Banking and financial services organizations can see the customer loyalty landscape going into 2025 is more slippery than ever.
Consumers expect personalization, but each generation has its own nuanced preferences about how interactions should play out in person and across digital channels. Loyalty is lagging: Nearly half (46%) of adults are open to either switching banks or using multiple institutions concurrently for various financial needs. High-income and tech-savvy consumers patronize three or more financial institutions on average.
Prioritizing loyalty is key when planning for the year ahead. Other areas that merit strategic and investment consideration: AI and omnichannel.
It’s on these three fronts that the industry stands to make the greatest gains to improve the customer journey and thrive in an increasingly competitive environment. In TTEC’s new strategy guide, “CX Trends 2025: 5 ways customer experience ushers in a new era,” we explore the evolving CX landscape, emerging technology, and the growing role of data and insights to inform strategy in 2025.
Choice abounds
Banking and financial services organizations know that the next frontier is mastering customer loyalty. Time-worn strategies no longer work.
That’s because the game keeps changing. Retaining customers long term will be harder in 2025 because people are better informed about their options, new market entrants offer enticing value propositions, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s latest rule makes it easier than ever for customers to say “Bye” before defecting to the competition.
The new CFPB rule facilitates transfer of personal financial information from one institution to another, at no cost to consumers who request it.
Banks have always been aware of customer churn, but never fully able to address it. Given the newfound ease of switching and the level of competition, it’s a new game. There’s a lot of focus on loyalty now and I see it increasing in the months to come.
To win loyalty, strategy needs to focus on service and other dimensions to differentiate a company. How we talk to customers matters. Ethos matters. Some 77% of consumers are motivated to buy from companies committed to making the world a better place, according to Harvard Business School. Consumers want the businesses they patronize to be forthcoming about their values and priorities.
AI and omnichannel’s growing role
In 2025, banks and financial institutions will experiment further to integrate AI into the contact center and the entire CX ecosystem. Banks have not done this very well in the past so there’s a real opportunity here to up their game. Instead of siloed teams and processes for mortgage accounts, credit card holders, and checking accounts, AI can bring all the data together so banks can reap the benefits of a single view of the customer.
The vast majority, 72%, of CX leaders expect AI agents to be an extension of their brand’s identity, reflecting its values and voice, according to Zendesk.
Data’s role in CX is only going to grow more crucial, so it’s essential you have systems in place that allow data to flow seamlessly between brands and customers across all channels. Contact centers traditionally tend to be very segmented, especially in the banking space and across product families. But in 2025, thanks to a concerted effort by many institutions and investments in technology, those siloes will break down.
In TTEC’s new strategy guide, we identify top forces CX leaders face in the year ahead across banking, financial services, and all industries. The guide highlights opportunities to elevate CX and contains a few prognostications. To learn more, download the “CX Trends 2025” strategy guide.
