FinTech startups change traditional banking

The world of retail banking is changing rapidly. The need for digital services and customer interaction have been on top of the agenda in board meetings of many traditional banks. However, the race against the increasing number of FinTech services has been lacking one very important component – customer centric methods and mind set like service design and co-creation.

In her inspirational talk at the 20th Handelsblatt conference on retail banking, Pia Betton covered exactly that: “How can we put the customers in focus to build services that are truly relevant to them?”

Banks have to adapt to their customer’s needs. Not vice versa.

“FinTechs are making up ground”, says German trade magazine Geldinstitute. Smart startups conquer the market by offering solutions that are completely focused on the customer’s needs in the digital world. Dealing with financial affairs thus becomes as easy as shopping for shoes.

“Banks are centered around themselves and their products”, as Marina Walser, Director at GFT, puts it. If you want to fully understand your customers, you have to meet them at eye level.

Service design complements market research and big data

These days, a lot of data is gathered around the customers. Market research delivers high-level insights on preferences and expectations. Big Data allows deep analysis of online behavior. However, these data are rarely associated. Merging and interpreting the insights centrally in the organization is crucial for creating a seamless customer experience.

This is where service design comes into play. Service design not only connects market research and big data, it adds a more empathic and deeper understanding of customer motivations and needs.

Hands-on with service design

Following Pia’s talk, the c-level participants joined our practical workshops to discuss the service design approach and contribute with their own experience. The workshops focused on how to better get to know your customers, co-creation and prototyping.

Why not accompany customers for a day or two? Dig into where they face gain- and pain points when it comes to finances and banking? Ask open questions to reveal hidden attitudes or motivation? Building on these findings, personas and customers journeys allow for a deeper understanding of the customers and their everyday life.

One workshop participant was a member of the board in a bank specializing on doctors and pharmacists. With the help of customer journeys and the analysis of traffic on their website, they discovered that their clients often take care of financial issues during the change of shifts in hospitals around midnight. Consequently, they extended their service to include video consulting the night.

Joost Holthuis spoke about how businesses can develop personalized products and services with the help of co-creation with customers. Erste Bank Austria attains great success with this process.

Prototyping is an excellent way to test-drive products with customers. Robert Stulle: “Prototyping gives you rapid quality feedback very early on. This way, you can develop customer friendly products much faster and with much lower expenses.”

Customer first, products second

Putting the customer experience center-stage offers magnificent possibilities. Service design provides the tools and methods to support banks and others to innovate and achieve a major move in culture, business and client relationship.