Post-pandemic expectations for banking experiences have been shifting at a pace faster than anyone could have imagined.
A new baseline for customer experience in banking has been set: People expect more channels, and faster and personalized responses without long wait times. In fact, surveys have shown that these are ranked above low fees, product availability, and security features.
And while it's no longer about merely providing "delight" to customers with every interaction, increasingly, customer engagement expectations are also surprisingly simple: Make it easy; make it efficient; provide a solution.
Customers need answers, not excuses. Whatever forms simplification might take — an instant access card from a new banking partner or a 24/7 call center staffed by real people who have the answers — user-friendly options are imperative to create the gold standard in customer service.
So, what makes some customer service experiences shine a little brighter and stand apart from the rest?
The magic usually happens when staff — real people — can deliver what the customer actually wants, when they really need it.
Setting the bar
A year since its launch in October 2022, GoTyme Bank — a joint venture between the Gokongwei Group and Tyme Group, a multicountry digital banking group focused on emerging markets — is well on its way to setting the bar for the emergent banking experience.
Its "phygital" model delivers effective omnichannel experiences, deploys automation to improve efficiency, makes banking more personal, and adapts and responds to new consumer needs.
For Nate Clarke, GoTyme Bank president and chief executive officer, customer service is the most important differentiator in the market. "At GoTyme, we believe that providing next-level or market-leading customer service is about human connection to our customers," Clarke says.
Everything GoTyme Bank has done since Day One has led up to achieving a differentiated customer service. Its user-friendly, award-winning app boasts easy account registration and allows for fast onboarding.
BA support
Any kiosk at a Robinsons Supermarket is supported by a bank ambassador who ensures that customers get their sleek and free debit card printed and released in less than five minutes. The BA helps customers navigate subsequent transactions and is ready to instruct or clarify account-related issues for them as needed.
It offers three free transfers per week and free deposits and withdrawals in any Robinsons retail ecosystem.
It has the highest base savings interest rate in the market of 5 percent per annum — no missions, no minimum balance requirements, and no deposit caps. Its award-winning debit card program with Go Rewards points boosters and points to cash is the only one of its kind in the market today. It offers banking where customers shop, dine, or relax.
Going beyond building connections and as GoTyme discovers more about customers' needs, it gets to design and execute better products: It looks forward to offering customers access to affordable consumer and merchant loans as well as exciting investment opportunities.
Boots on the ground, GoTyme Bank has the target firmly in its sights — to unlock the Filipino financial potential, and in so doing creates value for the people it serves.
Albert Tinio, GoTyme Bank co-chief executive officer, shares that GoTyme had invested significantly in human banking to offer its customers the experience that revolves around genuine human connection.
Championing human banking
"We take part in championing human banking because the people prefer to talk to people to be heard and be understood by someone who generally cares," he says, vowing that GoTyme "will be utilizing technology and analytical processes to better understand the services and products that are suited to (our customers') financial needs."
GoTyme's promises that a personal banker (PB) — and not a bot — will always respond to a chat or a call. Sean Matthew, a customer, reports, "Ang bilis ng response time nila, may sasagot ng tawag mo in less than two minutes… In fact, when they reverted, I'd almost forgotten about the report that I'd made. Pero nag auto-resolve na siya at sinabihan nila ako on the spot (Their response time record…a real person responds to you in less than two minutes. Meanwhile, the issue resolved itself automatically, while the PB informed me of the development almost immediately)."
Alexander, another customer, recalls his experience with GoTyme's "human customer service when he was in a long queue at the cashier's and his debit card wouldn't go through. "Good thing I was able to reach a GoTyme (personal banker) right away. Whew! Imagine if (it had been another bank), abutin ako ng sampung taon (I could very well have been there forever). Keep it up, GoTyme!"
Real-life stories
These real-life stories bear witness to what Tinio stresses as GoTyme Bank's promise to provide the best customer service via "a banking experience deeply rooted in empathy, care, and human excellence."
In fact, Clarke has gone so far as to say GoTyme Bank is not striving just to be the best customer service bank in the country: "We are striving to promote the best customer service on any business or any brand," he says.
Clarke's confidence is anchored in the bank's firm conviction that "the more digital the world becomes, the more human a bank needs to be." This, in turn, finds the best demonstration in GoTyme Bank's more than 370 kiosks strategically located across the country, and supported by over 900 BAs ready to assist steadily expanding clientele.
Already, GoTyme has reached more than 1.45 million customers, with about 200,000 sign-ons a month.
Rekindling human connections
To better serve its clients, GoTyme Bank plans to increase the number of GoTyme kiosks nationwide to 400 by the end of the year, and by 2024, the number will move up within the Gokongwei ecosystem (malls, etc.) as well as venues outside the ecosystem, for example, in malls outside of JG Summit Holdings. One or two BAs for every kiosk are guaranteed to ensure that human connections are always being forged.
Regina Lugtu, a BA at Robinson's in Porac, Pampanga, says, "Mas ok po na merong BA sa kiosk dahil may mga customer po na pumupunta sa kiosk para ma-address ang concerns nila… lalo na yung kailangan ng agarang sagot, at minsan naman may customer na naghahanap pa rin ng mag-a-assist sa kanila para makagawa ng account. Importante din ang BA sa mga customer dahil actual ang pag explain ng benefits ng GoTyme Bank — mas malinaw ito at mauunawaan ang lahat. Iba pa rin talaga ang may taong magpapaliwanag nang personal sa mga customer. (It's better to have BAs in kiosks because there are customers who need to address their concerns — especially those that need immediate answers and assistance in opening an account. Other customers need the BA to explain the benefits offered by GoTyme Bank. BAs make all the difference in personally enlightening customers)."