Report: Self-service banking – the key to customer acquisition and retention

Written by Alex Hamilton
2nd August 2021

The ways in which customers are interacting with their banks is undergoing a fundamental shift. Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic providing an accelerant, consumers have drifted away from traditional banking touch points and towards more fluid digital channels.

While necessitated by the closing of branches and the reduction in contact, it has exposed an unprecedented number of users to the potential of alternative methods of self-service banking.

Consumers have become reluctant to visit branches, with 26% saying they want to avoid face-to-face banking entirely going forward. The average user is moving from bank branches to 24/7 access to their accounts – which means they expect a branch-level of instant personalised support and seamless solving of issues.

The truth of the matter is that oftentimes they aren’t finding it.

Financial institutions have had to pivot quickly to provide the levels of service their customers expect. They are experiencing unprecedented levels of interaction, and that scramble shows.

While 70% of consumers are using self-service channels to report problems, only 9% of users are managing to fully resolve their issues without having to speak to an agent.

An ability to solve financial problems effectively and quickly should be the cornerstone of a bank’s customer retention strategy. Turning customers away at the teller’s desk would have been unthinkable a few decades ago, so the same must apply when that customer is connecting via a digital channel.

In this deep dive industry report, produced in collaboration with Zendesk, FinTech Futures investigates the ways that self-service banking has changed over the past 24 months, and how financial institutions can – and should – react to the new needs of their customers.

Read the paper to discover: