As our world becomes more and more digitalised, all industries, including the banking sector, will have to figure out how to maintain personal connections despite the digitalization. Can banks become more empathetic, while still becoming more digital? Let's find out what the experts have to say.

It Pays (Literally) to be Empathetic

With the pandemic still raging, we're all under a lot of stress. For this reason, banks have an even bigger struggle to offer their clients empathy during these difficult times. It turns out that those banks which exhibit higher levels of empathy, also perform better financially-- They are able to understand customer’s emotional needs, and offer catered solutions.

In a survey from Accenture, 93% of empathetic banking leaders believe that human to human discussion, is a great way of solving problems with customers facing financial difficulties. Only 23% of non-empathetic bankers agree. Regardless, it pays to be empathetic: “Empathetic Banking Leaders achieved average revenue growth of 1.3% during 2020, 1.9 points higher than Empathetic Banking Laggards at -0.6%...

The Future of Money is About Empathy

Only three in ten banks claim they are able to understand their customer's emotional state concerning their financial situation, without asking them outright. Banks must therefore develop more sensitivity and awareness in order to understand their customer's needs and offer the best solutions.

For this reason, 97% branches believe that banks will have to be redesigned within the next one to two years to better cater to customers-- most banks still believe that in person discussions are the best way to comfort financially nervous customers, and create a step-by-step plan to lead to a positive outcome.

How Can Banks Embrace More Empathy?

In order to embrace greater empathy, banks should be able to translate customer feelings into actions-- AI comes in handy here, as it can be used to better understand customers. Next to this, call centers should focus on greater customer care and being understanding, rather than just providing answers to basic questions.

Those banks which are able to help customers in times of crisis, will strengthen their long-term relationships and be looked at more positively by their customers, as they will be seen as someone who helped find a solution, rather than the one who helped create the problem.

Read the full article here.

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