Omnichannel Experience Taking Priority Over Branch Experience, Study Shows
A new study published Tuesday, shows most Americans enjoy their branch experience, but want more products offered.
Online and omnichannel customer experience have become more important for many consumers, and more than half of American consumers are researching financial products in services in one channel but buying them in another, according to a new study by London, England-based scheduling platform company JRNI.
The survey of 1,000 U.S. and 1,000 UK consumers found that 56% of American banking consumers research financial products and services online but purchase them in a branch either often or sometimes; it also found that 44% do the opposite by researching the product or service in the branch and then purchasing it online.
More Consumers Experect to Bank Online in a Year
Although the UK may be reaching a plateau in terms of the proportion of consumers moving from in-branch to online transactions, the United States still had significant room for growth in online financial services and banking transactions, the study noted.
“Analyzing the 2019 data suggests a divergence of the previous trend as the percentage of consumers choosing to conduct bank activities online-only or via phone has dropped. This change is either because their satisfaction with the online experience has dropped, or the branch experience has improved,” it said.
According to the data, 28% of consumers used online banking more now than in the last 12 months, and 21% said they thought they would use online banking even more in the coming year. Likewise, about a quarter (22%) of consumers used online financial products and services more this year than last year, and 19% believed they would use online financial products and services even more in the coming year.
Consumers Looking for Branch Improvements
Most American consumers in the survey (78%) rated their branch experiences as either 4 or 5 on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent), but they also said they wanted financial institutions to increase the number of products offered in their branches.
“The results led us to theorize that while there is general satisfaction in the branch experience, there are large pockets of dissatisfaction with certain consumers. Both countries rated “staff helpfulness” and “help and service” among the highest impact attributes. Additionally, both markets rated “staff availability” and “time it takes to complete a visit” as very impactful, yet said these attributes had room for improvement,” it noted.
More than a quarter of American respondents also said they would “definitely” visit a branch more often if it made certain changes, including less waiting in line (36%), better staff attitudes and knowledge (33%), easier to get to (32%), more access to trained staff (29%), the ability to prebook appointments with expert staff (26%) and a better atmosphere (26%).
“A customer’s experience with a bank used to be one-size-fits-all, and now banks offer consumers choices for all of their banking needs. Consumers now expect to be able to start a loan online and then complete the transaction at a branch. Consumers used to have to wait to open an account or to get a line of credit, and now they expect to make an appointment for a time that is convenient for them,” it noted.