In an age where most brands are looking forward, and racing towards that next advancement, which promises some new technological marketing breakthrough, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is looking at the landscape from a slightly different perspective. RBS, which services nearly 24 millions customers all across the world, is actually taking a counterintuitive approach to customer engagement by looking backwards.
Specifically, it is looking back to the 1970s, and for two very good customer experience focused reasons.
“In the 70s there was two really important characteristics that we had in terms of our relationship with our customers,” Christian Nelissen, RBS Chief Data Officer, said on stage during PegaWORLD 2015. “Firstly, we knew our customers individually. We knew who they were, we knew their families, their relationships, where they were in life, and what they were doing next.”
During his session titled, “The Always On Customer Brain,” Nelissen stressed how important establishing these individual relationships are today. Customers want to be known individually, but this is a practice and a philosophy that many brands have strayed from.
In the banking sector, individual relationships were once prominently built through the face-to-face interactions between branch managers and customers. However, as more customers began to bank online or through a host of mobile devices, many human branch managers were phased out in favor of automated and less expensive customer engagement options.
This may have saved the bank money, but it did so to the detriment of the customer experience.
“Back then, when we talked to customers, we talked about what was right for them,” Nelissen continued. “The idea was that if we did that often enough, in the long-term we would make money out of it. We didn’t simply try to sell a customer a credit card. We tried to think about what was right for that customer, and about how we could help that customer in their life.”
Of course, RBS’s desire to “return to the 70s” does mean it will start eschewing technological advancement. This is not about ignoring innovation. Rather, it is about recapturing a mindset and a culture that once embraced customer centricity.
Using the data at its command and its automated decision-making capabilities, RBS is seeking to design an acceptable replacement for the branch managers that once built and maintained essential customer relationships. By coordinating decisions in real-time and across all channels, RBS is using technology to bridge the gaps between an optimized customer experience and personally meaningful interactions.
“We are creating an environment where we now engage customers individually and have one-to-one conversations about what is right for them,” said Nelissen.
RBS’s move towards the future now seems uncannily reminiscent of its past, and that is exactly what the brand hopes to achieve.
About the Author: Mark Johnson
Mark is CEO & CMO of Loyalty360. He has significant experience in selling, designing and administering prepaid, loyalty/CRM programs, as well as data-driven marketing communication programs.