The value of consistency in every phase of the customer acquisition journey

Greg Blausey, Salesforce’s senior director, banking industry solutions and strategy, spent 20 years as a banker building trust and developing lasting relationships with customers. He came to learn the power of a single customer relationship management (CRM) platform that provides a 360-degree view of a customer. The platform deftly leverages data to create more personalized, memorable customer experiences. In this Q&A, Blausey addresses several issues that are critical to a financial services organization’s success—from the power of automation to the importance of consistency in every phase of the customer acquisition journey. Amid the current turmoil in the banking industry, Blausey says bankers in 2023 should never lose sight of the value of building loyalty, which begins with a customer-centric strategy. 

What are the five key phases in the customer acquisition journey? 

It starts with acquisition, which could be via a digital channel, a landing page or an interactive tool. It could also be through a human channel with a relationship manager, someone in the branch or even over the phone. Next is discovery, which allows the bank to learn as much as possible about the customer—learning what makes them tick, listening to their challenges and formally documenting them. The verification phase is a critical step for banks to fulfill their regulatory obligations or compliance requirements, assuring they are doing business with the right customers. In the evaluation phase, banks apply what they’ve learned up to that point to determine which offerings are the best fit for their customer. Lastly, origination is the opportunity to put the right combination of products and services in place for the customer to drive tool adoption and use data to track all of this effort to revenue. 

Is there one phase that is particularly important? 

That often depends on a banker’s perspective. A compliance officer would likely consider the verification phase, in which all the know-your-customer boxes are checked off, to be most important. On the other hand, a marketer who’s focused on driving new business and developing customer personas and the associated journeys might say that the acquisition phase is paramount. Sales leaders would say it’s the discovery phase, as we’re probing and learning as much as we can to optimize the product set or solution to put in place. It’s all a matter of perspective. But what’s really important is the customer and that there is consistency from one phase to the next. Creating consistent customer experiences and constantly delighting them can be very complicated if we let it. But smart data analysis that points to a customer’s needs and preferences will ensure a consistent experience across human and digital channels that delights and retains a customer. That’s what’s most important. 

Why is data so key to optimizing the customer journey? 

When I was a young banker, my manager gave me a valuable piece of advice: make the most of a customer’s first 90 days with the bank. This time is their honeymoon period—it’s when they most trust you and are most willing to share information. It was great advice, but thanks to connected CRM, banks can better glean valuable customer insight beyond that first 90 days and leverage it to nurture the relationship. The steady stream of data over the course of the relationship provides data points that can be turned into an experience or a proactive service recommendation. Data is certainly plentiful and is becoming easier to capture or acquire, but it is the unification, harmonization and evolution of this data where the magic really happens. A customer who joined at age 21 is much different at age 50 and yet is still the same person. A bank must keep up with the changes in a customer’s life to ensure their products and services are relevant. Customers will stay engaged if there’s something in it for them. 

What are the advantages of a digital platform that integrates a bank’s existing data with machine learning and AI? 

Machine learning and AI are important because they help ensure the timeliness of the data, which has a shelf life. That life could be a week, a month or a year. Machine learning and AI allow a bank to quickly incorporate real-time data. Most banks have so much data that they don’t know what to do with it or where to begin stitching it together. A machine learning platform works behind the scenes, rapidly surfacing customer insights and intelligence. AI built into the platform enables it to digest massive amounts of data in real time, sort it in the context of the customer’s needs and then leverage that intelligence to present a relevant, real-time offer. 

How can banks deliver customer experiences across digital touchpoints and human interactions to foster trust? 

It starts by focusing on the customers and understanding what will delight them. One way to do that is to flip the customer experience and try to see it only from their perspective, thinking about what it feels like for them. Some banks do this very well. But it takes more than empathy to build trust. Transparency is just as important. Transparency is sometimes as simple as letting customers know exactly where things stand in their mortgage application process, for example. Banks should borrow a page from Domino’s and its infamous pizza tracker that lets hungry customers know exactly where their pizza is and when it will be delivered. For many mortgage applicants, it’s the first time in their lives they’ve done something like apply for a mortgage. But too many of them are unsure about where things stand, which is unsettling and diminishes trust. Help them understand where they are and assure them the process is moving forward. Finally, a good way to build trust is showing appreciation. All you have to do is say thank you in an authentic way. 

How should banks be prioritizing their customer growth strategies in 2023? 

I was just at a banking industry conference in Las Vegas where there was much talk about the race for deposits in the wake of the Silicon Valley Bank failure. I get that. Bankers have balance sheets to manage and liquidity to care about at the moment. But what they also must focus on this year is building loyalty, which begins by putting the customer at the center of everything they do. Loyal, long-term, happy customers drive profitability. Thinking holistically about customers slows attrition and grows the customer base. It comes down to the discovery phase we talked about earlier, in which you’ve learned what makes a customer tick. Marry that with the data, continually evolve with the customer’s story and grow that relationship. 

BAI recently spoke with several prominent individuals at Commerce Bank, Synovus, Regions Bank and Salesforce about how they are addressing today’s customer growth challenges and opportunities. Learn more in our BAI Special Report, “Driving Customer Growth in 2023.” 

Q&A conducted by the BAI Editorial Team