Finserv: How can AI improve the customer experience

AI is proliferating a number of industries and reshaping business models across the globe. It is no different in financial services – and while the threat of AI to human occupation is much talked about – for Drift’s SVP of Product, Matt Tippets, the future should be humans and AI working in collaboration. 

He says: “ When implemented with care and direction, artificial intelligence (AI) can lead to more human conversations, even in a digital-first world. 

“The right AI provides up-to-date customer information to your client-facing teams, gives relationship managers the context they need to lead more productive conversations, and takes tedious tasks off people’s plates so that they can have more personal conversations at scale, using their time for the highest value aspects of their job.”

With this in mind, we ask Tippets for his tips on how AI can be implemented at financial service providers to better serve human roles, rather than replace them. 

How can AI lead to greater convenience for finserv workforces? 

Today’s financial services customers expect the same level of convenience that they get from their mobile banking app. They crave immediate answers, self-service experiences, and digitisation — so much so that 70% of millennials and Gen Zers say they would switch financial institutions if they found one that offered a better digital experience. 

And Gen Zers are looking for more information about their financial health. A recent survey from Rocket Mortgage found that 38.4% of GenZ respondents felt they lacked the knowledge they needed to fulfill their homeownership-related goals in 2023. 

Similarly, a survey conducted by Intuit found that two-thirds of the Gen Zers surveyed know it’s important to invest, but they don’t know how to.

That is to say, users want digital, and they want to learn more about their financial wellness on their own time. But because one’s finances are individualized, humans still need to be involved. Artificial intelligence is the solution to making it all possible.

The first way in which AI can help meet customer expectations is by being available when your relationship managers are not. 

Your people and your expertise are already providing you with important advantages, and by adding AI-powered chatbots to your website, you can channel this expertise into a familiar, interactive digital experience so customers can get answers to their questions no matter the day or time. 

Let’s say someone visits your website at 9pm on a Saturday, curious about the different investment options your firm offers. They visit your resources page, where they’re greeted by an AI-powered chatbot that asks them what brought them to the site. 

The chatbot acknowledges that the visitor is just beginning their research and briefly summarises each investment option, asking if the visitor would like to learn more about any of them. The site visitor then has the option to download a piece of content, or book time to chat with a human relationship manager during normal business hours. 

Through the power of AI, this potential client is able to get started learning about what investment option might be right for them before getting in touch with a human. And when they do choose to get in touch, thanks to the conversation data stored by AI, the relationship manager will have all of the context they need to lead a more productive first conversation. 

AI’s impact on strategic conversions is clearly limited, but what of human conversations?

AI can’t take care of all strategic conversations, but it can equip relationship managers to have more productive — and human — conversations. 

After an AI chatbot interacts with a site visitor, it stores all of the information from the interaction in a database so that relationship managers can access insights to understand their customers’ investment journey and near-term needs. 

The information stored — such as content downloaded, pages visited, and questions asked — will help the relationship manager determine the best next steps for the customer. This leads to more productive conversations right off the bat, since the customer no longer has to repeat themselves and can focus on moving their investment journey forward.

Not to mention that outside of the simple customer questions that AI chatbots are able to answer, they can also be trained to ask basic qualifying questions. Getting these questions answered via AI removes a lot of the rote aspects of meetings, so relationship managers can focus on the work that their job titles so clearly describe — managing relationships. 

How can AI improve operational efficiencies? 

Between customers being able to get their questions answered 24/7/365 and relationship managers being able to focus on the work that really moves the needle for their company, it only makes sense that with AI comes operational efficiency — and a better customer experience. 

A lot of what AI does (and excels at) is automating repetitive tasks and quickly accessing information from any source — you can train AI to answer simple customer questions, update databases with new account information, process disbursements, and more. 

Leveraging automation throughout your processes — whether it be in the form of email, chat, or data analysis — not only allows for many mundane and repetitive tasks to be completed faster and at scale, but it also allows your human team to get back to the work you hired them to do. The results of both efforts will lead to happier and more loyal customers (and employees).

AI is all the rage nowadays and for good reason. When leveraged appropriately, it can deliver more human experiences at scale, give both teams and customers time back in their day, and increase the overall efficiency of your business. 

Remember: Adopting AI doesn’t mean getting rid of human intelligence — instead, it means finally getting the resources you need to deliver an always-on digital experience while creating more opportunities for your team to drive the overall financial well-being your customers are seeking.

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