Banking and financial services organizations can see the customer loyalty landscape going into 2025 is more slippery than ever.
Consumers want personalization, but each generation has different preferences. They have unique ideas about how interactions should happen, both in person and online. 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.
The industry can make big improvements in the customer journey. This will help it succeed in a more competitive market. In TTEC's new strategy guide, "CX Trends 2025," we explore the changing customer experience (CX) landscape. The guide highlights five ways that customer experience is evolving, and how those changes play into banking contact center trends.
To succeed in 2025 and beyond, financial services and banking contact centers will need strategies that embraces data and insights.
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 will be harder in 2025, since people know more about their choices. New companies offer great deals that attract customers and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new rule makes it easy for customers to leave.
The new CFPB rule makes it easy to transfer personal financial information between institutions and consumers can request this transfer at no cost.
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.
