How to Cope with Customer Experience in the Fintech Industry?

Would you like to be privy to the difference between ‘customer experience’ and ‘customer journey’ before going deeper into the subject? That’s it, let’s clarify the meaning of these concepts first!

If you’ve read our previous article on customer experience (CX or UX), you should remember its distinction from customer interface (CI or UI). And this time we’re going to get you acquainted with another item from the business terminology list — customer journey (CJ). What’s that? Metaphorically speaking, CJ is the tailor-made mold for anticipating and shaping the roadmap of your future customer experience: from acquisition to conversion and retention. So, as you see, it’s a predetermined and usually repeated set of actions used to set up communication between a business and its customers. So, while CX refers to the overall interaction between the customer and a certain brand, CJ is much narrower — it’s the data ground for defining the user behaviour on the site or within an app if treating it from the digital perspective.

Why do you need to invest in CJ and CX in the fintech industry? What’s unique about working out the customer experience strategy here? If your product/service greatly relies on digitisation, and that’s the case with fintech, as a business owner, you should know how customers use it, which marketing initiatives work the best for them, in what way to keep their loyalty and satisfaction level high, etc. All these questions can’t be answered without solving the riddle of how to improve customer experience. And those who are through with the task are the lucky ones. In fact, in 2020, the global fintech companies have finally admitted the role of improved customer experience: 80% of interviewed claimed that to be one of their top-3 business priorities. In 2021, the fintech innovation keeps this tendency going as those who fail to make some headway in CX will notoriously find themselves in an ambush.

Eager to avoid this pitiful outcome? Then continue reading the article to get your current/future CX strategy evaluated right beforehand!

What Matters in Fintech Customer Experience the Most?

If you’ve absorbed the explanation above to the full, you know that the level of CX much correlates with covering your target audience’s expectations and staying compatible with fintech trends. Thus, to subject your analysis results to the critical lens filtering, take the S-O-R framework as a tool to start with. This model allows measuring the firm’s offerings in accordance with its value proposal and clients’ response to the service. The latter can be either positive (good review on the product, return to the service, purchase/order action, etc.) or negative (giving up using a service, loss of trust, or negative feedback). No doubt, you’d like to end up with positive acclaim, and Dashdevs recommends a quick check-up of your software product through 5 criteria:

1. Ease of use

The fintech meaning is tightly connected to the idea of user-friendliness. Nobody in their right mind agrees on struggling hard across the service, even though it brings value. So, the first rule to elaborate on the CX is to not complicate things. For instance, all customer experience icons should be accurately designed, visually appealing, and devoid of any confusing interpretation. The same relates to conveying messages and navigation convenience. All in all, the clearer your fintech app’s or site’s interface looks, the better it is. For this, consider the factor of perceived ease of use (PEOU), or the extent of users’ comfort and confidence when dealing with the fintech service. The latest research confirms that it stands for almost 63% of decisions in favor of choosing and using the particular mobile payment system. Besides, think thoroughly about perceived risk and trust as two other leverages that balance this equation as a part of the Technology Acceptance Model. It entails that the main task is to make your user feel safe and sound during the CX. In terms of fintech, this encompasses high-level data protection in the first place.

2. Exclusive features

The variety is great, but don’t overdo it by turning yourself into the blind chaser for features. Many businesses that focus on ‘doing it all’ at once are prone to failure because they can’t be effective and the best in all. In the long run, to stay in the market, they’re finally forced to get rid of the redundant and leave only the first-priority features, doing more with less. That’s why better take this advice by Dashdevs seriously and learn from others’ mistakes! Still, your remaining priorities should be in line with your customers’ needs — get familiar with the fintech initiatives of 2021 to pick up your product’s features among the best.

3. Daily problem-solving

Another significant criterion of your UX is its capability to troubleshoot the daily users’ issues and make their life easier. Hence, come back to what is fintech and remind yourself that its essence isn’t in creating banking infrastructure solutions for their own sake but in serving customers through listening to their needs. Need an example to feel the difference? Let’s look at Rise. In September 2021, this newly appeared fintech leader got 114m during the Series A round. Note that this firm has been primarily positioned as the B2C expert in money management, while the CX side of the service hasn’t been elaborated well. And in what way did it succeed then? By comprehending the needs of the financial world and restructuring its business model to the B2B platform that now helps other fintechs build. Have you ever thought about your fintech product as one with unique roots?

4. Excellent customer support

If your first association with modern customer service is automation, and your brain hints you at chatbots, virtual assistants, or an email option, be sure that’s exactly the thing that a lot of fintech companies in the USA and all over the world do. Does it mean you need to abandon it just to stay authentic? No, indeed! But, please, don’t overestimate the power of AI technology in digital banking! Recollect Robinhood’s flop — even being the global fintech player, the app has proved ineffective in customer support by shifting to long-term email bureaucracy instead of quick problem-solving over the phone. Consequently, though automated customer care is undeniably useful, a great number of present-day customers prefer to be treated in person. At least add this communication alternative for those who require talking to a real individual to handle the financial issues or need some guidance in adjusting to the new financial services provider.

5. Loyalty intentions

User acquisition is only the start of your CJ, so be proactive and target the trust-maintaining tactics for motivating your customers to return to your service over and over again. In the post-pandemic time, the easiest way to get close to this aim is to guarantee the highest level of data security and privacy. It implies that if the user feels sure about that, their trust in the fintech product will proportionally go up, and vice versa. The fresh study on behalf of China’s first digital-only bank WeBank also confirms this implication, revealing that 2 in 5 questions mention the feeling of safety in banking operations as the number one driver for choosing the fintech app. The other reasons are put in the background there, so that’s the aspect to scrutinise well before going deeper into the CX.

Latest Trends in CX: Ready to Broaden Your Horizon?

If your software product is longing to access top fintech stocks, the account for digital banking transformation strategy is a must. Have you worked hard on data handling and cloud-based tools, AI & ML implementation, or accuracy of marketing analytics? Seems that you’ve customised your service enough? To be 100% sure, go to the list below and recheck yourself once again!

Fintech Industry Focus of 2021

According to Forbes, there are 5 fintech-related trends of the year that deserve your attention while considering CX:

1. Focusing on serving. Don’t become another fintech seller! Instead, stand apart from the rest by directing your marketing tactics and resources toward comprehending and satisfying users’ needs.
2. Creating an emotional rapport. In our busy and information-overloaded environment, customers value the brands that make a difference by avoiding intrusive advertising and providing emotional care through messages, design, and overall engagement with clients.
3. ‘Curing a disease’ instead of working with symptoms. Just giving a functional kit to the customer means only momentous addressing of the need, while the CX-centric approach demands coming with the solution and leading the client towards the goal achievement as many times as they need.
4. Dividing the CJ into fragments. This is a good way to bring process optimisation and ensure a smooth flow of customer experiences with the service. Also, fragmentation adds much to human error reduction, speed of service, and rate of customer enjoyment at the end.
5. Being disruptive. While traditional banks make a big deal over legacy and are usually slow in the integration of changes, the task of digital fintechs is to leverage technology and surpass their industry rivals with the simultaneous speed and efficiency of service delivery.

Now scale your business product (or its idea) from 0 to 5 and identify the areas for improvement. Isn’t everything so bright in your case?

Top 7 Fintech Products that Amaze Users with Their CX

If you need some more inspiration on how to improve your fintech product in terms of CX, Dashdevs suggests looking through the following top-list:

• Revolut. Look at this app if you wish to create a clear-cut design, understandable user behaviour flow, and high-quality onboarding experience. As for the latter, Revolut amazes with quick virtual card activation and customised color schemes for the physical card. What’s more, the mobile platform invites its users to the common social involvement activity that revolves around charity donation for WWF, Save the Children, or ILGA-Europe.
• Google Pay. Aren’t you much surprised to see it in our selection? But haven’t you ever thought about what’s behind the app’s success from the CX side? Simple language, a lack of professional jargon, and an absence of redundancy result in the easy understanding of the service on the part of newbies. In addition, smooth navigation and easy registration procedure also contribute to the ongoing service flourishment amongst the users worldwide.
• Mint. Though there are a lot of mobile solutions for track spending and budget control, this app is one of the few that shows true care in educating users on how to use its services. For instance, the newcomers can start their acquaintance with the app by watching a 30-second video that briefly outlines its key features and usage peculiarities. Isn’t that smart?
• Shine Bank App. This app is a prominent example of turning service simplicity into a competitive advantage, so have a look at it! As its TA consists of freelancers of different ages, the action-focused design is a wise decision to strengthen users’ appeal to the service. Moreover, another strong facet of the Shine Bank app is the grounded feedback collection, which isn’t limited to the Love Funnel functionality but also gathers the opinions of disappointed users for further service amelioration. Great job!
• Cash App. Here’s the perfect case of luring customers to the app with interesting design decisions. The geo variety, the convenient preview of its hallmarks, and the simple sign-up process explain why this fintech product continues to gain more popularity within the global banking community.
• Coinbase. The first impression about the app is often done based on the welcome perks it presents to the new users. In this light, Coinbase sets a good example with its step-by-step video instruction, pleasant design, rapid account verification through email, and 5 bitcoin gift after downloading the app. Plus, the regular news sharing within the app keeps its users aware of the latest crypto fluctuations and smarter in their investment actions.
• ITTI Digital App. This banking solution astonishes with its exquisite value as it’s the rarity app devoted to the employees’ usage after the analysis of their usual end-user hardships, daily routine, and needs. The taste of serving the underserved, right?

And What Are You Planning to Do to Increase CX?

Being a part of the fintech community, you’ve got no option to mellow out! Instead, you’re to constantly work on improving the customer experience of your TA and have a redo based on their shifted demands. Ready to take after the best? Contact Dashdevs, and we’ll help you with both fintech consulting and development!