Blog: Effective communication in the digital banking world

Effective, empathic communication has always been the cornerstone of a bank’s reputation and a major factor in its success. Communication used to be handled by a banker whose capability, trustworthiness and understanding of customer needs were the key to customer loyalty to a specific financial institution. However, times have changed, and digitisation is now the driving force. What does this mean for communication in banking today?

The fundamental parameters of functioning communication remain the same in the digital era. Banks need to be able to respond to customer requirements quickly while remaining empathic to their personal needs. However, as digital technologies evolve, user demands for speed have changed, and it’s important that banks be available to customers 24/7 via their preferred channel.

To do this, the bank must have an advanced and progressive technological structure able to respond to a client’s rapidly changing preferences and to communicate effective solutions that are as uncomplicated and clear as possible for both the clients and the staff of the bank. A bank needs a communication component within its ecosystem that is able to streamline all channels, allowing effective communication and analysis of customer needs. Customers’ preferences for individual communication channels are changing and banks must be able to respond to this.

Understanding your customer has always been the key to success, especially in banking. The basic component needed to truly understand your customer has always been communication. In the Smart Communications survey, 63% of respondents said they would consider changing the bank if the bank didn’t meet their expectations for fast, effective and relevant communication.

Customer preferences towards individual communication channels change over time and banks must be able to respond to it. They need to master not only direct communication but also digital communication at a wide range of levels.

Communication outside the classic branch office environment can be both asynchronous, i.e. through channels that can expect a definite response (e-mail, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp or messages within Internet banking), and also synchronous, which includes telephone communication or instant chat in the Internet banking environment. This is sometimes supplemented by the increased use of co-browsing, which gives the banker the opportunity to guide the client through individual processes directly in the client’s banking application.

No matter what kind of communication the client chooses for contact with the bank, the bank must always be able to serve it at the highest level and at the same time be able to analyze its needs and be an empathic partner on its customer journey. It is therefore imperative that the bank is able to aggregate data from all communication channels and utilize it so that its communication with the client is always of the highest relevance, regardless of the channel the client chooses.

About the Author

@Lubomír Tomány
Product Manager, BSC

Lubomír Tomány is responsible for the product roadmap of Digital Bank OS, with which BSC has come to dominate both the domestic and international markets, making it a key player in the field of banking sector digitisation.