Financial institutions must be deliberate in their service to customers, urges TEMITOPE FASORANTI

Almost everyone has a tale of placing an order for products based on a picture or a service promise and getting something sub-standard. While this is most prevalent in the e-commerce sector, we must begin to ask same of our service providers – is what I ordered different from what I got?

Nigeria’s financial inclusion rate has grown steadily in the last 10 years from 53.7% in 2012 to 74% in 2023 according to the apex Bank and Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA) reports. This means that bank accounts and Fintech wallets are fast becoming a necessity for all Nigerians. But the question remains, is your financial partner delivering what you ordered?

Let’s start by examining financial institutions and their commitment to delivering what is ordered.

Generally speaking, financial institutions adopt three core strategies in customer acquisition, namely: Branding,

marketing, and customers service.

Brand image involves creating a perception of elegance in the minds of customers and prospects. It may be based on facts or through make-believe. Marketing on the other hand includes activities like, one on one engagements, promotions, media publications, event sponsorships and influencer hypes aimed at driving awareness. Customer service refers to how the customer is being catered to – such as products rendered and after sales support. All financial institutions adopt these three strategies to acquire customer, howbeit, in different degrees.

Branding is very important because whatever people think of an institution whether real or imagined would determine, their level of interactions. Brand image is used by institutions to elicit affinity from consumers. From the style of building structures to taglines to lapel pins, these physical, written and verbal assets are used to create a desired image in the minds of customers and would be customers.

Branding is used as a potent tool to drive emotional appeal; little wonder, institutions invest a fortune in it. Examples of branding include colour scheme, logos, font style, tone and personality of communication.

Very close to branding is marketing. Banks in Nigeria have long adopted this as a core part of their acquisition strategy. One of the most populated department in financial institutions in Nigeria is the ‘marketing department’. With fancy clothes and soft words, they attempt to convince you that choosing to bank with them “is the best decision of your life”. And if that doesn’t work they could pull out the “emotional card”. The principle of marketing is that the more you engage a customer, the more likely they are to onboard with your institution. Marketing initiatives may be in-person or through digital channels.

Digital Marketing, involving using online channels and digital technologies, has seen a huge uptake amongst financial institutions. Digital marketing is not entirely new to advertising. Before now, it was the use of random casts to convince you of the benefits of a service or financial solution. Now, it’s a lot more sophisticated. Your favourite skit-maker and movie stars are used to connect with you on an emotional level; real life scenarios are adopted to make these adverts more relatable and these ads come subtly at you in the middle of your favourite television show are while surfing the internet for an entertaining content. Your interactions with such contents are also measured to ensure digital marketing strategies are better optimized for consumer appeal.

The third effective strategy for customer onboarding, is customer service. While branding and marketing are good, they must be complemented by excellent customer service. Any financial institution that pays more attention to branding and marketing than they do to excellent customer service will always fall short of the customers’ expectations.

For any service to be considered excellent, it must be driven by a desire to meet the customers’ needs not just to appear ‘woke’. Customers’ requests from their financial institutions are numerous but not limited to the following: Security (Trust) – this includes ensuring funds are secured from fraudsters, internal theft and loss of deposits (due to the institution’s liquidation).

Accessible – this means access to funds 24 hours every day and from anywhere. Ease of access to pay bills, do transfers and fund other lifestyle needs. It also includes access to credit and immediate support.

Income – good savings and reduced lending rates, as well as, various opportunities to profit from their relationship with the brand.

Simplified – applications and solutions that are easy to use.

Innovative – customer facing solutions that leverage digital technologies to address needs and pain-points.

When customers are met with issues like system downtime, fraud and excess charges, they are inadvertently faced with the horrors of what I ordered against what I got. Financial institutions must become more deliberate in their service to customers. From bank’s who offer in-person services to Fintechs who offer digital-only products, there must be a commitment to constant delivery of seamless service.

Institutions must show an unwavering commitment to customer service if they are to retain and grow market-share. Effective customer service is built on the core foundations of communication, empathy, problem-solving and swiftness. Any service devoid of these core ingredients is likely to fall short.

Think for a moment about all the products or services that you make use of – from gadgets to technicians. Why do you use them? Is it because of how nicely they look, how exciting an advert made them feel? or because of how they serve you? Most, if not all of you would tick the last box. And that last box means, the gadget or device communicates, empathizes, and/or solves a problem rather swiftly – this sums up the definition of effective customer service. And customers will continue in their quest for any solution that meets these requirements.

Interestingly, even when you seem to be doing it right. You must not rest on your oars. A changing world means the measure for these attributes stated above will constantly change. For instance, in the world of payment, next day value was considered swift enough 10 years ago; today instant is the standard.

Customers must also be aware of the power they possess. For example, if you order for a plate of rice from a restaurant and what was delivered came with a rotten piece of chicken, chances are that you will never order from that restaurant again. Similarly, any financial institution that consistently offers poor service is not worth your repeat business. Nigeria is home to least 1,200 financial institutions offering banking services, comprising 30 plus deposit money banks, about 1000 Microfinance banks, and several other Fintechs. With switching costs close to zero, customers must leverage their power of choice to demand better from their financial providers.

Emerging technologies presents financial institutions the opportunity to offer hyper-personalized customer centric products and services. With cloud technology, financial institutions can scale their infrastructural setup to meet customers’ needs. Customer relationship management (CRM) tools will ensure that customers can be serviced with a 360-degree view regardless of points of interaction (whether digital or in-person). Robotics will bring a lot of efficiency into internal processes, while Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) and Agentic AI will help with product personalization and fraud prevention.

At the heart of all of these are the people who represent these organizations. Resources must not be spared in ensuring internal competency is built amongst the workforce. Financial institutions must work to ensure their representatives provide services that are both effective and empathic.

Dr Fasoranti is an Economist, Banker, and Consultant on Digital Transformation.

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