Customer Onboarding: Key Components of an Accessible Experience in Modern Banking

Importance of Accessible Customer Onboarding in Modern Banks

Customer onboarding is a crucial process in building a lasting relationship with a bank and brand building. It is the first step in introducing a customer to the bank's services and products. A seamless onboarding experience is essential in ensuring that the bank is able to attract and retain customers. It saves time and cost for the bank, while also providing convenience for the customer. With a customer-friendly onboarding process, banks can provide a better user experience, which can lead to higher customer satisfaction.

• Beginning of a relationship with a bank and brand building
• Time and cost efficiency - for the bank
• Convenience for the customer - you can start the onboarding anytime you want and get back to the form anytime with saved changes
• No time limits - customer is not limited to the bank opening hours

Challenges in Customer Onboarding

The Know Your Customer (KYC)and legal requirements are quite strict, which requires certain steps to be taken. The bank cannot skip any steps, and there are mandatory questions and procedures at the beginning of customer onboarding. These requirements are in place to ensure that the bank complies with regulatory requirements and prevents fraudulent activity. However, these requirements can make the onboarding process lengthy and complicated.

• KYC and legal requirements are quite strict, they require certain steps
• There’s no way to skip some steps
• There are mandatory questions and procedures at the beginning of customer onboarding

Components of Seamless Customer Onboarding

A seamless onboarding process should be simple and understandable to the customer. It should be broken down into one task at a time, so the customer knows which steps are ahead. The customer should also be aware of why the bank is asking for sensitive data. After the conversation with a customer, the bank should be able to offer tailored solutions for individual customer needs. By understanding the customer's needs, the bank can provide personalized services and build a stronger relationship with the customer.

• Simple and understandable to the customer

• One task at a time, customer knows which steps are ahead

• Customer is aware of why bank asks for sensitive data

• After the onboarding process and a conversation with a customer, bank is able to offer tailored solutions for individual customer needs

Benefits of Seamless Customer Onboarding

A coherent onboarding process allows the bank to create a bank account, credit card, and other functionalities at once, providing a seamless experience for the customer. With a convenient flow and user experience (UX)-friendly design, the bank can build trust and customer engagement. Moreover, it reduces the time and cost for the bank and increases customer satisfaction.

• Thanks to the coherent onboarding process, the bank is able to create a bank account, credit card and other functionalities at once
• Thanks to convenient flow and UX friendly design bank is building trust and customer engagement

Best Practices for Seamless Customer Onboarding

A clear and understandable flow is essential in a seamless onboarding process. The customer should know at what stage of the process they are and what the follow-up actions are. The user-friendly design layout and easy-to-manage process help in building a positive user experience. Moreover, the bank should ensure that the customer knows that they need to do something later, for example, sign some documents.

• Clear and understandable flow, customer knows at what stage of the process he is
• Follow-up action is known beforehand - customer knows that he has to do something later (for example sign some documents)
• User-friendly design layout and easy-to-manage process

Key takeaways

In today's competitive banking industry, providing a seamless onboarding experience is crucial to attract and retain customers. According to a Digital Banking Customer Survey by PwC, 81% of customers abandon a bank's online account opening process due to lengthy procedures, and 40% of customers say they would switch banks for a better onboarding experience.

A client-friendly onboarding process can save time and cost for the bank, while providing convenience for the customer. While the KYC requirements can make the onboarding process challenging, banks can overcome this challenge by providing clear and understandable flows, user-friendly design layouts, and easy-to-manage processes. By providing tailored solutions for individual customer needs, banks can build a stronger relationship with their customers, resulting in higher customer satisfaction and retention rates.