Will self-service damage client relationships?
Not if it is aimed at routine, transactional needs. Handled that way it frees the relationship for the moments that matter; rushed in without evidence, it can hollow out what made clients loyal.
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Should a traditional firm move to online self-service? Deciding with evidence
Ask your clients, and let their answer decide it. Firms that settle the question on instinct tend either to hold back for fear of cheapening the personal service or to rush in because competitors are. When one long-established firm finally asked its clients, the answer was clear: they wanted online dealing, better self-service reporting and an account area that worked on a phone. The outcome is rarely all or nothing. It is usually self-service for routine, transactional needs and a stronger personal relationship for the moments that matter.
What goes wrong when a firm decides on instinct?
It lurches too far or freezes. Every established, relationship-led firm reaches the same question: let clients do more online, or protect the personal service it is known for.
Deciding out of fear sounds like "our clients value the personal touch, they would never want to do this themselves". Sometimes that is true. Often it is an assumption nobody has tested, and it can leave a firm stranded while quieter competitors move.
Deciding out of hype sounds like "everyone is going digital, we have to offer self-service". Sometimes that is also true, but a rushed move can hollow out the relationship that made clients loyal. Both skip the step that matters, which is finding out what clients want.
What did clients say when a firm asked them?
They wanted it. At one long-established firm, the leadership had circled the question of online self-service for years. When the clients were asked directly, they asked for online dealing, better self-service reporting, and an account area that worked on a phone. The clients settled a debate the boardroom could not, because the boardroom had been guessing about them instead of asking.
How do you find out what your clients want?
Ask the people you would be asking to use it. Survey them, interview a range of them, and look at what they already do with other providers and what they ask your competitors for. The answer is usually clearer than the internal debate suggests.
Does it have to be self-service or personal service?
Rarely. Different clients want different things, and the evidence shows which needs are routine and transactional and which moments call for a person. Add self-service for the first and keep, or strengthen, the relationship for the second, and the service improves rather than thins out.
Related evidence: A stockbroker whose own staff called its website "frustrating", handed a plan to catch up.. Earlier in this journey: When your own staff call the website 'frustrating', listen.
Questions people ask
Why do boardroom debates about going online stall?
Because they are guesses about clients made without asking them. At one firm the leadership circled the question for years, and the clients settled it as soon as they were asked.
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