Using Technology To Adapt To Changing Consumer Habits
Consumer habits play a major role in success for businesses large and small. As such, behavioral changes in target consumer groups can have substantial impacts, often in a shorter timeframe than one might expect. Understanding these changes and how to overcome them is key to staying competitive.
Over the past few years, there have been quite a few disruptions in the U.S. economic landscape and markets all across the globe. Currently, consumers are faced with continued inflation, rising interest rates and supply chain issues that leave them in more debt and spending less money. These circumstance have led to consumer behaviors evolving much quicker than ever seen before.
Fortunately, technology is also undergoing rapid development. Such advancements help facilitate an organization’s adaptation to these continuously shifting consumer habits. This is great news for creditors and other professionals working in finance as there are technological solutions to give them the tools needed to keep pace with changing behaviors and meet their consumers’ most recent needs.
One example of technology that financial professionals should be integrating to suitably respond to growing expectations are the latest mobile-friendly solutions. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen the use of online services increase significantly. Even though the lockdowns have been lifted, consumers remain more inclined to online shopping, virtual consultations and so on.
In fact, the majority of customers report they are more inclined to utilize remote, on-demand services, rather than face-to-face interactions. For banks and other financial institutes, this means meeting expectations more in line with the instant service and gratification they experience online. This includes providing around-the-clock customer assistance, instant credit decisioning, immediate transfers and other elements of account management procedures.
Providing seamless transactions such as these requires the development of user-friendly mobile banking apps, introducing blockchain technologies, AI chatbots and other means to stay connected and enhance accessibility. While these investments may seem daunting, one Bank of America study found that financial institutions which launched new mobile apps, or enriched existing ones, actually reduced their overall costs and increased ROI while building customer loyalty.
Delivering the advanced financial services customers expect also requires investment in the latest security measures as more and more consumers become concerned over the safety of their financial data. Sophisticated marketplace-lending and loan servicing software equipped with cloud-based, SaaS technology can be excellent in driving consumer trust in this area as well as ensuring great service overall. To protect relationships with customers and sustain competitive positions, such technology has become crucial for financial organizations who must meet the growing digital demands of their customers.
Want to learn more current consumer behaviors and how to adapt to them? Check out the accompanying resource from Vergent for further information.
Infographic created by Vergent, leading the industry in consumer loan management software
Resources
https://www.experian.com/blogs/insights/financial-services-changing-consumer-behavior/
