It’s an instant world and instant solutions are the norm of the day. Companies that understand this manage to stay way ahead of competitors. This is exactly what Financial Technology Firms, or FinTechs, the world over are doing.
Capgemini recently came out with the ‘World Retail Banking Report 2016’. This report is a survey basically aimed at gauging customers’ attitude towards financial service providers that they reach out to. Just to give you an idea about how big this survey is – Capgemini conducted this survey across 16,000 customers across 32 countries, including India.
The most striking result of the survey is that FinTechs have carved a place in banks’ core businesses. In fact, over 60% of customers worldwide have said that they use the services of FinTech companies. It is the young who are leading the way. It is interesting to see why FinTechs, which are mostly start-ups, are doing better than banks which have been around for generations.
Gen Y pushing FinTech Ahead: Penetration seems to be highest in emerging markets and among younger customers belonging to Gen Y. This is the impatient generation, the Millenials, born in 1980-2000, looking for a quicker alternative to anything and everything and at the same time, not accepting anything less than a top-quality product or service. If this generation is starting to reach out to FinTechs, it won’t be long before others follow suit.
FinTechs Value Customers: Many FinTechs, including BankBazaar.com, use the latest technology while ensuring that customer experience remains seamless. Gone are the days of customer ‘satisfaction’. Today, it is all about ‘customer delight’. It is important to ensure that every customer is delighted every time he/she interacts with the firm. This is the way the company pays the customer back for choosing the firm over the multitude of avenues available.
FinTechs Have Wide Range, High Standards: The Capgemini report states that FinTech firms provide a wide range of solutions for financial needs, ensuring that the customer has many avenues through which a relationship can be initiated. Every relationship is important to a FinTech firm and they ensure that systems are in place to make every transaction a pleasant experience. That is why firms such as BankBazaar.com give high importance to feedback from customers. We go beyond providing the ‘standard’ service levels. The more the FinTech upgrades its system to reflect what the customer wants, the better its progress over competitors.
FinTechs Keep It Simple, Quick: The basic fact is that banking infrastructure the world over is often not in line with the times. The cumbersome paperwork involved in carrying out processes puts off many a customer. This is exactly the reason why BankBazaar.com is working towards a paperless process. Everything today is online and maintaining a trail of papers is easier done here than offline. The quicker the paperwork is out of the way, the faster the customer will receive his/her product or service.
Today, BankBazaar.com has made it possible for a customer to upload his bank statements online. We will do more in the coming days. This way, the delay in document collection and subsequent approval processes is avoided. Customer-centric solutions are the best way forward for any firm that wants to stay in the race.
FinTechs are trusted: It is not without trust that FinTechs are being sought after. 87.9% of the customers globally somewhat or completely trust their FinTech service provider, says the Capgemini survey. This is the advantage that banks have always had over other financial service providers. However, all this seems to be changing thanks to FinTechs using analytics to provide the right products and services to their customers. Service innovation is the key to ensuring customer retention.
FinTechs Get More Referrals: All the above mentioned advantages of FinTechs have ensured that more customers are likely to refer a FinTech to their family or friend when compared to banks. The Capgemini survey says that customers refer FinTech mainly due to the ease of use that the firms provide, faster service and good customer experience. As said earlier, customer delight leads to more referrals and more business for a FinTech, reducing the acquisition costs for the firm and benefitting the customer in all respects. A top-of-the-mind recall is very important for the success of a FinTech.
FinTechs Understand Customers: FinTechs live and breathe customer experience. Firms such as BankBazaar.com understand that unless the customer is delighted, he/she doesn’t come back. Every concern of the customer needs to be addressed in the best possible manner so that the customer remains happy throughout.
FinTechs And Banks Should Be Partners: Banks are highly structured entities with the right processes in place. That is why the trust in them is very high globally. In fact, the Capgemini survey says that in India, 75.9% of customers trust their primary bank. This is precisely the reason why FinTechs should partner with banks. They should leverage each other’s strengths for mutual benefit.
At BankBazaar.com, we partner with most banks in the country to provide the best user experience when it comes to most financial products including loans, cards and insurance. Banks also want to partner with us because we ensure that transactions are done quickly and in a manner that satisfies customers.
Partnering with banks and other firms also means that we can offer more products to our customers. We are working towards that now. We want to enhance our product portfolio such that customers can get any financial product that they need, at a click of a button. In this respect, we recently added Mutual Funds to our portfolio. BankBazaar.com aims to provide a wide range of products and still give customers the best user experience in the fastest possible time.
At the end of the day, all that matters is whether the people (read customers), who give us our bread and butter, remain happy. That is the reason why FinTechs, with a great value proposition and offering superior customer experience, keep moving up the ladder at a quick pace. Mission and vision shouldn’t remain statements. The firms that implement them on the ground are the ones who are making waves, especially in the financial services space.