If the latest consumer research from Accenture is to be believed, UK bank customers are utterly confused about how best to access financial products, spurning the branch while remaining unmoved by digital interactions.
The report - based on a survey of 4599 people - reveals that UK consumers banking behaviour has changed dramatically in the past two years, with physical banking visits plummeting by 20% while mobile banking uptake remains surprisingly flat. Furthermore, ATM usage is also on the decline with consumers who use them at least once a month dropping 20 percentage points.
Despite reduced bank branch visits, consumers apparently still crave human advisers for banking services. Seven in 10 consumers want the ability to raise a complaint with a human adviser, while almost two-thirds (63%) want to be able to open an account in person. Almost half (48%) want to be shown hands-on how to use the bank’s mobile and online services.
The results echo a recent survey from JD Power in the US, which found consumers increasingly ill-at-ease with the push for more digital interactions with their bank.
Peter Kirk, who leads Accenture’s Financial Services Distribution and Marketing practice in the UK comments: “The number of customers regularly visiting the branch is significantly reducing, but the number of customers regularly using mobile digital service remains static. This could be a concern for the banks as consumers still say they want to have the human touch. The next challenge is how banks provide convenient customer experiences that blend human and digital services to stop them becoming faceless and putting their newly earned trust at risk.”
Banks that can navigate their way around the revised Payments Services Directive and the push for Open APIs stand most to gain as two-thirds of surveyed consumers approve of the use of personal data to provide advice tailored to their particular circumstances.
In fact, personalisation was the top cited factor for choosing a current bank account provider. Of the 14% of consumers who switched banking providers over the last year, more than a quarter did so due to lack of personalised services.
“Because consumers today expect banks to anticipate their needs and offer tailored services, the key will be offering the right balance of personalised, relevant offers and interactions, rather than impersonal transactions,” Kirk says. “Consumers want natural conversation with a bank that understands their needs and acts in their best interest, while keeping their data safe and secure. This is particularly significant given the data revolution expected with open banking in the UK, which will challenge banks to compete on consumer experience"