Emerging Trends in Society’s Use of Digital: Impacts on CX and Journey Orchestration in Banking

In our most recent webinar in partnership with CBA, John Thomas, COO at Relay Network, and Ryan Curley, Managing Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group, shared an insightful and engaging presentation on digital trends in banking and the evolution of digital interaction tools based on consumer behavior. In this blog post, we will dive into some of the key discussion points, but if you are interested in tuning into the entire conversation, click the link below.

At the start of the conversation, Ryan shared compelling data from BCG around the state of digital engagement for US banks today. Compared to banks in other countries, including those who use super apps, the gap between US banks and best in class in vast. Analyzing the data further, Ryan highlighted that the key differentiator of the more successful banks has to do with higher levels of customer engagement, in Ryan’s words, “how are banks promoting stronger relationships with their clients?” Ryan concluded that there is a dramatic opportunity for US banks to improve their digital engagement strategy.

So, how do you drive better digital engagement? Ryan noted that it is two part. The first consideration is in the functionality of the tools that banks are using. And the second part understanding the need and experiences of the customer better by injecting yourself into the customer workflow. Focus on the things that matter first, like seamless payment experience, and then build around those to create a holistic client experience.

John chimed in to share his perspective on the topic. First, he shared his thoughts on why the super apps are achieving what they are in financial services, in terms of success. He shared, “most of their [super apps] life story started in social and evolved into transactions, commerce, payments, and banking over time. Their entry into the creation of digital experiences in financial services was framed by their experience as a social app first.”

So, why should a bank or financial services institution care about this?

Visual scrolls dominate time on phone. The number of times an average American checks their phone in a year is roughly 57,240 times. (~150 times a day) Why does this happen? John shared some scientific insight into the notion of neural pathways. Neural pathways are the connections that form between the neurons in your brain. Over time, we as consumers have ingrained the thumb scrolling behavior in our minds because of the design of these apps. We do it without even thinking. There is a reason that your phone content is structured the way that it is. There are neural pathways that have formed in your brain telling you to consume content on your phone in this way.

John used Venmo as an example. When they designed their app interface, the home screen looks like a social scroll. John shared, “I can promise you they didn’t do that because they think people moving money want to share who they’re moving money with. They did it because they know the science and the data behind the way humans use that particular digital device.”

In summary, banks and financial services institutions have an opportunity to capitalize on this human behavior, driven by our newly formed neural pathways. By leveraging a digital tool that uses a scrolling mechanism, they could drive increased engagement, something that Ryan alluded to early on as a key differentiator for the top performing banks.

So, what can banks do with this from a practical standpoint? Ryan and John shared their thoughts:

To tune into the entire conversation, click here.

To learn more about how Relay can help in driving increased customer engagement, reach out to sales@relaynetwork.com

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