A J.D. Power study released in February 2020 found that the number of new account openings at bank branches now comprises just 55% of all new account openings, down 10 percentage points from just a year ago. The same study found that 31% of new account openings are executed through a bank website or mobile app, up from 22% in 2019 — that’s a 50% increase in just one year.
The shift to digital banking was already taking place well before COVID-19, but the pandemic obviously moved digital transformation to the front burner when in-branch activity was severely curtailed. Consequently, financial institutions have had no choice but to innovate — and quickly — or risk losing market share and reputation to their more digitally nimble competitors.
While some consumers have long embraced digital options, others are now adopting digital banking for the first time out of necessity. Post-pandemic, the question remains: how many of these digital consumers will ever return to the branch office?
More than four in five financial institutions ranked improving the customer journey as the most important strategic priority for 2019, according to the Digital Banking Report. Unfortunately, many banks have simply cloned the new customer onboarding process used in their branch offices and replicated it on their website. This doesn’t equate to a positive user journey for new customers.
Banks around the globe typically perform a common set of steps when onboarding a new customer, though the process differs depending on whether it occurs at a physical branch
or online. While banks are required to perform the necessary due diligence as part of their KYC obligations, there are a number of onboarding steps that can be automated, streamlined and simplified to deliver a better customer experience.
Many consumers don’t necessarily want their branch office to go away — what they want is a choice, whether, it’s online within an app, on the phone or at a branch office.
Our new guide, Remote Onboarding: How Banks are Changing the Game, provides an in-depth look at the principles and technologies that result in a seamless customer onboarding experience that optimizes new account conversions while also defending against emerging fraud tactics and meeting ever-evolving compliance mandates.
