Here’s the truth: one in four customers is thinking of switching financial service providers. The main reason they are leaving is for better service. In fact, a survey by FICO found that 88% of customers say experience is just as important as your products and services.
The bottom line? You can have top-class banking and financial services, but if you don’t deliver an exceptional customer experience to match, your customers may go elsewhere. That’s why customer service in financial services can no longer be an afterthought.
So, how do you deliver an exceptional customer experience? A good first step is to optimize your financial services contact center. Below, we go over a few ways you can streamline operations to deliver the high-quality customer service your customers expect.
What are the top challenges for customer service in financial services?
In our increasingly technological age, the world of financial services moves fast. That makes it difficult to stay on top of the latest banking contact center trends. Yet despite new technology, many banks and financial services providers are still plagued by age-old problems. We go over some of the most notable challenges below.
High contact center agent turnover
Turnover is disproportionately high for customer service positions. Research shows that seven out of 10 contact center agents are thinking about quitting their jobs. Additionally, according to the Harvard Business Review, contact center agent turnover is a staggering 45%.
All of this can quickly add up to an expensive problem for financial services providers. After all, it can cost as much as double an employee’s salary to replace them. This also affects the customer experience. If your contact center is a revolving door, you constantly have to train new agents, which can lead to a decline in customer service quality. It may also take these agents longer to resolve a customer service issue, increasing your average handle time (AHT).
Growing customer demands
Customer expectations are higher than ever. Customers want speedy and reliable support when they reach out to your business. Two-thirds of customers expect your company to respond to their communications in five minutes or less. However, that can be challenging when you service millions of customers across the U.S. or the globe.
Customers are also more willing to switch banks or financial services providers if you fail to meet their expectations. However, they likely won’t do it by closing their bank account. Instead, many customers are opting for what J.D. Power calls “soft switching.” Basically, a customer opens a new account with a competitor and, over time, gradually stops using their account with your bank, without formally closing it. That means you might not be able to analyze customer attrition by looking at the number of closed accounts or other metrics.
Fraud and online safety
Digital banking has introduced new challenges in preventing fraud and ensuring customer online safety. Unfortunately, while innovations in AI have had a positive impact on our daily lives, they also have made fighting fraud and maintaining customer safety more challenging. Deepfakes have created scenarios that seem so realistic that scammers can trick even your most cautious customers or employees.
These online threats not only affect customer safety but also your bank’s reputation. This can negatively impact your business, including your customer churn rate. Concerns about online safety are also driving customers to switch brands. According to a recent survey, one in 10 customers switched financial services providers due to security concerns. Fraud is no longer just a security issue for banks and other financial institutions - it’s now a critical factor in the customer experience.
How do you optimize your financial services contact center for success?
Your contact center plays a critical role in the customer experience. So, how do you ensure it’s optimized both for speed and good CX? Below are a few best practices you can implement to streamline call center operations.
Prioritize contact center agent onboarding
As mentioned earlier, customer service has a high attrition rate. So, what can you do to stop turnover in its tracks? A critical first step is implementing a strong contact center agent onboarding program. Customer service agents who have a poor onboarding experience are twice as likely to start looking for a new job compared to their peers.
However, there is good news for businesses that get their onboarding right. Research shows that a strong onboarding program can reduce turnover by more than 80%. Here are a few guidelines for creating your contact center agent onboarding program:
- Set clear goals and expectations for new hires
- Ensure your education and training materials are up-to-date
- Provide actionable feedback for trainees
- Consider implementing a mentorship program
By implementing the tips outlined here, you can create a strong onboarding experience that can help stop agent churn and ensure a consistent service experience for customers.
Leverage omnichannel customer service
Omnichannel customer service ensures a consistent, unified customer experience across all channels. Omnichannel support helps minimize customer frustration and streamline the customer support process. This is because all the information for service-related issues is the same, regardless of whether a customer reaches out by phone, via SMS, mobile app or chat. All knowledge across all channels is available in a single, unified platform.
This can increase call center efficiency because information isn’t siloed, so customers don’t have to repeat themselves. As a result, your bank or financial services institution may be able to reduce customer churn, leading to valuable cost savings. It can also help increase first-call resolution rate (FCR) along with other key contact center metrics.
Implement strong in-app customer support
Finance app customer support can no longer be an afterthought in 2026. It’s now a critical part of your brand reputation. That’s because trust is the number one factor for customers choosing a financial services provider.
Why does in-app customer support matter for brand trust? In short, the stakes are high for customers. After all, they’re trusting you with their savings, pension and personal information. They’re not giving any of that over lightly. If you have poor support, such as inaccurate information, or the customer has to call multiple times about an issue, they might begin to question whether you can protect their most valuable assets.
That’s why it’s important to set the right tone with customers from the beginning. Implementing strong self-service onboarding can create the strong first impression you need to foster better customer relationships. But you can’t stop there. It’s important to provide customers with strong in-app support throughout the customer lifecycle by focusing on proactive customer service and ensuring speedy issue resolution. All of this can help show customers that you can be trusted to keep their money secure.
Harness the power of AI tools
Leveraging tools like agent assist AI can help ensure you provide customers with speedy, accurate customer service. Agent-assist AI supports agents during live service interactions, enabling them to make accurate diagnoses and resolve issues quickly.
So, how does it work? During a call, the tool analyzes critical information such as the product or service the customer is calling about and any previous interactions with your institution. It then zeroes in on the most likely issue and provides the agent with relevant guidance for efficient troubleshooting. This helps the agent save valuable time since they don’t have to hunt around for information to make an accurate diagnosis and guide the customer through issue resolution.
AI tools like agent assist AI aren’t about replacing people with robots. The goal is to implement AI to improve call center agent productivity and to streamline operational efficiencies.
Streamline operations in your financial services contact center
Financial services providers face numerous challenges when it comes to customer service. High agent attrition, increasing customer demands and fraud can make it difficult to deliver speedy customer service. However, there are still some steps you can take to help contact center agents work smarter, not harder. By following some of the steps outlined here, you may begin to reap the benefits of more streamlined contact center operations.
Ready to take your financial services contact center to the next level? Explore how Ozmo’s banking and finance support solutions can help you streamline operations and deliver exceptional customer experiences.
