Financial Institutions' Customer Service: from Conflict to Collaboration

Financial institutions’ customer service calls can be challenging. People are sensitive about what happens to their money – and with good reason. That’s why financial institutions require an easy way to defuse anger and stress, right from the get-go.

Dealing with anger in the financial industry

Anger: a deep feeling of displeasure, hostility or antagonism towards someone or something we think has hurt us.

One of the fundamental facts of customer service life is…customers get angry. Sometimes really angry. “Customer Service Rage” can rise to such a degree that a customer’s legitimate needs become overwhelmed by their emotional frustration.

There are ways to move contentious customer service calls from conflict to collaboration. It all starts with taking a sympathetic look at anger itself.

Anger is a common reaction to feeling hurt, weak, vulnerable, or belittled in some way. People from all walks of life use anger to feel stronger and more in control of a threatening situation. Anger is also a mask for feelings of hurt and weakness. An angry person uses anger to make up for feelings of pain.

There can be plenty of pain when it comes to finances

There’s plenty of potential for pain in online interactions within the financial industry. Working with banking institutions, insurance providers, and wealth management organizations can be challenging for customers. The processes often include a special set of online obstacles to their customers, like finding and filling out specialized forms or completing long, complex, multi-step processes.

Financial customers may feel like their money and the future of their finances are on the line. No wonder stress and frustration result when they can’t find the right information or complete the tasks they need to do.

When engaging with financial institutions’ customer service reps, angry customers may feel like they’re the only person who has ever experienced the issue they’re having. “Customer service rage” can sometimes be an effective tool. Passion can customers bolder, more self-righteous, and more comfortable taking action.

The challenge, then, is taking that anger and focusing it into positive energy that brings progress.

That’s where visual engagement software comes in.

Read:  The Ultimate Customer Service Tool for the Financial Industry

How financial institutions’ customer service teams install “anger converters”

Visual engagement revolutionizes customer relations in finance settings. It can be a crucial catalyst in converting the energy of customer anger into a positive outcome that actually increases satisfaction and loyalty.

Here’s how:

• Tools like cobrowse, screen share, and one-way video help defuse customer frustration during online interactions by creating a more active and personal working bond between the rep and the user.
• Agents and customers are instantly placed on the same page to collaborate as naturally as if they were sitting next to each other. Anger begins to yield to action.
• Financial institutions know that it is especially important for their service staff members to empathize with user frustration. One-way agent video literally shows customers agents’ faces, so they can see that you understand how frustrated they are.
• Working quickly is absolutely crucial to converting a customer’s anger into cooperation. Focusing on solving an issue without requiring excess time or effort on customers’ behalf beats waiting on hold and stewing every time.
• Sharing a play-by-play explanation of what is going on occupies the customer’s attention and reassures them that they are not being ignored or disrespected. Seeing the agent working on the problem and watching onscreen guidance appear through cobrowsing confirms that things are happening in real time.

What’s more, agents using visual engagement software are happier too. Because really, who wouldn’t prefer working with satisfied customers over working with frustrated ones?

“Safety first:” Choosing the right visual engagement power tools for financial services

Choosing the right visual engagement solution is critically important. Financial institutions’ customer service teams consider cobrowsing and screen sharing to be “knowledge transfer power tools” for guiding, teaching, and empowering customers.

At the same time, personal financial information must be protected with strong security and privacy features. Glance creates an atmosphere of trust and cooperation by maintaining confidentiality, integrity, and privacy of sensitive data. Glance takes care of all the “difficult details” of ensuring privacy and security so you can be confident in transforming the financial customer experience, resulting in better relationships and higher brand loyalty.

It’s time to invest in Glance visual engagement solutions to convert conflict to collaboration and gain an edge on the competition.

Read more: To learn more about how to boost customer experience with visual engagement solutions download our free eBook: Do I Need Visual Engagement Software?

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About Glance Networks

Glance helps enterprise organizations create the ultimate customer experience with smart, omni-channel visual engagement solutions based around integrated cobrowse, screen share, and one-way agent video. We are one of the world’s simplest, most reliable and secure platforms that enable companies to see, show and share anything online, creating a frictionless path to great experiences in sales, support and customer service. The result is improved customer satisfaction and loyalty, increased revenue growth and operational savings. From financial services and healthcare to retail and travel and leisure, even the most advanced technology and SaaS organizations – we transform the customer experience for today’s business. Learn More »

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