One of the biggest challenges of a banking budget? Not allocating enough resources for your client experience (CX). Your CX involves every single interaction a client has with your bank, including calls, emails, digital interfaces, in-person meetings and more. It informs whether each client is a good fit for your bank and vice-versa. 

In fact, one recent survey stated that 69% of customers who plan to leave their bank are motivated by poor service rather than poor products. The data doesn’t lie: You can have great systems and services, but without a strong CX, your customers feel undervalued. 

As you build out a budget for the tech-side of your bank’s CX, there are several non-obvious costs to consider, including security, partners, and upgrades.

What Should Your Bank’s CX Budget Cover?

A CX budget isn’t just for surveys and call centers – there are several parts of the client experience you need to deliver that can cost big bucks. Explore the six major costs your CX budget should account for below.

1. Your Internal Team

A great user experience begins with having a product owner on board and running point – this ensures that you have a consistently positive CX in each corner of your company. Your CX product owner could be nearly anyone on your team, but in our experience the banks with the best results have business leader in charge.

For example, a regional bank might have a CEO or Managing Director who would manage and own your CX product – they would make decisions in terms of how to delegate resources and create workflows.

2. CX Tech Stack

Your tech lays the foundation for your CX. In addition to internal structure, your tech decides how clients can manage their money, contact your team, and stay updated. If you’re using third-party tools for any aspect of your user experience, then you’re essentially leasing out your CX to someone else. Your customers come to your website to view and interact with their finances, but if they’re logging into someone else’s portal, that third party wants your customers to use their money with them, not with you.

From journey mapping to project management software and even analytics solutions, a large portion of your CX budget should account for creating an efficient, all-in-one, easy-to-use tech stack.

3. Partners and Consultants

Many vendors out there operate transactionally – you buy a product, they deliver it and the story ends. The most successful businesses search for something more: partners who work with you. Partners aren’t just a one-and-done expense – they’re an asset you’re adding to your team who should support your vision for the future of your bank.

Related: How Wealth Access Partners with Banks for Lasting Success

Consultants also offer a great value-add when you need particular expertise or knowledge of the marketplace. For example, banks going through an RFP or trying to decide between various solutions could greatly benefit from a consultant’s perspective. 

4. Training

After you have a product owner in place, you’ll need to organize internal training for each member of your team. After all, a single person can’t run every single client interaction your company provides.

You will need to account for the money and the time that should go into training your team, such as:

• Your product owner syncing up with your CX partner on a regular basis
• Quarterly/biannual trainings for key stakeholders who need to know the latest updates
• Onboarding of new employees who need to know the system
• Development of internal training documents to create continuity across your team

Your budget should account for every employee having access to resources that can streamline or otherwise improve your clients’ experience. Also consider any costs associated with learning development, such as CX-focused conferences your employees might benefit from attending.

5. Security

Security is a necessity in every part of your bank’s business, especially the client experience. 

Part of building a personalized experience for your customers might be saving all previous touch points – when they first reached out, each location they’ve visited in-person, etc.. While this data gives you an opportunity to better understand and enhance your clients’ future encounters with clients, it also creates more opportunities for security errors. 

You’ll want to include room in your CX budget for a variety of security needs, including:

• Partnering with tech companies that have a history of taking security seriously
• Properly training your employees on security best practices
• Planning ongoing meetings to update policies, procedures and training
• Staying up to date on the latest developments to ensure your bank doesn’t fall behind new security tech

Creating a secure customer experience requires as much of a time commitment as it does a cost commitment.

6. Upgrades

Client expectations evolve over time – what might have been top of the line a decade ago would now hardly pass as the bare minimum for CX. Your budget should factor in costs associated with collecting client feedback, analyzing your CX, and planning and initiating upgrades to your systems.

Related: How Legacy Thinking May Be Holding Your Bank Back

As you develop a budget for your bank’s CX, be sure to include the costs associated with resources, materials, training and upgrades of these six items. 

Build a Better CX with Wealth Access

Here at Wealth Access, we know that a great CX can be the difference between success and failure. That’s why we’ve created a unified customer data solution that can make your client experience a win every single time. Click here to schedule your complimentary demo of Wealth Access today.