While easy doesn’t drive bank selection, easier banking absolutely drives subsequent relationship growth. Business grows when the bank is easy and shrinks when it isn’t.
At AFP 2017 in San Diego, West Monroe Partners set out to understand if any of the banks with booths on the exhibit hall were beginning to set themselves apart with marketing messaging depicting what customers want – an easier experience.
Our review included visiting twenty-two bank booths on the exhibit floor and reviewing their booth messaging for key components of being easier to work with. Some banks interacted with us for discussions on the topic and three of them verbally said they had clear plans to invest in better customer experiences.
None of the banks distinguished themselves with Easier Banking messaging.
Few banks used more than one key message on their booth highlighting being easy to work with and no banks were clearly using “easy” as a method to differentiate themselves from the pack.
I will be visiting banks’ booths again next week at the 2018 AFP conference in Chicago to see if banks have adapted to this customer imperative and will write next week with my findings.
Mike Anderson is a senior principal in West Monroe Partners’ Financial Services practice. He has more than 30 years of experience working as a banker in treasury management leadership roles, including top executive leadership, product management, sales, and operations.