WHAT CUSTOMERS THINK

Sustainable Impact

In most regions, we see a rise of retail clients who want products that are easy to understand and suit their needs, are easily accessible and improve their and their community’s lives and environs.

According to the Alliance for Financial Inclusion, over half of the world’s adult population, 2.5 billion people, lack access to formal financial services. Changing markets and consumer preferences increasingly revolve around growing populations, shifts toward more sustainable modes of consumption and production and consumer expectations and perceptions of banks behaviour with what is done with their money.

Retail banking should view these as opportunities to deliver social and economic value by promoting access to finance and financial inclusion to the growing and changing population by providing a broad array of products and services that are affordable, trustworthy, accessible and sustainable. Energy efficient home loans, environmental and social saving or investment funds and mobile banking are just a few examples that enable individual and SME clients to fulfil their banking needs while contributing to sustainability vis-a-vis the clients’ needs to reduce utility bills, save for retirement and manage their accounts remotely.

Source: UNEP

Digital Alter Ego

Research found that nearly 45% of consumers would be comfortable in delegating tasks to an AI-enabled assistant. What’s more— around one in two consumers (48%) said they’d find the idea of a digital alter ego exciting and 46% said it would improve the quality of their life. We segmented consumers based on their likelihood to reward organizations based on receiving a good AI-enabled experience. These benefits include:

• Purchasing more products from the company
• Transacting more frequently with the company
• Sharing their positive experiences with friends and family
• Providing high ratings for the company and share positive feedback on social media
• Having higher loyalty towards the company
• Placing higher trust in the company

Based on consumers' responses on these criteria, we derived three levels of consumers:

1. High-benefit consumers (25%)
2. Medium-benefit consumers (22%)
3. Low-benefit consumers (53%)

Some of the key attributes of high-benefit consumers are:

• Two out of five high-benefit consumers have AI-based interactions on a daily basis, whereas one out of ten low-benefit consumers do so
• More than four out of five high-benefit consumers prefer interactions enabled by a mix of AI and humans, while less than two out of five low-benefit consumers think so
• 81% of high-benefit consumers expect AI to provide better privacy and security of personal data, as compared to only 27% of low-benefit consumers.

Source: Capgemini

Gigs, gigs, gigs

A full-time job with one employer has been considered the norm for decades, but increasingly, this fails to capture how a large share of the workforce makes a living. A narrow focus only on traditional jobs ignores tens of millions who put together their own income streams and shape their own work lives. Although independent work is not a new phenomenon, it does not fit neatly into official labor statistics. This report aims to fill some of the data gaps surrounding it.

There are four key segments of independent workers: Thirty percent are “free agents,” who actively choose independent work and derive their primary income from it. Approximately 40 percent are “casual earners,” who use independent work for supplemental income and do so by choice. “Reluctants,” who make their primary living from independent work but would prefer traditional jobs, make up 14 percent. The “financially strapped,” who do supplemental independent work out of necessity, account for 16 percent.

Digital platforms are transforming independent work, building on the ubiquity of mobile devices, the enormous pools of workers and customers they can reach, and the ability to harness rich real-time information to make more efficient matches. Today these online marketplaces are used by 15 percent of independent workers. But the rapid growth of the largest platforms suggests we have only just begun to see their impact.

Souce: McKinsey

Anywhere Anyhow

While digital banking has become the default for many customers, there are still those who value the personal touch. And even those who favor banking through an app often prefer face-to-face interactions for complex financial products. As banks continue to make progress in digitizing the customer experience, they must also remember that omnichannel includes the critical human side of the equation. To maximize sales, banks must effectively combine digital and human channels to create a seamless omnichannel offering. One European bank that implemented changes at scale saw consistent sales growth of as much as 20 percent over two to three years, suggesting that the benefits of optimizing omnichannel capabilities are ongoing and significant.

Approximately 60 percent of active banking customers use digital channels (online and mobile)—and 80 percent of all customer touchpoints occur on digital—according to a survey of banks in Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific. On the other hand, digital channels represent just 25 percent of sales (20 percent online, 5 percent mobile). So, while digital channels have transformed banking in many respects, and customers have embraced it, most sales, whether in the branch or on the telephone, still involve human interaction.

Banks must find the combination of digital and personal interactions that match the preferences of the local markets they serve. Most have made progress, ramping up investment in digitization and remote platforms to complement traditional channels. However, many have not yet made the leap from multiple channels to omnichannel—that is, making movement between channels seamless, and using digitization to enable cross-channel sales and marketing. The result is that banks are missing an opportunity to improve sales productivity.

Source: McKinsey

Everyone’s an Expert

Every day, people form impressions of brands from touch points such as advertisements, news reports, conversations with family and friends, and product experiences. Unless consumers are actively shopping, much of that exposure appears wasted. But what happens when something triggers the impulse to buy? Those accumulated impressions then become crucial because they shape the initial-consideration set: the small number of brands consumers regard at the outset as potential purchasing options.

The decision-making process is a circular journey, with four primary phases representing potential battlegrounds where marketers can win or lose: initial consideration; active evaluation, or the process of researching potential purchases; closure, when consumers buy brands; and post-purchase, when consumers experience them.

In today’s decision journey, consumer-driven marketing is increasingly important as customers seize control of the process and actively “pull” information helpful to them. Our research found that two-thirds of the touch points during the active-evaluation phase involve consumer-driven marketing activities, such as Internet reviews and word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and family, as well as in-store interactions and recollections of past experiences. A third of the touch points involve company-driven marketing. Traditional marketing remains important, but the change in the way consumers make decisions means that marketers must move aggressively beyond purely push-style communication and learn to influence consumer-driven touch points, such as word-of-mouth and Internet information sites.

Source: McKinsey

Everyday Insurance

The concept of everyday insurance is centred around offering highly relevant insurance solutions that are invisible, hyper-personalised, as well as being seamlessly embedded into the lives of customers in a digital age. Just as disruptors such as Google, Amazon, Netflix have transformed their respective industries and achieved high levels of customer stickiness and satisfaction, insurers are recasting their relationships with customers to stay ahead of what is known as the physical-digital ("phygital") curve.

The everyday insurer is a carrier that provides customers with 'living solutions and services' that truly help customers at moments that matter in their lives. Rather than promoting specific insurance products via traditional distribution networks, it prioritises meeting the needs of customers who thrive in a digital age.

To win in this fast evolving industry, it is essential for insurers to pivot and leverage the Internet of Things, real time analytics, artificial intelligence and insuretech to develop customised insurance solutions that must ultimately delight the customer. To this extent, DBS and Chubb have developed several everyday insurance solutions, including MobileProtect, Travellershield and CyberSmart.

Insurers that embark on the everyday insurance journey and are successful at integrating its solutions into the customer's life will be able to strengthen loyalty, reduce acquisition costs, and achieve high levels of customer satisfaction.

Source: DBS

Anything else? What do YOU think?

The customer trends displayed are some areas that we are looking into. What are your thoughts and other experiences that you’d like to solve for? We'd love for you to share with us with your concepts!