Many users’ decisions are influenced by factors that go beyond reasoning. Behavioral Design applied to banking products discovers customer motivations, how they interact with digital platforms and what are their real needs. Then it is possible to offer a user experience capable of helping them make better decisions and improve their financial health.
Barrier #1: Fear of change
The first step on the path to a better UX is to identify the attitudinal barriers that are affecting customers. One of the most powerful is the fear of taking actions that mean leaving the known, especially in the economic field.
Some of the most prominent examples are: getting started in the world of investment, generating the habit of saving or improving the management of personal finances.
Behavioral Design use three elements to help users overcome their initial fears and get a benefit:
- Design Thinking: Process that uses creative solutions to solve problems, so the value is generated through the conscious co-creation of the digital environment by the customer.
- System Thinking: Procedure in which the users, their barriers and needs are included in order to achieve a deep knowledge of them and predict their future actions. That way it will be possible to influence them.
- Behavioral Economics: Discipline that combines the principles of psychology, sociology and economics to understand and anticipate financial behavior.
Barrier #2: Complicated and confusing financial products
When it comes to increasing consumer confidence in financial products and services, it is important that they are easily understandable and accessible. Due to Behavioral Design we can achieve a simple, clear and agile customer journey with which, through chatbots or other technologies that use AI and machine learning, their doubts can be solved at any time and place.
With specific changes in products’ interface, we can guide the customer through digital onboarding to help them solve doubts or successfully contract a service. It is important to know their motivations in order to design an optimal user experience. It is also necessary to carry out surveys after onboarding, to receive feedback that helps improve the experience.
Barrier #3: Instant gratification
Many people have a hard time coping with the initial sacrifice of starting to save. Controlling spending can be a very complicated task, that is why Behavioral Design is used in the creation of automatic saving methods.
Through rules that the user can customize, the micro-savings modules offer several options when planning a digital piggy bank.
Here are some of the features that get more traction:
- Rounding of card purchases, up to the higher unit.
- Fixed monthly contribution, with a percentage of the payroll, for example.
- Punctual contributions, with an amount set by the users.
- Gamification, making contributions every time their favorite team scores a goal or wins a match.
- Personalization, associating a name and an image with the goal to increase commitment to the savings objective.
With these and other rules, you can help customers establish a saving habit effortlessly.
Barrier #4: Unhealthy financial habits
In order for people to detect capital flight in harmful consumption patterns, it is necessary to offer them tools to analyze their banking transactions. Only if the users are able to see the amounts they spend per month on gambling or tobacco, for example, will they be able to take control of the domestic economy and begin to improve financial health.
Due to products such as the Personal Finance Manager, it is possible to offer a global vision of the situation and make the best decisions. In addition, thanks to the information collected, entities have the possibility of launching products that encourage healthy habits, such as saving or spending planning. Behavioral Design techniques are often used to keep the user committed to their goals and reward them at each stage completed.
Discover the real benefits of offering a PFM service to your customers here
Barrier #5: Long and tedious processes
We must prevent potential customers from giving up the registration process for a new service. To do this, Behavioral Design techniques can be used to simplify the steps. The most effective are those related to reducing the number of stages, as well as the number of options available and the time required to complete the onboarding.
Facilitating the delivery of documentation via video selfie, for example, is taking hold in the world of banking. In summary, it is about offering options that favor the registration process and improve the user experience.
One of the tasks of Behavioral Design is to make products more attractive and easy to use. Something basic to ensure that consumers choose your service over the competition.
Barrier #6: Lack of personalization
Users are highly reactive to intrusive or generic messages. One highly effective intervention design in Behavioral Design is to use personalized messages to communicate with customers. It also gives good results to implement rewards programs that encourage the use of your online banking platforms. With these techniques, they improve their appreciation of the entity and their engagement.
It is important to include personalized financial advice in communications, such as insurance expiration reminders or savings recommendations. This leads to the possibility of incorporating hyper personalized offers in the commercial strategy. By having more information about the user, you discover up-selling and cross-selling opportunities that you can launch when the customer really needs them.
Discovering how the public interacts with your product or service helps you understand their motivations and allows you to design strategies that are attractive and encourage them to change their behavior.
If you liked it, here is a real example of Behavioral Design applied to banking.
