The human touch v computer says “no”
Things don’t always wholly change for the better. Take the customer experience of buying a financial product, for example.
If you are a director or senior manager for a financial services provider that last sentence probably feels hugely frustrating.
You know that the technology your company has invested in, the huge increase in investor protections and the ever-increasing range of sophisticated products and funds to suit practically every need should mean that outcomes are vastly better for investors.
So why don’t the investing public generally see it like that?
Twenty or thirty years ago, your customers (or their parents) would usually find themselves chatting with their local bank manager, as their only source of financial advice. He would give them a cup of tea, ask a few questions about how their family was doing and where they were going on holiday then sell them an investment or pension plan that was, according to him, exactly what they needed.
The customer, basking in the manager’s warmth and professionalism, would sign up immediately and head off home, blissfully unaware that the next customer through the manager’s doors was going to get exactly the same treatment (and virtually the same product) and yes, the bank manager’s bonus was growing nicely thank you.
There’s little room for this sort of human interaction nowadays, and ironically this is in part because the financial services profession is so busy with procedures designed to provide better outcomes, such as detailed fact finding, assessing attitude to risk, conveying risk warnings and cancellation rights, and so on. Ultimately the customer should benefit from getting sounder investments. However, the process of getting this point can feel like an impersonal ordeal. The increasing shift to online processes can compound this perception yet further.
At Wi-Ai we like to think we offer financial services providers the means to give their customers the best of both worlds. We work closely with financial service providers, equipping them with powerful behavioural finance software tools that help users identify and manage a range of subconscious biases that may otherwise skew their decision making and lead to self-sabotaging investor behaviour.
Not only is this cost effective and of value to your customer, but, because this software is simply designed for your client’s use, it creates a sense of customer engagement. It’s a human touch that, at a reasonable cost, fosters a feeling of being recognised for what we all are: human beings with our own complex responses to money and financial decision making.
All we have to do now is teach it how to make a cup of tea.
Want to know how it works? Get in touch: [email protected]