Building a positive in-branch experience

One of the major changes brought about by the growth of the Internet in modern culture has been the shift in the nature of business value; specifically, there are many businesses that once differentiated themselves based on service or availability, and now do so chiefly on price instead.

Before the dawn of Amazon.com, a reader who wanted a specific book was likely to visit his local bookstore; if it wasn't on the shelf, the bookseller would place a special order. The result was a full-price sale, and at least two separate visits to the store. But now that the shopper has literally thousands of different options for buying any given book, he can look strictly at hard numbers like price and shipping date.

Financial institutions face the same dilemma. A passbook savings account used to be the only real place to stash some money that needed to stay liquid. But now, a few clicks of the mouse brings up an unlimited number of options, from hundreds of different providers. The only thing left to count on as a point of differentiation is the emotional and physical experience the customer has with his bank.

"The banking industry, like many others, is changing to adapt to customers who are more fickle, smarter about what they want and may not be as loyal," said Michael Abbott, vice president of ADFLOW Networks. "Banks have needed to respond by creating in-branch environments that attract customers and create a positive retail experience."

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A big part of that change is the physical environment. Brian Douglas of ScreenRed calls it a "period of metamorphosis," as FIs move away from the traditional layout that employed a clear separation of staff and customer.

"The present, and certainly the future, have more open environments where clients are made to feel more comfortable in pleasant surroundings with soft colors, no barriers or partition walls and an environment conducive to encouraging a good relationship," he said. "Technology is also a much more integrated part of a bank today, with ATMs, telephone banking, Internet and even teller positions offering a more convenient multi-channel experience."

Even so, he said FIs still struggle with stimulating discussions with customers during their routine, errand-oriented visits. Digital signage breaks through that struggle by delivering the desired message in a very convenient, easy-to-remember fashion.

"Financial institutions have a captive audience," said Jennifer Kelly, director of marketing for ITSENCLOSURES. "Whether customers are standing in line inside or waiting at the drive-thru, there typically is a wait of at least a few minutes. This is plenty of time to convey your message."

That short wait time needs to be kept in mind when planning content for digital signs. Anything that takes longer than a few minutes to fully absorb is likely to be ignored, or tuned out at background noise.

"Effective digital signage is not CNN and a stock ticker running on a plasma TV," said Brian Ardinger, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Nanonation. "Unfortunately, that's what most banks are currently doing. Banks that are taking advantage of the technology are using it to change the customer experience – targeting information based on time of day, location and demographics. Utilizing multimedia to tell more effective stories, changing content more frequently with greater consistency of service."