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:Be Reachable – Leverage Email – Find your Voice
Be Reachable
With the prospect of “normal” life being within reach, the expectation has grown that normal opening hours and levels of service will return. The mismatch between rapidly changing perceptions and a slower reality is creating frustration for some. This week only 66% of participants feel that banks are doing enough to help customers during the pandemic, down from 73% last week. During the long road ahead, our data shows that it is important for banks to be reachable to customers, particularly through branches and call centres.
Leverage Email
Lockdown has forced both customers and banks to be creative, leading to an enhanced use for certain key owned touchpoints. 14% of people have reported an email experience with banks during the last 16 weeks, versus 10% in 2019. Email has proven to be effective and offers an opportunity for transparent communication on what banks are planning to do (for example in terms of branch opening hours) and to set the right expectations for customers. “It was a helpful email about fraud and staying safe. Grateful that the bank are looking after my interests.” Nationwide | Email | Fairly Positive | Much more likely to choose | Very Relevant. “I received an email from the bank to make me aware of the practical support with work and money. The email surprised me but also got me interested.” Barclays | Email | Fairly Positive | Slightly more likely to choose | Very Relevant
Find your Voice
Paid reach has gone down from 55% 3 weeks ago to 35% this week, as COVID-19 related messaging shows signs of becoming increasingly less engaging (59% of paid experiences were positive weeks 9-12 vs 52% weeks 13-16). Even the brands that were most successful with their COVID-related messaging have cut back. Now is the time for the banks to find their voice again and define what makes them distinctive. For example, NatWest is back with the theme of “Money Management”, following on from their highly successful Q1 campaign.
In Summary
- Be reachable through branches and call centres
- Leverage email
- Find your distinctive voice again
Contributor:
Mark Thompson, Experience Director & Kaat Defreyne, Senior Experience Executive