2023 CX trends to watch in financial services

Banking and financial services are undergoing a drastic transformation. The customer experience in 2023 looks a lot different from just five years ago, and finance CX leadership must keep up with evolving customer expectations and market trends to stay competitive. Here’s a look at four key trends and predictions in finance CX to know now. Be sure to download our 2023 CX trends infographic for a summary you can reference and share with your team.

4 Key Trends & Predictions for Finance CX Leadership in 2023

1. The New Normal is here to stay

The way customers banked and used financial services dramatically changed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this new post-pandemic era, it’s clear that many of the changes that occurred as a necessity are here to stay:

• Post-pandemic customers expect fully remote banking — yet 53% rank real-person trust as “most important” after cost.
• In 2023, financial CX will follow the convenience-focused trends of retail, with an increasing number of touchpoints shifting to chat and mobile support. 

Online banking, mobile apps, and online support are no longer optional — they’re essential. In fact, nearly 4,000 U.S. banking branches closed their brick-and-mortar locations in a shift to online service. The global digital banking platform market size is expected to grow 14% from 2021 to 2022, with predictions to reach $10.33 billion in 2026. This transition to mobile banking doesn’t mean the branch experience is irrelevant. On the contrary, mobile banking must replicate branch experiences, which requires a balance of tech and humanity.

Banks and financial institutions will continue investing in tech to help improve digital CX. The chart below from a 2022 Digital Banking Report shows the growth of emerging technologies in the industry from 2018-2022; 2023 will likely continue this upward trend.

2. AI adoption will continue at a rapid rate

Artificial Intelligence (AI) hasn’t gone mainstream yet, but positive results experienced by early adopters means more financial institutions will follow suit. 

Benefits reported by AI adopters include:

• Improved CSAT
• Reduced customer effort
• Reduced cost to serve
• Intention to use AI for post-interaction analysis

Most global financial services firms have either implemented — or are working to implement — AI solutions across a wide variety of business functions, according to a global survey conducted by the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance and the World Economic Forum. The most popular applications of AI include answer shortcuts, smartscripts, interaction routing, and representative assistance. 

3. Predictive tech will drive increasingly empathic support

Empathy has been a CX buzzword for years, but consumers aren’t always feeling it: 59% of US consumers say companies have lost touch with the human element of customer service.

Generic “scripted empathy” isn’t cutting it in 2023. Leading companies demonstrate empathy using predictive technologies and segmentation.  Predictive CX involves using data, statistics, and modeling to make predictions about customer behavior that empower organizations to provide real-time insights that guide customer interactions. By anticipating customer needs, financial institutions can greatly improve the customer experience and provide highly- personalized experience at the moments that matter most.

4. Focus on ROI will eclipse all other CX

CX professionals will need to tie efforts to ROI to prove that CX initiatives are paying off. Why? Two reasons:

1. Greater competition: Forrester predicts that CX will be a less powerful differentiator as some companies improve CX while already-strong companies decline or stagnate.
2. Economic pressure: As the economy most likely continues to feel a squeeze, companies will evaluate which efforts are most beneficial to the bottom line.

Traditional CX metrics like NPS, CSAT, and customer retention tell part of the story. But to prove the value of CX projects, your metric needs to have a dollar sign in front of it. This means finance CX professionals need to finish telling the story that the more traditional metrics inform.

Let’s look at a specific example: Bank XYZ added self-help content and a financial education series to its website and mobile app to help improve CX. How should Bank XYZ measure success?

Instead of:

“We added 1,000 new pieces of self-help and financial education content, and now our customers are 25% more satisfied.”

Reframe to:

“We added 1,000 new pieces of self-help and financial education content, and now we’re:

• saving $3 million per year due to customers using self-help articles instead of contacting a customer service rep, and
• adding $1 million in revenue from new customers acquired through educational content, or existing customers expanding services.” 

While metrics like NPS and CSAT scores will still be valuable, nothing talks louder than money. Choosing the right metrics and tying CX initiatives to ROI will be key to prove value.

Download the infographic

We’ve summarized the information in this blog post in a free infographic you can easily reference or share with your team as you embark on future CX planning for your financial institution. Get your free copy of The 4 key trends & predictions for finance CX leadership in 2023.