Commenting on the challenge it was facing, the bank’s Head of Digital Marketing explains: “We are constantly trying to do things better for our discerning – and increasingly savvy – client base, […] We realised that one of our international sister companies had improved its online savings account application process and that the changes were both being well received by customers and increasing conversion rates. However, we also realised that changing our process was a data management challenge, not just a question of shortening the form and providing call centre capability.”

The issues the bank faced included:

• Existing process was lengthy and asked for too much information meaning that potential applicants were more likely to abandon, or not even begin their journey

The issues the bank faced included:

• There was no mobile optimised journey making it difficult for an increasing volume of visitors to successfully complete their application
• New accounts took too long to activate and receive funding
• Difficult to get help during the online process – even despite occasions when there were available contact centre agents

Looking for someone to help address these issues, optimise the process, and make customers happy, the bank chose to work with ContactPartners.

As soon as the project was agreed, ContactPartners got to work to understand the bank’s historical saving accounts application data and to set objectives for the project. What we discovered was a lengthy online process that took too long and required high customer effort. At the same time, many customers who did complete would also call in to the contact centre to check everything was ok.

What we suggested involved utilising spare capacity in the contact centre to help complete applications over the phone, adding the human touch earlier in the process. We proposed a shorter, more intuitive account application form, capturing the bare minimum information (thereby reducing customer effort) and then routing the application to a waiting human to finish off over the phone.

Together we set expectations regarding increases in application volumes and conversions, all without added expense as we were utilising available resources. A win-win.

The bank had several priorities in beginning the project, and believed ContactPartners was best suited for the challenge: “The reason for ContactPartners’ selection was threefold. Firstly, data security is our top priority – we needed a partner that met our exacting standards and that would stand up to our scrupulous due diligence. Secondly, we required a robust track record in financial services – our industry is challenging and complex and we wanted experienced specialists that know how to navigate the complexities and opportunities created by the initiative.

Last but not least, our roll-out timelines were extremely challenging – we needed to ‘go live’ in early September, within less than two months! I’m pleased to report that ContactPartners met our stringent requirements with flying colours and that the initiative was soon underway,” shares the bank’s Head of Digital Marketing.

• Gave the contact centre managers a ‘dial’ (in an online portal) to tell us in real time how busy the contact centre was regarding agent availability
• Used that ‘dial’ to instantly control how many people clicking the ‘apply now’ button saw the new ‘short’ form vs. the old ‘long’ one
• Made the short form ask the customer when might be a convenient time to talk about their application
• Routed the short form process application data to the next available contact centre agent (via the same portal), for them to complete relevant validations and then call the customer back to finalise the account opening (or gather more detail if there were questions)
• Created a brand new mobile optimised application journey
• Added the ability for people to request help at any time via a callback request

Even in doing all the above, the project’s challenging timescales were still met. From project approval, it took under two months to design, build, test and implement the new solution and ‘go live’ was successfully achieved by the September deadline.

Commenting on the solution, the bank’s Head of Digital Marketing said: “In addition to a really straightforward and less time-consuming application form, our customers can request a call-back if they have a question or require support. As we know where they are in the application process and because the data integration with our CRM is really slick, our customer service executives are able to deal with the specific question quickly and efficiently, which is having a great impact on client satisfaction and net promoter scores.”

“ContactPartners delivered to our requirements brilliantly and on time. Our customer services team is amazingly motivated, mainly because they are empowered to truly help our customers and have the tools at their disposal to do this well. The close working relationship between this team and marketing is a vital link between what goes on the web and what happens over the phone which benefits the entire organisation,” explains the bank’s Head of Digital Marketing.

• Application volumes increased due to fewer people abandoning
• Conversion rates increased by over 38%
• Initial savings account funding amounts increased
• Accounts were more ‘sticky’ with more applicants becoming long term customers
• Customer experience and NPS improvements (confirmed by externally conducted research)
• Reduction in calls to customer services after account opening

• Approx. 75% reduction in time taken to complete application
• Goodbye ‘silos’! The website +contact centre, and marketing + sales + customer service, all became more integrated and able to create delightful (and profitable) customer experiences.