Beyond functionality: Taking customer experience to a new level

FGB’s intuitive mobile phone app makes banking transparent and rewarding

Mobile applications are revolutionising the banking world. Recent innovations in this space have gone beyond basic banking.

According to the BJ Fogg model of behavioural change, technology can influence us in three ways: enabling (how), motivating (why) and triggering (why now).

Most technologies focus on the first — enablement. The more sophisticated apps, however, also make the banking experience motivating and enjoyable. Let’s look at an app that is interactive and guides consumers to choose the right products and services.

FGB recently launched a new proposition called Accelerator. It allows salaried customers to personalise their banking experience and receive privileges that are normally available only to highnet individuals (HNIs).

The proposition is attractive but also unfamiliar, raising the possibility of confusion. To address this, FGB developed an intuitive tool, which is available online as a downloadable app. It breaks down the key decisions a customer needs to make while showing the results in real time. Where input is required from the user, the questions are easy to answer and kept to a minimum. In a market where strong propositions often underperform owing to lack of clear communication, this approach represents a breakthrough in the banking industry.

Through the app, users can select one of the three loyalty programmes from FGB, choose from one of the three Accelerator tiers, and indicate their monthly credit card spend. The benefits are displayed numerically (e.g. 92,426 miles) and visually (e.g. two round trips to Paris).

It is important to be as transparent about fees as the benefits in a banking product. The credit card that comes with Accelerator carries a monthly fee, which varies according to the level of benefits selected (Booster, Booster Plus, Turbo Booster). Importantly, the fee can be waived partially or completely depending on a customer’s salary (higher salary a lower fee) and the number of products held by the customer with FGB (more products alower fee).

If communicated in a complicated matrix, this could be confusing. However, this is made simpler by being shown visually. Customer has to enter the monthly amount they will transfer to their current account (i.e. their salary), and the additional products they hold, or might hold in future.

The fee for each level is clearly displayed, next to the original fee so customers can see the discount they receive in each case.

When a customer makes the final decision, he/she can click on ‘Apply Now’, and all details are automatically sent to the bank’s core system to be followed up by the relevant sales staff.

Customers do not find banking intrinsically fun. Normally, if we are honest, it is the opposite of fun. However, if a bank invests time in developing a process that is intuitive and transparent, the customer is not only rewarded financially, but also emotionally. This makes the customer happy, while the bank earns the customer’s loyalty. Everyone wins.

FGB recently launched a new proposition called Accelerator. It allows salaried customers to personalise their banking experience and receive privileges that are normally available only to HNIs. When a customer makes the final decision, he/she can click on ‘Apply Now’, and all details are automatically sent to the bank’s core system to be followed up by the relevant sales staff.