Study highlights importance of human interaction to banking customers

Invoca's new report, 'The State of the Consumer Banking Experience', is based on the findings of a survey of more than 1,200 adults in the U.S who have taken out a loan of $15,000 or more in the last three years. The aim of the study was to understand how consumers' interactions with a bank or financial institution was reflected in their financial decisions.

A highlight of the report was that, despite huge investments in digital advertising by financial institutions, consumers continue to rely heavily on offline interactions when making important decisions about their finances. When considering a loan, in-person meetings and telephone calls were their preferred method of contact. In fact, more than a quarter (26%) of consumers made at least four telephone calls to financial institutions before deciding which to use and 72% made at least two.

However, with many channels available to today's consumer, three quarters expect a seamless experience when switching between email, online, telephone and SMS. More than three-quarters (76%) of respondents to Invoca's survey said the use at least two difference channels to communicate with their bank during an average month, and 37% use three or more.

"Financial marketers are grappling with a host of challenges that impact the customer experience like internal silos, lack of unified data, poor attribution, and incomplete martech stacks," said Kyle Christensen, SVP marketing at Invoca. "This study brings to light what's at stake for financial institutions that fail to keep up with the demands of today's mobile consumer. While it can seem like a massive undertaking, those that begin to unify the customer experience across channels will have a considerable advantage in 2017 and beyond."

Tags: banking, channels, communication, finance, telephone