Consumers have embraced the idea of banking and investing online, and that’s good news for fintech companies. But with more people doing their business and their banking online than ever before, it is challenging for fintechs to differentiate their offerings from traditional financial service providers who have online offerings as well.

The highly competitive landscape creates challenges for fintechs who want to attract customers away from traditional financial service providers. That’s why fintech leaders are investing in delivering exceptional customer experiences—wherever their customers are, and whenever they reach out.

Needless to say, customer expectations are sky-high, but not all companies are keeping pace. According to the Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2022, a whopping 64 percent of consumers under age 40 say customer service feels like an afterthought for most companies. That gives fintechs a golden opportunity to stand out with high-quality customer service.

What makes a winning CX program for fintechs?

In the past few years, CX has become a priority for fintechs. Leading companies are innovating to provide the most convenient, seamless, and inspiring experiences possible to attract and retain clients. In a crowded marketplace where unhappy customers can easily take their money elsewhere, it’s essential to build a customer-centric culture and business model.

Fintechs of all kinds are looking to their customer experiences as their North Star—focusing on strategies that alleviate friction points along the entire customer journey. It’s easier for the competition to copy products than customer experience, so fintechs are doubling down on their customer service as a key differentiator.

It’s not a coincidence that Chime, the largest and fastest-growing neobank in the U.S., also has the highest customer experience rating of any neobank in the U.S., according to a consumer survey done by American Banker and Monigle.

Here are the three things every fintech should be doing to develop a leading CX strategy:

1. Engage company leaders on the importance of CX

   Going all in on CX is easy to say but not so easy to do. And while leaders may say customer service is critical to growth, many haven’t implemented the changes needed to make it happen. Without a clear commitment from top leadership, fintechs risk missing opportunities that will be seized by their competitors. Tapping into that potential takes firm commitment from the top. Our research shows that 54 percent of companies report having a three-year strategic plan for customer service, which means almost half still don’t. For those fintechs who haven’t started working on CX, the time is now.

2. Create a consistent omnichannel experience

   To stand out from traditional financial service providers, fintechs need to show clients why they’re a better choice. With Zendesk, fintechs can create omnichannel experiences across all channels. That means being able to start a conversation online, move to email, and complete the interaction on the phone if a customer chooses to.

   With the right customer service platform, your agents can have seamless conversations with customers across channels to deliver exceptional experiences. Zendesk enables fintechs to extend their segmentation strategy to how they deliver customer support. This may include providing high-touch service to high-value customers and primarily offering self-service resources to low-value customers.

   That’s exactly what Xendit was able to achieve after switching to Zendesk. “Being in fintech, the relationship between us and our customers is everything—we must ensure that we gain and keep that trust,” says Eureka Cindy Pratiwi, customer success manager at Xendit. “Part of this is being able to help them when they need it and address their issues, and Zendesk has been most helpful to enable us to do this. Beyond tracking tickets, [Zendesk] is providing us with data and analytics so we can provide exceptional service.”

“The relationship between us and our customers is everything—we must ensure that we gain and keep that trust.
Eureka Cindy Pratiwi, customer success manager at Xendit

3. Put your customers in control

   Whether customers want to solve the problem on their own or connect with you directly, make it easy for them. Our research shows that quality customer service can drive sales–even when that customer service is automated.

   To set themselves up for success, fintech companies need to invest in AI. Chatbots can answer common questions, cut down on repetitive tasks, and save your business time. When done right, chatbots can help reduce ticket volume, lower support costs, and provide great customer experiences. This frees up your agents to focus on more complex issues and revenue-generating interactions while also improving time to resolution and CSAT.

   Thanks to the commitment of the customer support team and the technology of Zendesk, GoCardless has maintained a consistent CSAT score of 92 percent and is achieving nearly 100 percent of its service levels consistently. The company’s Help Center initiative was so successful that it won the prestigious European Contact Centre Award for Most Effective Self Service Initiative.

   “Within the first six months of launching our Help Center, we had created more than 150 articles addressing common customer questions,” says Daniel Mooney, director of customer operations at GoCardless. “The ability to attach links to ticket responses also sped up time to resolution, and we were able to reduce the number of incoming tickets by 16 percent.”