Banking Review

Adventures in real world banking

In the past week I’ve twice had the need to enter a branch to complete deposit transactions. The fact that this felt so foreign was a fascinating reminder of how heavily online banking services have become entrenched in my life. A situation that is true for many customers.

On the first occasion I entered a branch of my main bank where I could be considered a ‘native customer’. Overall it was a positive experience. The service was friendly, efficient and fast. However there was one small handwritten sign that was confusing. It was at the collection point for the quick cheque deposit envelopes and read: No third party cheques please.

I watched several customers enter the branch, approach the envelope dispenser, read the sign and pull back. They were all clearly confused with many re-reading it several times and examining the cheques they were seeking to deposit for clues. All the customers I observed opted to make staff assisted transactions.

While the wording of the sign may make sense to branch staff and others familiar with banking terms, it was not the case for customers. While the intent of the sign is sound, its execution is failing customers and may be creating more problems than it was trying to prevent. This sign may also be causing an increase in the number of transactions handled directly by staff in this branch. Yet the reason for the data volume may never come to light.

On my second branch adventure I was an ‘alien customer’ in unfamiliar surroundings in a bank I have never had any associations with. A foreign bank is where eBay takes many customers who do not have external funds transfer access via internet banking.

I went looking for deposit slips while all ‘native customers’ joined the queue to be served. With no signage and no staff free to ask for help, I too eventually joined the queue. Again I witnessed several other customers who were also clearly aliens to this bank also look for deposit slips. Eventually, when one woman looked particularly perplexed by the unfamiliar system did a native customer in the queue inform her that this bank didn’t use bank slips anymore. The customer advised her that all she needed was an account number and to join the queue. In this instance a sign would have been helpful for all alien customers.

Both branches delivered on customer service, and I am sure both have invested heavily in branch and customer experience design. Internet banking has the benefit of not needing to be replicated across multiple sites. A banks’ online channel tends to provide one consistent customer experience. Has this consistency trained customers to have higher expectations in branch? There are no contextual help bubbles in branch.

My banking experiences in the real world demonstrate how little things can easily impact a well planned, customer experience. It is apparent that control of customer experience in branch is open to influence from the smallest sign, or the lack thereof. By comparison, the online banking world is far easier channel to control, manage and adapt.

Do banks consider foreign customer experience considerations in branch? Do banks consider how predominantly online customers function in branch? Is there a way to elegantly integrate offline and online customer experience expectations?