn more about the products, services or company.
Spectacular displays make a grand impression. Standard functional displays are used as digital signage, digital posters and interactive screens. But there is also a competitiveness between banks and financial services companies concerned about the image they are projecting to customers. LG OLED, Ultra Stretch and Direct View LED displays offer a key advantage in creating a statement of prestige, client-focused strategy and savvy marketing.
Next week we’ll get into how finance companies are revamping their appearance by reducing desktop clutter and improving workspace efficiency. Stay tuned.