Plenty of digital-first businesses make it impossible or nearly impossible to speak to a human. Their strategy for scale is to avoid costly, resource-intensive human-to-human interaction.
Small to mid-sized financial services organisations don’t want to be this kind of faceless “Don’t call me, read our FAQs” corporation. They built their business on the pillars of convenience, customer intimacy, and expert service.
But customer intimacy and locale are diminishingly relevant. What’s more convenient — heading into town for face-to-face service from your local branch or a few taps on your smartphone app?
Customers that prefer the former to the latter are literally a dying breed. Any business that wants to scale cost-effectively needs to embrace digital self-service.
That doesn’t mean neglecting your in-branch experience and hiding your phone number. However, the benefits of channel shift should mean shorter queues at counters, fewer calls to your contact centre, lower operating costs, and the ability to assign customer service staff to more value-generating activities.