We aim to help marketers offer the best customer experience they can and continue to build their brand equity during this time of crisis.This week's themes are: Banks Efforts Appreciated – Breaking the Mould – Out and About
Banks Efforts Appreciated
This week we see a record high of 79% of people feeling that banks are doing enough to help customers during the pandemic. Continued communication from banks, both in paid media, particularly TV advertising, and through owned channels, like email, together with a combination of many different messages, demonstrating what banks are doing, is making people feel reassured. It will be important to keep this up as the landscape continues to change.
Breaking the Mould
Only 51% of paid communication experiences were positive this week, down from 68% last week, as some campaigns, like the Lloyds black horse work, show signs of wearout. On a positive note the Lloyds campaign for mental health, tailored to coronavirus, demonstrates how banks can tackle topics beyond immediate banking needs by showing how they can help with related issues. “It was an ad about how they are helping people with mental health problems. it was great to hear…happy that they are caring about the health of their customers.” Meanwhile, response to the light-hearted “Apes” Barclaycard work indicates that humour can play well at the moment “The gorilla ad. Very funny made me laugh. Best bank advert at the moment.” The challenge for banks is how to truly differentiate. As Professor Hugh Wilson, Warwick Business School, urged this week in a webinar, “riff on your purpose.”
Out and About
As lockdown eases and people go out and about, there is the opportunity for banks to use branch assets, such as window posters, to communicate with customers. The watch-out this week is that there are indications that ATMs are being poorly maintained. Banks should consider re-designing the post lockdown ATM experience (amongst others) in order to prevent queues and keep customers safe. For example, limit transactions to cash only.
In summary
- Keep reassuring with high presence and relevant messages
- Riff on your purpose to truly differentiate
- Consider re-designing customer experiences, like the ATM
Contributor:
Mark Thompson, Experience Director & Kaat Defreyne, Senior Experience Executive