CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
The human touch Nationwide Building Society meets Silicon Valley as it explores the digital/human interface.But that makes it more – not less – of a ‘people bank’ as Matt Cox, Head of Insight and Innovation, explains Even casting an objective eye over Nationwide’s reputation, you’d be hard pushed to find the sort of negative reporting one has come to associate with financial institutions. For starters, the biggest mutual building society in the world has a track record for consistently winning polls for best customer service, which surely warrants respect in a market that’s experiencing pressures from the bank transformation programme and an ever-changing and demanding customer base. Last year alone, Nationwide came an impressive third in The Sunday Times’ poll of the Top 25 Big Companies to Work For, second in the British Bank Awards and first among its high street peers for customer service satisfaction for the three consecutive months to March 2016. This year it scooped the prize for Best Application of Technology in the Institute of Customer Service Awards. Let’s not forget that Nationwide is also the second largest provider of household
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savings and mortgages in the UK, too. Altogether, it seems like this 169-year-old institution can do little wrong. Matt Cox, head of insight and innovation at Nationwide, says that offering choice to its members is integral its customer service objectives. This explains its broad spectrum of communication channels, including contact centres, branches, social media, webchats and video calls. “We have consistently been first for service for a long period of time, and I think that is a reflection of the technology we provide for our members, but probably more for having great human service when our members need it. “If I think about why we continue to invest in our branches, it’s because we recognise that we absolutely need to provide human service in the towns and villages across the country where our members live.” Cox says that the key for Nationwide is balancing the needs of all its members, given their differing preferences for interaction that alter according to their age.
“We need to make sure that we can offer all those different technologies so they can interact in their method of choice. If, for example, younger people choose to engage in social media, we need to respond – and we have responded by providing 24/7 social media teams that interact with them through Twitter and Facebook, whenever they choose.”
Spoilt for choice? Evolving technology has facilitated this increased choice – but how successful and streamlined can the customer journey be when there’s so much of it to choose from? “I like to think they’re not separate channels. They are just different ways that a customer can contact us and then they’ll receive the great service they deserve when they get through to us,” says Cox. “And whether that is through webchat or voice, you’re going to get through to the same, highly skilled, highly capable employees that care. I don’t want to think that this is just about technology because Summer 2017