5 Components of ‘Zero Touch’ Dispute Management in Financial Services
Customer retention is critical to success. It can result in higher revenue per customer through cross-sell and up-sell. The economics of new customer acquisition show that retention improves the cost-to-income ratio. As a result, banks and financial institutions increasingly look to dispute management as an opportunity to strengthen customer relationships. Dispute processing directly impacts customer retention, growth, costs, and brand perception.
While customer experience is important regardless of the demographic, it tends to be a bigger differentiator with Gen Y and, increasingly, Gen Z—who will continue to drive growth. As borrowers, they have high average credit utilization rates and comprise 38% of US homebuyers. So, keeping them happy is critical to the future of the business. Their desire for instant gratification tends to be higher, and they are more likely to switch brands for better options.
Financial institutions can dramatically improve the effectiveness and experience of dispute processing with the use of intelligent automation. There are five components to creating a fully automated—or a ‘zero-touch’—dispute management process:
1. Enable Digital Conversations:
Customers need to report the dispute and stop any fraudulent activity. There is no time to waste when initiating verification and arbitration process. Banks and Financial Institutions must share the status and real time information with customers until the dispute is resolved. Clear and quick communication on what went wrong—and how it will be addressed—helps alleviate customer fear and concerns. Conversational AI and in-app messaging enable customers to instantly connect with their bank, 24X7. These chatbots can address frequently raised disputes, eliminating the need for the customer to wait and explain the issue with contact center staff.
2. Digitize Documents and Data Extraction:
Customers can scan and upload financial documents using a mobile phone. Data can be digitally extracted from these documents with no human intervention. Details such as personal, credit and payment information can be digitally compared before deciding whether and how to make corrections. AI-enabled data extraction eliminates delays, errors, and paperwork inefficiencies.
3. Intelligent Segmentation and Triage:
Resolving disputes of a smaller value can be just as complex as addressing larger ones. A dynamic workflow engine can segment disputes by complexity, financial impact and other factors. It sends the dispute to the right agent, team, or bot—in the right order to be addressed. Getting the order of priorities right is a critical factor in successful dispute resolution.
4. Deploy a Virtual Workforce:
Throughout the dispute resolution process, data is copied from (and compared with) one application to another. Further, a set of steps is initiated that can be quite different each time. Common actions, usually addressed manually, can be automated by bots using robotic process automation (RPA). For example, chargebacks can be fully automated, including customer notifications throughout the dispute lifecycle. This creates significant value, from regulatory compliance with audit trails, to the elimination of manual errors to the reduction in dispute cycle-times and operating costs. A virtual command center can constantly monitor the virtual workforce, 24/7.
5. Use the Power of Insights:
Advanced analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) can build models to identify fraud patterns, helping prevent and resolve disputes faster. Banks and financial institutions are increasingly vulnerable to money laundering using falsified information. AI and analytics can help constantly monitor different parameters, from money trail to customer information.
The very nature of a dispute tends to increase customer friction. With ever-increasing industry regulation, business competition, and customer expectations, the quality of customer experience throughout the dispute management process is becoming ever more important. And CX is a growing differentiator in today’s financial services battlefield.
An automated dispute management process for commonly recurring disputes can enhance speed and personalization—helping convert disputing customers into brand advocates.
Want to explore how you can better convert your disputing customers into champions of your brand? Let’s talk.