Retail Banking: Delivering a
Meaningful Digital Customer Experience
The pressure to fully embrace digital can help banks craft and
deliver an integrated customer experience that results in higher
customer retention.
cognizant reports | august 2014
• Cognizant Reports

cognizant reports 2
Executive Summary
Customers’ growing use of digital channels for
banking and their demand for an individualized
experience have forced many banks to revisit
their customer service efforts. In the face of
increasing competition from emerging digital
banks, which are redefining customer experience
and luring younger customers, traditional banks
must leverage digital channels to create a more
rewarding customer experience. As customers
use multiple touchpoints for their banking needs,
banks must focus on creating a consistent and
seamless experience while satisfying customers’
demand for personalized service.
For a successful transition to digital banking,
banks must formulate a strategy focused on six
key areas: customer, mobile and online capabili-ties,
use of customer data, social media, modern-ized
branches/ATMs and provision for a seamless
experience across all channels.
Driving Forces
When it comes to customer experience, most
banks still treat customers as account numbers
that comprise amorphous customer segments.
That’s a nonstarter for most consumers (young
or old), who have been spoiled by more intimate,
personalized digital experiences as delivered by
companies such as Amazon, Google and Apple.
These companies operate as if they are reading
their customers’ minds. They typically deliver
curated experiences and offers upon customer
arrival by applying insights captured from the
digital data that surrounds people, organizations,
processes and products (something we refer to
as a Code HaloTM)1. As a result, many customers
now expect banks to deliver an experience that is
intuitive, seamless and highly customized to their
needs and wants (see Figure 1).
Traditional banks are also feeling the pressure
from upstart rivals. Digital banks such as Moven
and Simple provide innovative and easy-to-use
banking solutions and services such as the ability
to check balances, access financial tools and pur-chase
advice on mobile devices, thus attracting
young (in their 20s and 30s) and digitally savvy
customers. Simple’s customers grew by 330% to
100,0002 in 2013.
Time to Act
Recent research indicates that banks have
much catching up to do to create an engaging
customer experience. While 78% of bank execu-tives
believed that customer experience had
improved over the previous one year, only 28%
of customers thought it had actually improved,
according to a survey by Peoplemetrics.3
Another telltale sign: approximately 73% of U.S.
customers do not feel valued by their banks,
according to a survey by GMC Software Technology.4
Such a disconnect can be overcome by listening
to customers and using those insights to revamp
business-critical processes and systems that
align to deliver customer experience. Foremost in
this approach is the need to devise a customer-centric
strategy. Through careful consideration
of key customer requirements and organizational
capabilities, banks can effectively bridge the
gap between customer expectations and service
levels.
Customers’ Wish List
Figure 1
Source: Cisco and GMC
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
69%
61% 60% 59%
45%
More
simplified
financial services
Streamlined
interaction and
communication
Friendly,
knowledgeable
staff
Banking when
I want it and
the way I want it
Easy access
to branch

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However, research
firm Forrester
reckons that such
change can bring
in $161 million
annually for
U.S. banks in the
form of incremental
purchases by
existing customers,
reduced churn and
new sales driven by
word-of-mouth.
Crafting a Superior Customer
Experience: A Six-Pronged Strategy
of customers, according to a recent survey we
conducted.6 Banks would do well to provide such
flexibility through mass customization.
Further, the user interface should be easy to use
and optimized for both mobile and online. This
can be achieved through responsive Web design
that provides an optimal viewing experience
of content on a variety of devices.7 The mobile
version of the Web site that is designed using this
approach shares the same URL as its desktop
counterpart while the content adjusts itself to the
device’s screen size, thus delivering a consistent
experience to the user across devices.8
Customers today want more control over
their finances. Banks should focus on providing
sophisticated personal financial management
(PFM) tools since this is important to young
customers choosing a new bank, according to
a survey by Novantas.9 Also, 72% of customers
who use PFM tools depend on third-party sites
such as Mint because their banks do not provide
such tools, the study said.
Seeking feedback continuously from customers
across various touchpoints and acting on these
insights will make customers feel more valued
and also enable banks to provide a unified
customer experience across channels.
Enhance Mobile and Online Capabilities
More than 40% of banking happens on mobile
phones and tablets,10 and customers increasingly
want to do most tasks themselves. Hence, banks
must increase self-service capabilities with vir-tual
assistance to guide customers. For more than
one-third of customers using mobile banking,
Talking about the beneficial impact of better
customer experience on customer loyalty and
relationships might seem rather trite. However,
research firm Forrester
reckons that such change
can bring in $161 million
annually for U.S. banks (see
Figure 2) in the form of
incremental purchases by
existing customers, reduced
churn and new sales driven
by word-of-mouth.5
Creating an engaging and
seamless customer expe-rience
in a digital world
requires banks to upgrade
their technology infra-structure
(see sidebar, next
page), embrace social media
(beyond mere monitoring
of sentiment) and empower
bank staff and call centers to enable meaningful
interactions with customers and respond to their
needs effectively.
We have identified six key areas that banks must
focus on to deliver a great customer experience.
Put Customers First
Delivering service the way a customer wants is
the key to establishing long-term relationships.
So, the focus must be on delivering what custom-ers
want rather than pushing what is convenient
for banks. For instance, feature personalization
while using mobile apps is important for 75%
Improved Customer Experience Revenue Generation Across Categories
$0
$10
$20
$30
$40
$50
$60
$70
$80
$90
$81
$73
$7
Additional Purchases Churn Reduction Word of Mouth $ millions
Figure 2
Source: Forrester Research, Inc.

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the mobile banking experience is a reason to
stay with their banks.11 Banks must strive to
provide interactive mobile services, real-time
assistance on purchasing and financial decisions
and anytime/anywhere advisory services on
mobile devices, based on customer location.
Digital Technology: Seven Strategic Areas
There are seven strategic areas that banks need to focus on when embarking on a digital technology
transformation.
1. Infrastructure: Banks need integrated infrastructure to enable a seamless flow of information across
the organization. Cloud technologies allow banks to achieve this in a scalable, flexible, secured and
reliable environment.
2. Data: Digital banking demands a new set of plans and policies to control, protect and enhance the
value of data and information assets. This effort includes reference architecture components of a
master data management (MDM) strategy, unified information delivery (reporting) and information
integration. Global data semantics include industry-standard data models such as IFX/FDSM, as well
as the definition of supporting processes and structures, including data governance, data quality and
data organization.
3. Content: A content management roadmap in a digital world includes storage, management,
workflow, integration, analytics, reporting, information architecture meta-model, content type,
lifecycle and syndication methodology, etc. It also includes consolidation, migration, search strategy,
product evaluations and adoption strategies.
4. Business Process: Process components include a service orientation, governance, technology
adoption, process orchestration, tuning and optimization, rules engine adoption and enterprise
service bus (ESB) adoption.
5. Analytics: Analytical capabilities required include multidimensional analysis by geography, customer
type, product, channel, campaign, etc. and data; Web site and real-time content analysis; user
profiling and segmentation; campaign optimization; and frequency and monetary analysis. It also
includes the ability to track customer behavior to correlate with revenue-driving activities and
nurture cross-selling opportunities.
6. Social and Mobile: Employees and customers must have access to information anytime, anywhere
and on any device. Other key components include social media and collaboration for external
client-facing business applications and for internal productivity improvements; gamification for
customer engagement; and a digital app store as a one-stop shop for mobile business applications,
authentication and access security.
7. User Experience: Providing a consistent user experience across all major touchpoints is the key
to building long-lasting customer relationships. To achieve this, the major factors include an
information architecture, personas, wireframes, screen flows (process UI), visual design, interactive
mockups, campaign management, branding, search engine optimization, user experience and session
management, responsive Web design, usability, prototyping and UI technology.
Source: Digital Banking: Enhancing Customer Experience; Generating Long-Term Loyalty,
Cognizant, March 2014
Quick Take

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Customers are willing to talk to their banks using
video conferencing. According to Cisco, 34% of
customers want to video-chat with their financial
advisors, with 79% of those preferring to do so
using their own computers (laptop and desktop).12
Banks can take a cue from Amazon, which allows
its Kindle Fire HDX customers to video-chat with
a call-center executive any time by simply clicking
a button.13 Such a centralized service would be a
win-win proposition given that banks are pruning
branches due to high costs.
Customers prefer apps over a mobile banking
Web site,14 and apps have higher engagement
levels (66% of total hours per month) than
browsers (34%). Banks must ensure their apps
are defect-free, engaging, smart and self-learn-ing.
Based on customer usage, and applying Code
Halo thinking, they should be able to provide
targeted content and relevant suggestions.
Leverage Customer Data
Banks are sitting on enormous amounts of
customer data – ranging from demographics
to their current financial requirements, their
clicks, searches, swipes, comments on social
media, etc. – that can be mined to gain valu-able
business insights. However, most banks still
operate in product silos with legacy systems.
As a result, customer data resides on disparate
systems that do not talk to each other. This
gives rise to data inconsistencies and prevents
banks from gaining a unified view of customers,
resulting in poor customer management.
Eliminating this clumsy IT setup will require
banks to embark on a core banking transfor-mation.
Given the cost, scale and complexity
involved in replacing core systems, banks should
seek solutions that are based on a flexible and
scalable service-oriented architecture (SOA).
These systems follow Web services protocols
that provide standard ways for sharing data and
facilitating applications interoperability, allow-ing
banks to decode meaning from Code Halo
intersections.
Mining Code Halos using advanced and predic-tive
analytics will help banks understand custom-ers
better, identify their needs in advance and
gain insights into channel usage. This informa-tion
can be used to reach customers with highly
relevant offers and solutions at the appropriate
time – and place – enabling them to deliver a
highly personalized digital experience.
Taking the Social Route
While banks have been present on social
media for some time, most have not gone
beyond marketing and responding to customer
issues. A majority of customers (87%) find their
banks’ social media usage annoying, boring or
unhelpful, but one-third of customers would use
social media to complain, according to Carlisle &
Gallagher Consulting Group.15
Only 10% of customers use social media to
interact with their banks, preferring traditional
channels such as ATMs, branches and other
channels, according to a study by Gallup.16
However, the customers who do use social media
to interact with their banks are highly desir-able
in terms of demographics. They have an
average age of 33 years, have more than $100,000
in investable assets and are traditionally the
hardest to reach. Further, social media users
generate double the revenue (U.S.$2,528) with
their banks annually compared to nonusers
(U.S.$1,262), the Gallup study said.
The way forward for banks is to understand
what users want on banks’ social platforms and
accordingly come up with content and features.
For instance, Spanish bank CaixaBank allows users
to view their account balance, carry out current
account transactions and make small payments
using Facebook.17 Such initiatives offer conve-nience,
make banking more empowering and help
establish a connection with younger customers.
Augmenting In-Branch Experience and
ATM Centers
While there is considerable adoption of mobile
and online banking, branches are not going to
disappear any time soon as customers prefer
branches for complex tasks such as taking
out mortgages. While banks have shut down
redundant branches to save costs, banks such as
Wells Fargo have launched a “neighborhood
store” format – smaller and smarter branches,
located in areas where customers usually shop.18
Banks can spruce up their branches and deploy
the latest technology to improve the in-branch
experience. Some banks have begun to pro-vide
free Wi-Fi, iPads and large touch screens
at their branches for customers to learn more
about the bank, and about using apps, payment
services, etc. Banks can leverage newer
technologies such as Apple’s iBeacon to send cus-tomized
offers, product information, and branch

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information such as waiting times, the nearest
ATM and branch staff information to custom-ers’
smartphones when they are in the vicin-ity.
Banks’ staff can be alerted when a valuable
customer visits the branch, with information
about what kind of products interests them.
Requests for feedback can be sent on custom-ers’
mobile phones as they leave a branch.
This reduces customer waiting time and pro-vides
a personalized digital experience within
the branch. Google Glass and smart watches are
other technologies that could debut soon. (For
more details on the business impact of Google
Glass, please read Google Glass: Insurance’s Next
Killer App.)
Not far behind are ATMs, still a favorite among
many customers (see Figure 3). ATMs are being
upgraded to behave more like mobile devices
that support a range of self-service tasks. From
remembering customer preferences such as
language to allowing customers to view their
account status, and offering customized prod-ucts
and services, ATMs can play a vital role in
creating a more personalized experience for
customers. Banks are dabbling with ATMs that
allow cardless transactions, pre-staged with-drawals
using smartphones and live video chat
with a teller even after working hours and other
features for the convenience of customers.
Provide a Seamless Channel Experience
As customers continue to use multiple chan-nels
for their banking needs, banks must ensure
a consistent and seamless experience across all
touchpoints. However, banks’ efforts to transcend
multichannel to omni-channel banking are ham-pered
by aging and incompatible IT systems that
do not support a seamless flow of information
across the organization.
An overhaul of internal systems and processes is
needed. Banks must integrate physical (branches,
call centers) and digital channels (mobile and
online) to provide customers seamless access
to their products and services anytime and
anywhere. Tellers and other customer-facing
employees at banks and call-center employees
should have real-time access to the same
customer data such as the customer’s interac-tions
with various channels, latest customer
activity, etc. so that they can more effectively
serve customers. By understanding customers’
channel preferences and usage, banks can pro-vide
tailored services via those channels.
Customers’ Channel Usage
Figure 3
Source: Gallup
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
54%
74%
81%
79%
72%
49%
36%
15%
9%
6%
49%
58%
16%
19%
7%
6%
5%
16%
28%
6%
9%
4%
4%
3%
Twitter
Facebook
Email/IM/Chat
Call Center (Automated VRU)
Call Center (Live Agent)
ATM
Branch
Online Banking
Used at least Once per Week Used at least Once per Month
Used in Last Six Months

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Moving Forward
Banks that provide a simple, convenient and
consistent banking experience across vari-ous
touchpoints will stand to gain immensely
from customer loyalty and increased busi-ness.
Though a substantial investment is
involved, inaction is not an option as it will cost
organizations dearly. Careful planning of busi-ness
priorities in conjunction with customer
requirements and investing in smart technolo-gies
(see sidebar, page 4) will result in an effec-tive
transformation. Involving all the stakehold-ers
such as customers, the IT department and
bank/call-center staff is critical to building a cus-tomer-
centric organizational culture, investing in
the right technology and working with partners
capable of supporting the technology transfor-mation
(see Figure 4).
Footnotes
1 Code Halos refer to the digital data surrounding people, organizations, processes and devices such as
buying behaviors, social media interactions, song preferences, searches, even customer geographic
location. This coded information is being used by today's leading businesses to derive meaning to
develop an intimate knowledge of anyone they work with, whether customers, employees or partners.
For more information, visit www.cognizant.com/code-halos, read the book “Code Halos: How the
Digital Lives of People, Things, and Organizations are Changing the Rules of Business,” and download
the Code Halos app on the App Store.
2 “Our Year in Review, Simple, 2014, www.simple.com/2013/.
3 “A Shifting Landscape: Customer Experience Trends and Priorities in Retail Banking,”
PeopleMetrics, 2013,
www.peoplemetrics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/A-Shifting-Landscape_Customer-Experience-
Trends-and-Priorities-in-Retail-Banking.pdf.
Source: Digital Banking: Enhancing Customer Experience: Generating Long-Term Loyalty, Cognizant, March 2014
Figure 4
Digital Banking Enterprise Roadmap
Marketing and Sales
Multi-mode channel listeners Reporting and dashboarding
Analytics modeling
and insight delivery
Servicing
Customer Onboarding and
Account Opening
Cross-Channel Process, Case and Data Management
Cross-channel marketing
and sales enablement
Cross-channel
application management
Cross-channel
service management
Cross-channel customer,
360-degree, lead and insight
capture and delivery
Status tracking, status reporting
and customer communications
Customer experience
management
Cross-channel collaboration and
salesforce enablement
Insight-driven origination Personalization and self-service

cognizant reports 8
4 “Survey: Majority Of Customers Feel Undervalued By Banks,” Bank Systems & Technology,
November 14, 2013,
www.banktech.com/management-strategies/survey-majority-of-customers-feel-underv/240163955.
5 “The Business Impact of Customer Experience, 2014,“ Forrester, March 27, 2014,
http://www.forrester.com/The+Business+Impact+Of+Customer+Experience+2014/fulltext/
-/E-RES113421.
6 “Segment-Based Strategies for Mobile Banking,” Cognizant, June 2013,
www.cognizant.com/InsightsWhitepapers/Segment-Based-Strategies-for-Mobile-Banking.pdf.
7 Responsive Web Design, Wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsive_web_design.
8 “Building Smartphone-Optimized Websites,” Google, February 11, 2014,
https://developers.google.com/webmasters/smartphone-sites/details.
9 “Gen Y Hopes Their Next Bank Helps Them Budget Better,” The Financial Brand, May 20, 2014,
https://thefinancialbrand.com/39844/gen-y-checking-account-pfm-budgeting/.
10 “Understanding Mobile’s Role in Consumer’s Path to Purchase,” Mobile Path to Purchase, 2013,
www.mobilepathtopurchase.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/xAd_Mobile-Path-to-Purchase_
Banking_FINAL.pdf.
11 “Mobile Banking Plays Key Role in #1 Factor for Customer Loyalty,” Yodlee, April 10, 2013.
12 Cisco Customer Experience Research: Retail Banking Results, US Data, Cisco, 2013,
http://newsroom.cisco.com/documents/10157/1142732/CiscoCustomerExperienceReport_for_
Retail_Banking_USData.pdf.
13 “Amazon Building 24/7/365 Video Tech Support into Kindle Fires,” Gizmodo, October 25, 2013,
http://gizmodo.com/amazon-building-24-7-365-video-tech-support-into-kindle-1381717261.
14 “Segment-Based Strategies for Mobile Banking,” Cognizant, June 2013,
www.cognizant.com/InsightsWhitepapers/Segment-Based-Strategies-for-Mobile-Banking.pdf.
15 “Eighty-seven Percent Of Consumers Find Banks Use Of Social Media Annoying, Boring or Unhelpful,”
Carlisle & Gallagher Consulting Group, March 18, 2013,
www.cgcginc.com/sites/default/files/pdf/CG_CEXSocialMediaFINAL.pdf.
16 “Social Media Is Still a Worthwhile Investment for Banks,” Gallup, August 28, 2013,
http://thegallupblog.gallup.com/2013/08/social-media-is-still-worthwhile.html.
17 “CaixaBank Facebook App Unites Social Media With Banking,” Computer Weekly, May 7, 2014,
www.computerweekly.com/news/2240220234/CaixaBank-Facebook-app-a-further-blurring-between-
social-media-and-banking.
18 “Do Bank Branches Still Matter? Retail Banking And The Customer Experience,” Forbes, May 15, 2014,
www.forbes.com/sites/micahsolomon/2014/05/15/do-bank-branches-still-matter/.
References
• “Digital Banking: Enhancing Customer Experience; Generating Long-Term Loyalty,” Cognizant,
March 2014,
www.cognizant.com/InsightsWhitepapers/Digital-Banking-Enhancing-Customer-Experience-
Generating-Long-Term-Loyalty.pdf.
• “Simple But Uncertain,” The Economist, March 1, 2014,
www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21597934-spanish-banks-purchase-american-start-
up-raises-big-questions-simple.

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About Cognizant
Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process
outsourcing services, dedicated to helping the world's leading companies build stronger businesses. Headquartered
in Teaneck, New Jersey (U.S.), Cognizant combines a passion for client satisfaction, technology innovation, deep
industry and business process expertise, and a global, collaborative workforce that embodies the future of work. With
over 75 development and delivery centers worldwide and approximately 178,600 employees as of March 31, 2014,
Cognizant is a member of the NASDAQ-100, the S&P 500, the Forbes Global 2000, and the Fortune 500 and is ranked
among the top performing and fastest growing companies in the world.
Visit us online at www.cognizant.com or follow us on Twitter: Cognizant.
• “10 Ways iBeacon Can Improve Banking Sales & Service,” The Financial Brand, March 31, 2014,
http://thefinancialbrand.com/38160/ibeacon-bank-branch-mobile-cross-selling/.
• “Will new ATMs make your bank branch obsolete?” Market Watch, January 25, 2014,
www.marketwatch.com/story/will-new-atms-make-your-bank-teller-obsolete-2014-01-23.
• “Video Conference Comes to Banking,” IVCI, October 2, 2013,
http://blog.ivci.com/2013/10/02/video-conferencing-banking/.
• “Mobile Banks Gaining Popularity With Young Consumers,” The New York Times, December 6, 2013,
www.nytimes.com/2013/12/07/your-money/mobile-banks-gaining-popularity-with-young-consumers.
html?pagewanted=1&_r=2.
• “xAd/Telmetrics Mobile Path to Purchase Study: Understanding Mobile’s Role in the Consumer Path
to Purchase,” Mobilepathtopurchase.com, 2013,
www.mobilepathtopurchase.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/xAd_Mobile-Path-to-Purchase_
Banking_FINAL.pdf.
• “Enable Customer Centricity without Risky Transformations,” May 1, 2014,
www.suntecgroup.com/insights/for-financial-services/avoid-risky-transformation-and-become-customer-
centric.
Credits
Author and Analyst
Vinaya Kumar Mylavarapu, Associate Research Manager, Cognizant Research Center
Designer
Harleen Bhatia, Design Team Lead
Chiranjeevi Manthri, Designer