Customers need online banking to be just as good as branch visits – Vee24 Live Engagement can make it even better.

One of the many conveniences of banking today is that it’s largely self-service. Customers can easily withdraw money at an ATM, use their phones to write checks, complete transfers, make payments, and organize their finances, all without having to interact with a customer service agent, and for the most part, consumers are happy that way.  However, many banking services still require a customer to visit a branch in person.  A 2017 JD Powers study shows that 71% of all bank customers visited a branch an average of fourteen times over the past year.  Most significantly, 78% of new bank accounts are opened in a branch, as they require visual customer identification and interaction with a bank associate.  With bank customers increasingly preferring an online approach to banking, it can be important for companies to consider how to extend the customer service of in-person banking to digital channels.

Consumers want online banking to provide the same level of interaction and service that is popular in retail eCommerce, but only a fifth of financial institutions currently have some form of live engagement on their website.  This create a significant differentiation for financial services institutions that do offer live online engagement with an advisor, for their customers.

There are many benefits to adding a live engagement platform like Vee24’s to online banking, the simplest being that customers prefer it over any other form of communication.  Live Video Chat has the highest customer satisfaction rating of all channels for customers to interact with their banks, including text, phone and social media.  92% of customers reported satisfaction with using a live chat feature to seek advice or solutions to a problem, particularly one that enables them to reach their advisor, outside of business hours. Consumers increasingly believe that a business needs to be available 24/7 and live chat brings a company closer to that goal. As Bart de Saedeleir, Head of Regional Advice Centers at KBC Bank says, the Vee24 live engagement platform allows KBC to “provide our clients with excellent personal advice without them having to leave the comfort of their house and within broader opening hours than we could deliver through face to face client contact in our retail branches.” A Live Engagement platform, such as Vee24, allows financial services companies to use live text, voice and video combined with screen share and co-browse to fully identify a new customer, check multiple forms of identification through 2-way live video and voice chat and open a new account, without visiting a branch office.  Personalized advisory service for high-net-worth customers with busy lifestyles, using video engagement to connect a spouse or partner from a different location if required for a timely investment decision, can be a significant differentiator.  Walking a customer through their entire loan or insurance purchase journey online, with co-browsing, joint form-fill and electronic signatures, not only streamlines the process for the customer but allows for product experts to be shared across many regions thus creating significant cost savings.

http://www.jdpower.com/press-releases/jd-power-2017-us-retail-banking-satisfaction-study

https://thefinancialbrand.com/23258/live-online-chat-for-banks-credit-unions/

https://www.inc.com/nicolas-cole/the-power-of-live-chat-5-surprising-statistics-that-show-how-consumers-want-thei.html