Qualtrics Industry Research: Real-Time Listening and Human Touch Key to Financial Services Industry

March 29, 2023 at 09:00 AM EDT

Real-time, omni-channel listening and data analytics key to delivering impact on customer experience in financial services

Despite increase in digital self-service, human touch continues to profoundly influence customer experience

Leading financial services organizations globally are investing in real-time, omni-channel listening and data analytics capabilities to stay close to customers in times of economic volatility, according to new research from Qualtrics (Nasdaq: XM). The findings show that while a majority (59%) of financial services industry executives believe customer experience (CX) is a “critical priority” there are differences between firms that have seen improvements in CX (leaders) versus those that have not (laggards).

Amid the volatility driven by sharply rising interest rates and a string of the largest American and European bank failures since 2008, financial institutions that are able to build and nurture trust with their customers by communicating clearly and delivering intuitive, empathetic, effortless experiences will increasingly create distance between themselves and the rest of the industry. To better understand how CX impacts business results and the factors that distinguish CX leaders from laggards in the industry, Qualtrics surveyed over 400 executives - ranging from director level to c-suite - working in financial services across global hubs in North America, Europe, Asia and South America. The research reflects the attributes behind successful CX programs and how the experiences firms deliver impact their results.

Real-Time Listening Helps Financial Institutions Respond to Customers Quickly and Effectively

As concerns about recent bank failures linger, it is important for financial services organizations to evolve their CX practices to leverage all of the data at their disposal to deliver experiences that engender confidence and trust. This means incorporating unstructured text and voice data, in addition to more traditional survey based listening, into their experience management programs.

According to the Qualtrics research, CX leaders are investing more in their listening capabilities than CX laggards:

83% of leaders versus 52% of laggards report having systems that gather customer feedback outside of surveys
88% of leaders versus 57% of laggards report incorporating data from text- or voice-based data sources in their experience programs
89% of leaders versus 54% of laggards report using data modeling to predict customer outcomes like attrition and likelihood to renew.

Customer experience is similarly important for financial institutions that serve other businesses. The majority (90%) of B2B respondents strongly or somewhat agree that delivering a better CX leads to more market share, while 94% strongly or somewhat agree that CX is a significant driver of buying decisions for clients.

A Human Touch is Especially Important During Times of Uncertainty

While many tasks in financial services have been digitized, human interaction - especially in support of high-complexity, high-friction moments - continues to have a disproportionate influence on customer experience. Interacting in branches (29%), messaging with a human (21%) and speaking on the phone with a human (16%) are the three most important touch points associated with influencing an organization’s CX metrics.

“When it comes to personal or business finances, feelings play a major role, so having tools to listen to customers and analyze emotion and intent, and then acting on insights uncovered are key to improving customer experience and loyalty,” said Christopher Colley, global head of industry advisory for Financial Services at Qualtrics. “It is crucial that financial services institutions look to maximize value from their customer-focused investments by harnessing data-driven insights to combat the historic challenges facing the industry.”

About Qualtrics

Qualtrics, the leader and creator of the experience management category, is a cloud-native software provider that helps organizations quickly identify and resolve points of friction across all digital and human touchpoints in their business – so they can retain their best customers and employees, protect their revenue, and drive profitability. More than 18,750 organizations around the world use Qualtrics’s advanced AI to listen, understand, and take action. Qualtrics uses its vast universe of experience data to form the largest database of human sentiment in the world. Qualtrics is co-headquartered in Provo, Utah and Seattle, and operates out of 28 offices globally. To learn more, please visit qualtrics.com.