In The Media - HC3.io

Enhancing Your Digital Experience Through Bank Statements

Written by Griffin McGahey | May 1, 2024 9:37:14 PM

Client Retention Strategies in the FinTech Industry: Insights from a CXO

Digital banking services and capabilities have increased in importance and will remain a priority for banking customers. According to BAI research, consumers projected channel usage in 2026 will be 35% in in-person channels, such as tellers or call centers, and 65% in digital channels, such as the website or mobile app. 

To meet customers where they are, banks need to extend that digital experience to their mandatory customer communications and bank statements. While some banks have tried to force their customers into adopting digital (or else!), building a foundation that encourages customers to choose digital is better. At the same time, banks must update their communications to ensure the digital experience is as strong as the traditional printed experience. 

How to enhance your statement for a digital-first world 

Before increasing engagement, banks must ensure that their digital bank statements are more than a digital reproduction of the traditional physical statement. Revamping statements strengthens the bank’s brand identity while conveying crucial financial information and allows for integrating design elements commonly associated with digital experiences, ensuring consistency across all channels. 

Through redesigning customer statements, banks can implement key design features like: 

  • Vibrant colors to enhance visual identification 
  • Clear focal points with the use of icons and images 
  • Single-line transactional detail to communicate clearly in less space
  • Highlighted account summary to display critical data and improve readability

 

The nature of banking has shifted towards a digital-first mindset. Redesigning the traditionally bland bank statement to reflect digital transformation is essential to engaging customers, reinforcing brand identity, and promoting loyalty. 

How to increase digital adoption 

Once the bank has built a digital statement experience that customers will want to engage with, it can take steps to encourage higher adoption rates. Here are three actionable steps to encourage your customers to engage more through digital channels.  

  • Create a Fresh and Consistent Appearance - A customer’s experience must be consistent across the bank. Banks excel at managing a customer’s in-person interactions. Improving the digital experience is just as crucial. When electronic statements on the digital platform look unsophisticated and lack consistency with the broader bank branding, it leaves a bad impression on the customer.

  • Implement Centralized Preference Settings - Currently, bank customers face confusion due to the separation of digital banking preference settings and digital communication settings. These settings are often located in different areas, which can confuse customers. Consolidating all settings into one centralized location would simplify the user experience and reduce potential friction. If this is not possible, they might need to realize that one vendor manages digital communications while another handles other account functions. 

  • Introduce Innovative Notification Options—Most legacy digital communication integrations use email to notify customers. Today’s bank customers are constantly bombarded with emails from work, personal matters, and retailers. They are also cautious about opening emails because hackers often mask themselves as financial institutions. The best way to solve this problem is through real-time integrations between digital banking and digital communication systems, offering SMS or in-app push notifications when possible. 

 

HC3’s digital-first statement approaches design with digital practices in mind. Our product line showcases statements that mirror the online banking experience, opting for iconography to create clear customer focal points and layouts that integrate well with today's best online platforms. 

The shift towards digital banking is undeniable, and ensuring that your bank's digital experience is seamless and engaging is more critical than ever. By redesigning customer statements to reflect a digital-first mindset and implementing innovative strategies to increase digital adoption, banks can strengthen their brand identity, improve customer engagement, and foster loyalty. 

Request a demo of HC3's digital-first statement solutions today to take the next step in your bank's digital transformation journey.

 

 

If you’d like to go deeper into any of these topics, you can explore these related resources.