Adopting the SPICE (Social, Personal, and Interactive to enable an enhanced Customer Experience) framework will help banks engage customers and understand their preferences better, improve marketing... opportunities around new products and services, and enhance their brand image, while driving up customer services.

1. Adding SPICE to Internet Banking
- Kiran Kalmadi, Sukhna Dang, Rajat Gurnani
Abstract
Most of the internet banks today provide services and features which can largely be termed as standardized in nature. One of the
key differentiators lies in providing a richer customer experience. To deliver best-in-class online customer experience, banks are
embracing various ways, like- enhancements to online portal (primarily customization & personalization), creating micro-sites,
using social media tools and engaging customers through online chats, customer surveys & demo’s on their websites. To achieve
this objective, banks can adopt the SPICE framework i.e., go Social, make it Personal and be Interactive for enhanced Customer
Experience (SPICE). Adopting this framework will help banks to engage with the customers better, understand their preferences,
market new products & services, enhance the brand image and improve the customer service.
www.infosys.com

2. SPICE framework
Internet banking is mainstream and is here to stay. Today, majority of the banks have joined the internet banking bandwagon. With the
adoption of internet banking on the rise, it’s highly imperative for banks to differentiate themselves. Online customer experience can be a
key differentiator, which can help a bank to differentiate itself. By providing a best-in-class online experience, banks can effectively engage its
customers. Customers today are not satisfied with mere static web sites- an uninspiring web experience can be a real dampener for customers.
Customers today are looking for online banking experiences which are more engaging (social), personalized and interactive. Banks who are
looking to retain their existing customers and attract the next generation of customers needs to deliver a richer online customer experience. To
deliver the next level of online customer experiences, banks should adopt strategies that leverage the 3 key elements of the SPICE framework
(Refer Figure 1).
The first element of the framework – Social emphasizes
that banks should integrate social media into their online
banking and in their website. For instance, bank’s blogs, Go
wikis and twitter should be integrated to the bank’s Social
website and should be an integral part of online banking.
The second element of the framework – Personalization,
recommends banks to go personal, in order to maintain
the personal touch even in an online environment. Make it Customer
Servicing customers based on customer preferences Personal Experience
will lead to enhanced online customer experience as
customers get content relevant to them.
The third element of the framework – Interactive, is
important for banks as customers are always looking Be
for immediate help or answers. By offering interactive Interactive
services, banks can augment the online banking
Figure 1 - SPICE Framework
experience of their customers.
To have a strong foundation for richer customer experience, it’s highly recommended for banks to adopt the SPICE framework (Social,
Personalization and Interactive). In the subsequent sections, we have provided detail explanation of each of the elements of this framework
and also substantiated the framework by presenting a real-time example.
Go Social
With the growth in the usage of social media, banks have started to provide the same experience on their internet banking websites. Today
banks are embracing social networking sites (Facebook, LinkedIn), blogging sites (WordPress) micro blogging sites (Twitter) etc., not only to
provide a rich customer experience; but also to improve customer service, develop products, enhance the brand image and market products
& services. Banks harness the power of social media tools through the following:
Creating their Providing Gaining insights
own online online tools to Availability of from social
communities customers content online media activity
2 | Infosys

3. Banks create their own online communities on social media platforms, to ensure a platform, where both
existing and potential consumers can make enquiries, interact with one another and discuss about
Creating their the current offerings and new products and services and also provide their views (likes/dislikes) etc.
own online For example – Wells Fargo has created a fan Page on Facebook. This complements the online presence
communities on wellsfargo.com and provides an additional way for individuals to interact with others. Individuals
with their own personal Facebook account can become a fan of Wells Fargo to receive investing news,
insights, information on new products and services etc.
Banks are offering various services like personal financial management (PFM), collaborative banking etc.,
through various online tools (widgets). Customers prefer using personal financial management tools
Providing
through banking web sites over the independent PFM third party providers due to security concerns.
online tools to
For example; Wells Fargo has launched “My Money Map”, a free interactive online tool designed to help
customers
customers manage their finances and financial future. The bank has also posted a video about one of its
new tool on YouTube to reach customers effectively.
Social media is attractive, not because of the fruitful discussions rather content available online is
of utmost importance. Hence, traditional campaign materials are being turned into online friendly
versions. Banks upload videos, provide information about product launches, and advertise on forums
Availability of like You Tube, Vimeo etc. They also use interactive multimedia like flip pages, links etc which are easily
content online transferable among customers. For example - Fidelity Investments launched “Be the Green Line” video
contest on You Tube, the contest links with Fidelity’s advertising campaign, which features the tagline
“Turn Here” and a prominent green line that underscores the firm’s ability to help investors navigate all
stages of life with financial guidance and appropriate investment options.
To understand the user preferences and provide better customer service, banks use social media
Gaining insights analytics tools that enable them to capitalize on the stream of data and information available.
from social The underlying objective in all the above cases is to attract new customers and increase loyalty for better
media activity customer engagement. The results are obvious, social media has redefined the customer experience
model.
Make it personal
To facilitate next generation online customer experience, one of the key elements available to banks is personalization. Gone are the days
of ‘one-product fits all’, today banks are moving towards ‘give customers what they want’. Banks are targeting to offer customers more
personalized online services and also are allowing customers to customize their offerings. Personalization helps banks to tailor the content or
web experience in accordance to each individual customer’s interests and choices. As a result of providing personalized content, customers
spend more time on the banks website, return more frequently and are also inclined to use the internet banking services much often. This
provides additional opportunities to the bank for cross-sell, thereby growing their wallet share. Personalization can be done, based on the
information shared by customers, or as observed by the system, based on customer interaction, or pushed by the banks to the customer, who
may belong to a particular category of customer (for instance, all retirees may receive information about pension plans).
Infosys | 3

4. The major types of personalization available to banks can be broadly classified as:
Explicit personalization
• Here, customer makes the choice and sees relevant content everytime he visits the
website, based on the requirements or choice he has made
• Gives the customer explicit user control as the customer makes the choice
• For instance, BBVA through its “Tú Cuentas” next-generation online portal lets
customers design their own personal experience , so that they can view information
and functionality based on their choice. Using widgets, end users can customize
their layout as well.
Implicit personalization
• Here, banks monitors customers interests, based on the user behavior - as they
navigage a website and provide the appropriate content
• For instance, today most banks have personalized home pages - which greet a
customer by their name, furnishes summary of accounts and promotes marketing
offers that are relevant to customers
Banks offer different type of personalization services to their customers. Few of the prominent personalization services provided are:
personalization of login home page, account alerts, event reminders, personalized marketing offers, personalized banners, e-Statement
options, quick links, secure email, personalized pre-approved loans, etc.,
Banks stand to reap a host of benefits by taking the personalization route.
Few of the benefits are:
• Loyal customers –
Better personalized services which are tuned to the customers
preferences, customers would remain more loyal with the banks
• Increased trust –
Benefits of
Offering what the customer personally needs will increase the trust
personalization
• More selling opportunities –
By targeting personalized products/services to customers , banks get
more opportunities to cross sell or up-sell their services
• Competitive differentiator –
Engaging customers based on their preferences will be a key competitive
differentiator for banks
Providing personalized services or offering customized products to online customers helps banks to build customer intimacy. By personalizing
websites, banks can offer its online customers a persuasive experience that differentiates itself from any other internet banking websites.
4 | Infosys

5. Be interactive
To provide a richer online banking experience, banks have been focusing on providing interactive features and capabilities to its customers.
The customers too want to conduct all their banking transactions via internet banking websites, which not only includes checking balances or
transferring funds but, interacting with personal advisors and watching videos for gaining more information on specific products and services
provided by the bank. This consumer behavior highlights the need for instant solutions and the convenience of banking anywhere anytime.
Currently, banks are embracing Web 2.0 technologies—social applications, podcasts, widgets and mashups. Web 2.0 applications enable banks
and their customers to interact with each other in a personalized manner. The current focus of the banks is to engage the customers through
interactive applications and the underlying objectives are to:
Provide immediate answers
Reduce cost
Provide offline and new products online
Provide another service channel instead of the customer visiting the branch
Provide convenience to customers
Cross-sell products
Educate customers through videos and web conferences
Understand the user preferences of the customers and customize products based on such preferences
With the help of Web 2.0, banks provide a variety of Interactive services which include:
a. Live chat – It allows customers to interact with relationship e. ATM and branch locators – Most of the banks today, display
managers for all their financial queries. This helps in increased information like ATM locators, branch locators using google maps
conversions of existing and potential customers, leading to more and satellite tracking along with details like branch opening
completed applications and start of new relationships. Banks like, information on their internet banking websites. For example,
Bank of America and National City; have significantly increased HSBC provides an interactive branch locator based on google
their sales volume because of live chat feature on their banking maps technology
websites
f. Social computing - Banks are also leveraging the Web 2.0 features
b. Online TV services – Banks deploy online TV services to share to continuously track changing online customer behavior patterns
information about financial and business events so as to continuously and are leveraging social communities like Facebook, Orkut, Digg
engage with their customers. As a case in point, 1st Mariner Bank etc, along with micro blogging websites like Twitter and other
has placed a video version of its annual report and often uploads social forums. For example, Wells Fargo launched Stagecoach
interviews and viewpoints of its finance officers on YouTube Island, an online virtual world, in which the users can connect with
their friends and at the same time learn to manage money
c. Service requests – Through the bank’s internet website, customers
can change/generate passwords, apply for new products g. Webcasts and podcasts sessions are being used by banks to share
and services, order a new cheque book, add/modify their important information
communication address, track their service requests, etc., This not
h. Online banking Widgets – Essential widgets like calendar and
only helps in saving cost to the bank (if a customer visits a branch)
calculator are provided with the option of adding more interactive
but also results in saving time and providing convenience to the
widgets based on the preferences of the customers
customer
i. Search toolbar – Banks provide a search option so that if the
d. Online appointment reservation – With the help of this service,
customers are not able to find a particular product, service or
the customers can book their appointments at the branch well in
need more information, searching through keywords will help
advance
them in finding the information efficiently
Infosys | 5

6. Putting the framework into practice
Almost all the leading banks of the world today constantly endeavor to provide the best of the internet banking features for creating a rich
online customer experience. Standard Chartered Bank has launched a consumer online banking platform – Breeze, targeted towards the next
generation customers. Standard Chartered’s Breeze is a rich online banking, easy to use platform; that embraces Web 2.0 applications and helps
its customers to view, transfer and manage money. Standard Chartered Breeze uses plain and simple language in its entire online banking
platform. In this section, we have used our SPICE framework to map the internet banking features introduced by Standard Chartered Bank in
creating the next generation customer experience.
• To reach out to the Next Gen population, the Breeze platform uses social networks
like Facebook and Twitter to have conversations and listen to their customers
Go • Breeze also has a presence on YouTube, which is used by the bank to provide
product demos/information about the platforms and it also allows customers to
Social provide inputs and feedback on the videos
• Standard Chartered’s Breeze, recruited many interns with the help of social media
tools (Blogs, Youtube, Twitter etc.)
• Standard Chartered Breeze allows personalization of accounts by assigning names
and choosing visual icons and colours for all accounts
• Breeze offers handy ‘Wish List ‘ function, that helps customers to plan for those
activities that they wish to save for. In addition, it also provides a ‘Rainy Day’ feature
Make it that helps customers to prepare financially for any emergencies that may arise in
Personal future
• Breeze allows customers the option to view and check their transactions in a list
format, using the ‘List tool’. It allows users to set reminders to alert them for any
action that they need to take. In fact, Breeze allows customers to set reminders even
for actions which may not be relevant to the bank account
• Breeze provides a mailbox which helps the customer to send across questions to the
customer service officer in case of any assistance
Be • It also provides calendar tool that makes available information on transactions, for
Interactive any accounts, displayed in the form of a week or a month
• Breeze helps customers to locate the nearest Branch and ATMs, which form part of
their network
The Standard Chartered Bank’s Breeze platform has created a buzz among the next generation customers. Customers view it as a comprehensive
banking platform that enables customers to personalize how they see, move and manage their money with incredible ease.
6 | Infosys

7. Banks have been investing in their internet banking
Conclusion
capabilities to augment the online experience of
their customers. In fact, their investments are reaping
benefits in terms of increased customer migration
and retention, cost savings, process improvements,
etc. With the help of SPICE framework, the banks
Conclusion
can understand the preferences of their customers
proactively, customize and market products based
on such preferences and also provide another
service delivery channel. To conclude, with the
increase in broadband penetration, technological
advances and changing financial needs and
preferences of the next generation, the banks will
continue their efforts in creating a great online
branch experience for their customers.
About the Authors
Kiran Kalmadi
Kiran is a Lead Consultant in the Financial Services and Insurance (FSI) unit and leads the FSI Research Center. He has around twelve years’
experience in bespoke research and analysis for strategy development, consulting, marketing and business development.
Kiran has worked extensively in the retail banking and payments domain and has been involved in developing research-based consultative
insights and analysis for business pursuits and client engagement.
He has a keen interest in Social Media, Payments, Analytics, Internet, and Mobile Banking and its adoption by banks
He can be reached at Kiran_kalamdi@infosys.com
Sukhna Dang
Sukhna is a Senior Consultant with the Financial Services and Insurance Group at Infosys. She has more than five years of experience in financial
services. Her areas of expertise are strategic consulting, business research & analysis and business development. She has keen interest in retail
banking, online banking and social media.
She can be reached at Sukhna_dang@infosys.com
Rajat Gurnani
Rajat is a Senior Consultant with the Financial Services and Insurance Group at Infosys. He has more than five years of work experience in
business analysis, research and domain consulting. His areas of expertise include branch and contact center banking, personal financial
management and analytics.
He can be reached at rajat_gurnani@infosys.com
Infosys | 7

8. About Infosys
Many of the world's most successful organizations rely on Infosys to
deliver measurable business value. Infosys provides business consulting,
technology, engineering and outsourcing services to help clients in over
30 countries build tomorrow's enterprise.
For more information, contact askus@infosys.com www.infosys.com
© 2012 Infosys Limited, Bangalore, India. Infosys believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date; such information is subject to change without notice. Infosys acknowledges
the proprietary rights of the trademarks and product names of other companies mentioned in this document.