Why fintechs need to deliver superior digital customer service right now

As the world turned digital, the fintech industry was ready to ride the wave. But now, the market shows signs of slowing. Fintechs that are not growing their user base are at risk of being acquired. And because there are now so many players in the digital space, there’s fierce competition to keep and acquire new customers.

And therein lies the key to success: customers. More and more, the distinction between a stellar fintech and a struggling one is the quality of its customer experience. To provide top-notch experiences, companies need to invest in customer support solutions that help them create the experiences that keep customers loyal during times of uncertainty.

What is digital customer service, and why does it matter?

Digital customer service is the support a company offers to customers via digital channels, like email, chatbots, and self-service.

While many companies still offer phone support, digital customer service is quickly gaining prominence. That should come as no surprise—during the pandemic, people turned to digital channels when in-person interactions weren’t possible. And with the rise of Millennials and Gen Z, there are more and more digital natives.

The challenges facing fintechs in digital customer service

But it’s not enough to simply offer digital customer service—that’s table stakes. Fintechs need CX solutions that are secure and compliant. Gaining and preserving the trust of consumers, merchants, partners, and others with robust risk management and internal controls is critical to the success of fintechs. What’s more, customer support inquiries are on the rise while headcount is limited, and fintech companies still need to deliver excellent CX to acquire and retain discerning customers. Consider these three common challenges for fintechs today:

1. An increase in repetitive, low-value interactions

   This can clog up queues, resulting in long wait times and stressed-out support agents. Most of these interactions should be resolved through self-service knowledge bases options, but they aren’t.

2. Higher ticket volumes

   More tickets are coming in through new channels, such as social media and messaging platforms. It’s hard to scale service to meet the demand without investing in additional staff and new technologies.

3. Aging systems

   Existing infrastructure and customer support solutions can’t keep pace with higher expectations. For example, a company may have built out its own FAQ page, which is costly and hard to maintain.

We know fintech companies don’t want technology projects that cause cost overruns, delays, or vendor lock-in. Fintechs cannot afford to spend enormous amounts of money and time on complex, bulky systems. But they do need to constantly innovate and iterate on the customer service function to differentiate themselves from traditional financial services providers. While some customers may be enticed by a neobank, for others, the security of a brick-and-mortar bank might tip the scales when the global economy is so uncertain.

How Zendesk can help fintech companies create best-in-class customer experiences

Delivering great CX is hard, especially when you don’t have the right tools in place to do it. Here’s how Zendesk can enable you to create the experiences your customers deserve while keeping costs in line.

1. Scale customer support cost-effectively

   Zendesk research shows that 72 percent of customers are going online to serve themselves, but only 52 percent find the information they are looking for. That makes for a time-consuming and frustrating experience.

   The good news is that Zendesk has a proven track record in fintech self-service. Nubank, one of the largest neobanks in the world, helped more than 80 percent of customers find self-service solutions within the app powered by Zendesk.

   By adopting Zendesk, Sezzle was also able to eliminate one-off applications. For example, the team could stop a previous solution because Zendesk Guide would now serve as their knowledge base.

   “With Guide, we are now deflecting 10 to 20 percent of our tickets,” says David Gustafson, VP of support at Sezzle. “When you look at 10 or 20 percent of a 65-person team, that’s somewhere between six and 12 people, which allows us to use those funds to invest in other needed areas.”

2. Free up customer service reps for high-value interactions

   When everything suddenly went digital, Mettle was in quite a strong position as a purely digital banking app. However, Mettle knew it needed to scale even before the pandemic, and the challenge was how to support its customers in an efficient, joined-up way through this growth. That’s where Zendesk comes in.

   “By having that automation in place for most of our customers, it means that our analysts and support staff have the capacity to focus on those customers that may need a bit more help from us,” says Charlie Duke, senior product manager at Mettle.

   Digital-first does not mean digital only. The phone is still the preferred channel for resolving issues—across generational lines—according to a recent Zendesk benchmark report. For many use cases in fintech, the phone is the best channel because most consumers don’t feel comfortable opening a new savings account at a neobank without speaking to someone first.

3. Achieve faster time-to-value

   Zendesk gives fintechs the best CX technology to meet their customers’ needs. Now, you can set yourself apart from the competition, grow revenue, and unlock even more value with Zendesk.

   “A lot of Zendesk competitors require a team of 10 developers to continually build and manage. Not requiring that was something we really, really liked about Zendesk.” Adam Howell, customer operations manager at Latitude Financial

   Quick to set up and easy to use, Zendesk gives you robust out-of-the-box tools that don’t require coding or complicated setup steps, so your team can get started faster. Latitude Financial chose Zendesk because it’s a cloud-based, flexible solution that doesn’t come with the high overhead costs of competitive systems.

   “A lot of Zendesk competitors require a team of 10 developers to continually build and manage,” says Adam Howell, customer operations manager at Latitude Financial. “Not requiring that was something we really, really liked about Zendesk.”

Scale your support with a platform your clients can count on

Zendesk makes it easier to do more with less. Here’s how we help fintechs scale support operations seamlessly.

Easy customization: Fintechs can easily scale, extend, and optimize with Zendesk as business needs change. Between our 1,000+ out-of-the-box integrations and powerful APIs, customers can bring all their critical data together in one place, with all their favorite apps. What’s more, fintechs can usually customize without the support of expensive outside consultants. That saves time and money.

When Rain decided to migrate from a sub-par customer support solution, they chose Zendesk because the user-friendly interface and seamless onboarding process made the switch easier than ever. The software was implemented in a day and optimized over the span of a week. Rain also benefited from the ease and low cost of integrating its existing tech stack, which included Mailchimp, Jira, and Flowdock.

Easy administration: The admin needs of Zendesk are minimal—unlike other platforms that require teams of expensive dedicated admins and developers. Rather than spending a lot of time trying to get the system to work properly, fintechs that use Zendesk enjoy a simple interface and robust reporting capabilities that can drive business insights. Take, for example, Zendesk customer Coda Payments.

“We used to extract reports manually from multiple systems, but Zendesk provides very rich data automatically,” says Hendy Samosir, customer support manager at Coda Payments. “We have more detailed information on issues that we face daily. That means we can work towards an improvement in a heartbeat.”