Staying competitive in today’s fast-paced digital world is no easy task for a business. But a smart business knows that the key to staying ahead of the competition is offering the best possible experience to customers. How do you do this? A good starting point is to make sure you have access to all customer data (contact information, age, gender, etc.). Knowing as much information as possible about your customers helps you to better serve them. Customer 360 can help you do this – access all customer data at your fingertips. 

If you don’t have a 360-view of your customers, you’re missing out on valuable insights that could greatly benefit your business. In this article, we’ll discuss how Customer 360 solutions can generate revenue and give your business a competitive edge. 
 

What is Customer 360 and Why Is it Needed? 

Customer 360 refers to the creation of a master customer record. A 360-degree view provides the organization with a single pane of glass view for sales and other service teams to gather insights about customers. In addition to customer demographics, customer 360 can show interaction history across channels, product/service activity, and other marketing intel.   

Customer 360 is essential because without it, companies wouldn’t have the necessary data to uncover meaningful insights and outcomes. The data in a 360-degree view enables companies to pivot and make decisions quickly, drive innovation, generate revenue, and get ahead of the competition.
 

The Importance of Customer 360 For Banks and Financial Institutions 

Customer 360 is used across many industries such as insurance, manufacturing, and retail. One industry in particular that is realizing significant benefits from Customer 360 solutions is the financial services industry. Several banks and financial institutions are leveraging Customer 360 to differentiate themselves in an ever-changing digital marketplace. 

For banks and other financial services companies, retention, upselling, and cross-selling are all crucial for success. This requires a deep understanding of each customer on an individual level. Where do they live? What is your relationship with them? What other demographics do you have on your customers? A 360° view of customers gives banks the insight they need to streamline interactions, enhance self-service, target offers to the right individuals, and boost digital engagement. 
 

6 Ways Customer 360 Helps Financial Institutions Grow Revenue

We already know that Customer 360 solutions help all companies  generate revenue and stay ahead of the competition. But let’s take a closer look at how Customer 360 helps banks and financial institutions specifically. Why is this technology so critical for companies in the financial sector and how can it help them generate revenue? 

Here are six reasons why banks and financial institutions should have a 360° view of their customers. 
 

1. Drive Customer Loyalty and Improve Retention 

When you have a single view of customer data, you can optimize customer engagement because you know more about your customers and their behaviors. When your focus on optimizing customer interactions and experiences, this leads to improved retention. Part of meeting your customer’s needs is providing them with good experiences any time they interact with your brand. Customer 360 allows you to create these experiences. Longer customer lifespans will generate more revenue for your business in the long run.
 

2. Reduce Costs with More Intentional Initiatives 

In today’s world, if you aren’t making data-driven decisions, the decisions you make could cost you. When banks launch different marketing and sales initiatives, Customer 360 insights can provide intel. With data and insights, organizations can launch more intentionally targeted and tailored messages. Smarter strategies will result in a better return on investment. If every dollar is being spent intentionally, you aren’t wasting marketing dollars and you can cut back as needed. 
 

3. Create More Personalized Experiences 

According to a McKinsey survey, a whopping 71% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions, and 76% get frustrated when this doesn’t happen. Furthermore, their research found that companies that excel at personalization generate 40 percent more revenue from those activities than average players. In order to grow customer lifetime value at scale and create intelligent strategies, it is essential to create more personalized experiences—starting with the data needed to do so. 

4. Reduce Errors and Improve Efficiency 

A single source of truth for customer data can streamline operations and workflows for financial institutions. This, in turn, reduces errors and improves efficiency. Human error can be costly for a business. By automating data management with a Customer 360 solution, businesses are not only reducing costs caused by human error, but also saving time. Manually, it could take a long time to extract data, but Customer 360 saves your business time (and as they say, time is money). 
 

5. Reveal Opportunities for Business Optimizations 

As a bank or financial institution, it’s important to realize that without big data, you’re simply missing out on opportunities. Those who are competitive in space are using data and artificial intelligence and machine learning to reveal opportunities and make optimizations. Customer 360 is one of the many ways they are doing it. 
 

6. Create More Strategic Campaigns 

As previously mentioned, Customer 360 is a huge help in creating tailored marketing campaigns. With real-time data and customer insights, banks and financial institutions can target different messages to different customers based on where they are in their journey. They can also create dashboards to see how different campaigns are performing and make minor tweaks improvements to their data-driven campaign strategies. 

 

Looking Ahead – How Customer 360 Gives You a Competitive Advantage 

Customer 360 gives financial institutions a closer look at individual customers’ profiles, but it also can show a client’s assets, loans, etc. With access to every detail about a customer, businesses can deliver customized offerings, personalized service, and so on. This results in happy, lifelong customers. 

In addition to improving how you interact with your current customers; Customer 360 also provides the insight that’s needed to make future improvements to your business. Leveraging data in a 360-degree customer view gives businesses a deep understanding of how customers use their products, how they behave, what they like and don’t like, etc. These deep analytics and insights help businesses improve offerings over time and innovate at a rapid pace because they’re anticipating customer needs. 

 

Reach Your Full Potential with Customer 360 Analytics 

Banks and financial institutions constantly need to find ways to differentiate themselves in an ever-changing marketplace. This requires connecting with customers in ways that are both efficient and personalized. Customer 360 solutions give financial institutions a clear view of each individual customer, allowing them to offer better experiences and the very best products and services. 
 

BDO Digital Vision is your Customer 360 analytics solution  

Understanding ‘who is the customer’ is not unique to banking, but how you accomplish this is unique. Our solution is different from other available offers by specifically targeting your ability to increase revenue. Let us show you how you can drive success for your banking business with BDO Digital Vision. To learn more or get started, contact us today.