Staying engaged with existing customers can be more difficult than appealing to new ones, according to a study released today by Relay Network. Seventy-nine percent of decision-makers at retail banks reported this challenge with customer interactions and 68% said they struggle to deliver contextually relevant customer communications. Bankers said that their customer experience investments focus more on product-specific messaging and customer acquisition.
Almost three out of four respondents said their customers are increasingly opting out of marketing communications year over year. Product-driven marketing, underspending on existing customer engagement and disparate communication strategies undermine the engagement required to drive growth, survey authors said. When asked about the tools in place to improve customer engagement, the majority of responses leaned in favor of the acquisition of new customers rather than serving existing customers.
When asked how challenging customer experience processes can be, meeting privacy expectations (72%) and nurturing customer trust (66%) were cited as the toughest. Fifty-one percent said keeping pace with changing customer needs and expectations also created difficulties. These issues, according to survey analysis, are a result of organizations primarily focusing on what they want to promote versus actively anticipating and addressing the unique needs and preferences of existing customers.
Respondents, however, acknowledged their customer engagement shortcomings, and 90% reported plans to align their priorities with their actions, assess their current tools and adopt technology better suited to meet their retention goals.
