The consequences of covid 19 accelerated the need to change how we relate to personas. Coming from the financial industry, it was imperative to create a new agile and automated business model that would respond to the needs of customers, motivated by the transformation that was taking place irreversibly in other similar industries.
As part of a hub of innovation for the banking industry, intending to convert a traditional business into a digital business, I was the project manager responsible for developing a platform capable of acquiring clients online and improving customer experience focused on customer-centricity. I accepted the job to transform three critical areas for every company that seeks to digitize its business: People, Processes and Technology.
The motives for each project were always pure operation efficiency and loss cost reduction. Also, the challenge was to implement technology and data analytics without erasing customer service. The secret was prevention: giving our users the right amount of information, whether they could educate first, understand the risks and develop their personalized experience.
The projects I successfully implemented to tackle this challenge were:
1. Website & E-commerce: Designed from scratch, focusing on promoting and adapting our products to each customer. An experience I coined as the "Netflix experience". To rank the website at the top of search engines, it was necessary also to create a strategy to attract new leads with digital content adapted to all users, using all tools available, like social media and segmented newsletters. A thorough development on the UX/UI plus constant optimization with A/B testing were the bread and butter of the success. A website with e-commerce capabilities in the financial industry was the cornerstone that shined against competitors.
2. Digital sales: The strategy was establishing a new income line based on scalability models. Creating engaging advertisements is the most effective way to bring new clients to an emerging digital business. In this case, SEM/SEA platforms such as google ads, with search and display models, help gain visibility and promote branding. The "do it yourself" approach is the key to digital sales success. For instance, simulators, where users can try and personalize the products and free content based on "freemium" memberships, where the user feels that he/she is in control of the sales, were proven that are the most effective ways to return the investment and opens a bottom-line impact in only a few months after going to the market.
3. CRM or how to automate customer service: The premise needed to achieve was leveraging technology to create an environment for innovation. This includes reducing human intervention in handling the underwriting policies. Some of the benefits of deploying a new CRM resting in Cloud premises were accelerating the digital onboarding process with online forms that are legally binding. Another example of automation in customer service was training a chatbot with artificial intelligence, capable of assisting the user with frequently asked questions -used to be solved by a contact centre- and that is also able to generate sales. The CRM helped us to create niches of customers, to nurture the leads and create sales strategies for each of the steps of the conversion funnel.
The underlying strength arising from these three pillars was the considerable amount of data that we were starting to gather. To analyse each stake of opportunity and optimize sales and the lead acquisition, I put in place an analytics platform to collect all data from web analytics, CRM, digital sales and social media to analyze the performance and proceed with constant optimization.
Every successful project is the addition and the sum of working with a cross-functional team of specialists, stakeholders and internal and external collaborators. One of my best skills and contributions was aligning everybody with the same purpose. Indeed, to develop this project on time with the proper budgeting and ROI was partial to the ability to work and interact with all of them.
A real example of customer success and digital sales
I remember the story of a Venezuelan client who contacted us to speak broadly about his pain point after finding internet content I published on the website. The question he was trying to find was if we could provide a solution based on our list of products and services. The sales manager handling the relationship with him was unaware of his situation; therefore, a sales opportunity was raised using digital sales strategies. Despite the personal drama of the customer, at that precise moment, I realized how necessary it was to develop an urgent transformation of our customer experience and how we were promoting our products and services.
This idea challenged the status quo with the traditional banking system. Still, it also opens a window for a fresh new beginning for a fantastic digital transformation project in the financial industry.