The dangerous mix
Why do we
need the Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) principles? Many financial services products
are a dangerous mix of elements: they’re generally uninteresting, complex to
understand, and yet carry dire consequences if not used properly. A bit like an
army mission then: 99% of the time stupefyingly boring along with 1% sheer
terror. And weirder still – some you pay for in the hope that you don’t need them!
Consumers
need protection from this. You buy a new fridge – it’s pretty easy to compare
one against another, whereas you may not even know you really need critical
illness insurance. The FSA is responsible for making sure consumers are
protected, and with the recent subprime crisis, it’s quite clear that even with
them there are some delinquents in the FSA nest. £500k mortage? That’ll be fine
on a salary of £30k, no problems! Without the FSA at all, you can imagine the
mess we’d be in.
TCF has to be taken very
seriously now.
December
2008 looms, and with it a TCF mandate from the FSA requiring demonstrable proof
that customers really are being treated fairly, with management information and
everything. The FSA has offered extensive literature on the framework, but in
addition, Conchango has some specific recommendations for your digital customer
experience.
I read a customer review
about it. They’re great when it comes to claims, and they love them for it.
The way
customers find out about products and services has fundamentally changed. The majority now trust more what their
peers say than any amount of product literature. Their experiences are
shared online like dirty laundry, for all the world to see. Sometimes then, customers’ first contact with your product can
be from these raw, subjective experiences. And for financial services
products, servicing experience is what people will be most interested in: it’s
hidden from view, yet is often the whole point of the product! Every company
has a bed of roses onramp to their product – this is assumed. But when you accidentally
go into overdraft, or you drop your ipod into the drain at the bus stop, what
did they do then? You need to deploy
agents online and directly contribute to these conversations, correcting errors
and making amends. This is one on one: broadcast has no effect here.
They answered all my
questions, in terms I understand (I shouted from the rooftops about it).
The foundation of TCF is understanding and
satisfying the customer’s genuine needs. Not
wants. So to avoid having the FSA waggling their finger at you as a product
provider, it’s a good idea to figure out how to cost-effectively educate your target
audience. Modern day technology makes knowing your customer much easier than
before.
- Use plain English: being complex to understand,
let customers ask questions in plain language with plain responses. Let
the entire customer history influence the responses.
- Give a little,
get a little: let
customers build up ‘what if’ scenarios based on small increments of
information they share. I’m a male, what will my premiums be like? What if
I’m a male dentist smoker? What if my date of birth is 1964? No boring
long forms to traipse through – it becomes an insightful, exploratory
exercise. Financial products are complex and are great candidates for
rich, visual applications that today’s web browsers can show easily.
- Allow them to
share: share selected
details, but anonymously. Then foster communities that can benefit from
this information, and learn together. You’ll find passion in these
communities: reward the evangelists with special privileges. Bring what the
community shares into the product design process.
- Integrate the channels: when a question is asked, this
should be treated like gold: keep it. Have a ‘call me about this question’
button, next to one labelled ‘chat to me online about this question’. While
they’re waiting, look the question up in your knowledge base. And if there
isn’t someone available after a moment, archive it, and give the option of
a callback, email, or SMS.
The clock’s
ticking – but luckily there’s still time to innovate. Let me know if you have
any other ideas!