Building trust by being relevant
by. Karen Gordon
It takes years to build trust and only a second to lose it. This was the message delivered during a presentation at a recent financial industry conference. Powerful words with a very real impact for any business whether it’s a retail store, restaurant, airline or bank. Building that trust comes from creating a customer experience where every touch point meets, if not exceeds, the consumer’s expectations.
There are certain companies that always deliver when it comes to earning consumer trust. Those that have mastered the art of customer loyalty leverage the information they have to tailor their marketing messages, product offers, and even the methods they use to communicate with their customers. Zappo’s and Amazon are really good at personalization through relationship marketing and a loyalty based business model. Banking is one business that can truly capitalize on this model because they house a huge amount of data about their customers. Here are a couple of examples of how banks can leverage their data in creative ways to build trust and increase loyalty.
I had no idea my credit card carried an international exchange fee until returning home from a two week vacation and seeing my bill. An unfortunate trip to the ER and subsequent three day hospitalization carried a hefty exchange fee. I would have welcomed notice of these fees prior to my trip, especially considering the unexpected hospital bill. The value-add to employ here; when you see that a customer has purchased an airline ticket for international travel, send a message reminding them that their credit card carries an exchange fee. While this may deter your customer from using the card on their trip and create a lost revenue stream for the bank, it will certainly earn trust.
For frequent travelers, reinforce the benefits that your credit card offers. For example, that collision coverage is available through the card when the customer uses it to pay for their car rental. My card company even suggested that I print the terms of their coverage and give them to the car rental agency. This was good advice because the rental company tried to talk me into paying for their insurance that came at a premium, while insisting my card would not cover any damage. When I pulled out my documents, much to their dismay, they dropped the sales pitch. That small piece of advice delivered a big return for the bank’s customer.
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