Banking Case Study | The AHA Group

Delivering a New Experience in Consumer Banking

Client: Global bank with 14 million customers, 40,000 employees on four continents.

Project was for the Consumer Bank with 9 million customers & 1,426 Branches.
Pilot program of 100 branches ran for 6 months; included a blueprint for bank to deploy internally after the pilot.
Legacy culture needed a refresh of service values and a blueprint for 3 new experiences (onboarding a new client, adding a new product, positioning an upsell / cross sell).
Visionary banking head with focus on modernizing service and defining consumer banking experience that would earn a reputation for 5-star service and set the new benchmark for excellence. “Branch of the Future”.
Seeking higher CLV (Customer Lifetime Value) as mid-term goal and expansion of product consumption / higher deposits with existing clients. Seeking increase in NPS and CSAT - as correlated to CLV.
Short term measurements for pilot were increase in NPS and CX scores, increase in customer retention and increase in Share of Wallet.

Scenarios / Goals:

Build out a service model designed to be consistent, but locally flexible that would honor the unique geographic differences but maintain a consistent brand experience.
Be the bank of choice by differentiating on the service experience – focused on memorable moments, and the client experience. Specifically focused on using data to inform personalization and marrying that to the experience.
Create lifelong clients who rave on social media, drive referrals to the bank, and increase deposits / product footprint hence increasing CLV.

“These new service behaviors will elevate our banking experience to a level beyond anything in our market, and our employees feel a sense of pride in their work and our brand. We are building a culture that delights customers and employees. Truly the Bank of the Future.”

– Consumer Bank Leader

Project Structure / Deliverables:

Create a set of service standards, behaviors, and steps of service to support a client-centric model that would remain flexible, but support banking employees to deliver world-class service.
Create an experience framework that would guide everyone to create brand-defining experiences focused on 3 core scenarios using personalized data in addition to traditional behaviors.
Build a bespoke workshop to support this roll-out and train 200 Champions to deploy this work into all 100 branches.

12 Month Results / Metrics for The One Hundred Pilot Branches:

Existing Client Survey Results:
- Client Experience (CX) Score: 4.4 / 5 an increase from 3.7 / 5
- New-product enquiries: increase of 26%
- “I Trust my Bank”: increase of 19%
“I will recommend my bank to friends/family”: increase of 28%
Customer Retention Issues: decrease of 14%
Average Branch NPS score increase from 42 to 52 (banking average is 30; source: Bain & Co., 2022).
Existing Client Share of Wallet: increase of 9%