Did you Know?

Today I was reading a report on the customer complaints from the inception of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). No surprise 48% of all complaints are mortgage related, 21% were credit card related, and 15% were bank account related.

For loans 62% of the problems reported were due to clients being unable to pay.

Though my time in retail banking I have never had a properly educated customer angry about a fee. Now that does not stop them for asking for help; however, people are OK with paying fees when they understand what they are.

On the other hand, my most dissatisfied, and upset customer were people who did not know about fees and charges, be it loans, credit cards, or checking accounts.

Notice that 62% of the complaints on loans were because people were unable to pay. Often cited complaints included one representative saying "do not pay your loan" and then fees and derogatory credit marks follow, even though the client was reassured they would not occur.

While it may seem like the solution to these complaints may be "difficult" I want to propose a tool to combat under-educated customers.

When starting a new process (i.e. opening a new account, just starting a default conversation, etc...) create an interactive website that is mostly comprised of short videos and interactive games.

You may wonder, why videos's and games. Here is the truth, people want to work with people. And people like doing fun things. This is why, despite the ATM's invention, there are still more branches today than ever before. And here is a previous link to my blog post about gamificaiton and its implications for banking.

Sadly, I have yet to find any financial institution that has created a great UX around customer education. Most website contain limited videos, and a lot of text on the web page. With added improvements in this education financial institutions would see a greater loyalty, and fewer customer complaints.