HOW CAN 200-YEAR OLD BANK MAINTAIN EVER-YOUNG SERVICE MODEL?
Citibank is one of the largest banks in the world with over 200-year history and offices in 160+ countries. What has Citi learnt from 10 economic downturns which the bank has survived through? To be conservative, manage costs effectively, ensure high level of security for customers' money. But which impact do these lessons have on current service model of Citi, and how can the bank remain competitive in the era of customer centricity? Here are some ideas on this:
Stan Khrustalev
29-Jun-2018
1. money transfer
EXPECTATION If you need to transfer money to your friends, relatives or colleagues, the transfer should be effortless for both you and the recipient
REALITY
Card-to-Card transfer is not available: instead of card number, you have to enter recipient's bank account details together with respective bank identification code, which are less trivial to identify
Moreover, when transferring money, you have 15(!!!) fields to fill instead of just "Recipient" and "Amount"
WHAT TO DO?
Introduce card-to-card transfer functionality both in Citibank Online and Citi Mobile
When transferring the money to Citibank clients, add the functionality to transfer money based on client's phone number
Simplify the process of account-to-account money transfer by either making certain fields auto-filled (nick based on name of addressee or bank identification code based on bank account number) or removing these (e.g. bank identification code due to data duplication)
2. going abroad
EXPECTATION If a client is going abroad, the bank should be aware of this in order not to treat transactions from another country as suspicious and not to block their card, while it should be easy for customers to alert the bank about the upcoming journey
REALITY
When registering your journey via Citibank Online, you have to perform over 10 actions, including manual input of country, specific cards and code from separate SMS message
Your travel notification is reviewed and acknowledged within 3 days as the operator has to enter the details in the system manually. This exposes you to the risk of getting blocked if you've submitted your request straight before the trip
Trip registration functionality is not available in Citi Mobile
WHAT TO DO?
Simplify the interface and minimize # of fields: country and dates of the trip
Add the functionality to register upcoming trips in Citi Mobile
Eliminate helpdesk agent involvement and move trip registration to self-service – this will minimize registration delay-related risks and reduce help desk costs
3. card blocking
EXPECTATION If client's card is lost or stolen, they should have an opportunity to block it immediately via the most convenient channel
REALITY
When trying to block the card via Citiphone, you have to spend at least 1 minute on the line before getting to the operator who will block the card manually
You cannot block your card in Citi Mobile
To block the card in Citi Online, you have to perform 8 actions while your money is being withdrawn
If you have found your lost card by yourself, the only channel to unblock it is Citiphone which operates during the working hours – while the rest of the world lives 24/7
WHAT TO DO?
Place the option to block cards straight after PIN is entered in Citiphone
Add the functionality to block cards in Citi Mobile
Add the option to block cards in express actions area on the main screen of Citibank Online
Introduce the functionality to unblock cards both in Citi Mobile and Citibank Online
4. apple pay
EXPECTATION I cannot stop reiterating that in the digital age, all organizations, including banks, should introduce new technologies on time. Among others, this includes Apple Pay wireless mobile payments
REALITY As of June 2018, Citibank does not support Apple Pay in Russia, while clients still should take their credit cards in the purse. Details about planned launch date are not available
WHAT TO DO? Introduce Apple Pay system in Russia
5. security
EXPECTATION The bank should provide clients with high level of security when working in Citibank Online. However, security measures should not be overwhelming
REALITY
To access Citibank Online, every time you have to enter login and password, and when trying to do something, you have to enter a code received by SMS
If you want to arrange money transfer, you will also have to re-enter your password (3rd since your session started)
When you set up your account statement, you will be prompted to come up with one more password for email. 3 different passwords is too much
Apart from peer banks, in Citibank account numbers are hidden by default – "for your safely"
When users enter the code from SMS, neither the system validates it automatically, nor can you hit Enter. So you have to take your mouse and click on a separate confirmation button – minus 1 point to usability
WHAT TO DO?
Provide users with an opportunity to remember login/password details when entering Citibank Online on their PC
When arranging money transfer, remove the requirement to re-enter password which has already been entered within active session
Remove the requirement for a separate account statement password - instead of sending PDF documents by email, just send the link to a web page which requires the same authentication as Citibank Online
Remove hide/unhide functionality for bank account details. It will make the life easier for clients who need to receive the money transfer – they will be able to see account number immediately after logging into Citibank Online
Minimize the efforts on user side when entering the code from SMS by adding automated code check
6. relocation
EXPECTATION Client confidential data should not be accessible to third-parties
REALITY When signing a contract with Citibank, you specify 3 addresses: registration, actual residence, work address. Mailing address is set to actual residence by default. If your quarterly account statement is delivered by postal services, you have moved to the other location and forgot to alert Citibank about it (which can happen), new tenants of your previous apartment will receive the statement showing how much money you have on your account
WHAT TO DO?
Before sending the offline mail with account statements, send an SMS alerting about upcoming delivery with corresponding delivery address and request to contact Citiphone if the address is incorrect
Are you planning to fully replace the physical delivery of mail containing confidential data with email?
7. upsell
EXPECTATION As Citibank client, you can expect that you will be offered a range of complimentary services. However this should be done unobtrusively
REALITY
Citibank sales specialists apply an aggressive approach to sales, trying to do their best in selling you something you do not really need, and relentlessly trying to reach out to you via all phone numbers available. As a result, after the first such engagement you do not want to deal with Citibank at all
At the same time, in Citibank Online there is a separate "Special Offers" section. I am the client of Citibank for about 5 years. Despite frequent calls, I have never received anything in this section
WHAT TO DO? If you need to run upsell, just start with putting these alerts in a respective section of Citibank Online. Make these offers appealing, so that clients get interested in these and contact you themselves
8. feedback management
EXPECTATION When choosing services, clients turn to feedback on recommendation platforms more and more often. In this case, the bank should either ensure high quality of service or at least work with complaints to show that it takes care of clients
REALITY
Citibank rating on Banki.ru portal is 2/5, every 3rd feedback is left without response (3406 responses vs 5011 reviews)
Citibank rating on recommendation platforms irecommend.ru and otzovik.ru is below 2.4/5, no complaints get responses from the bank
Feedback on different communication channels (Citi Mobile, Citibank Online, Citiphone) is not being captured
WHAT TO DO?
Treat recommendation platforms as extra support channel and ensure that each query is answered at least within 1 day after submission
Even if an issue cannot be resolved, at least state that the bank is sorry for what has happened and will take actions to avoid similar issues in the future
Set up post-call quality check for Citiphone requests (Email/IVR), embed feedback buttons in the app and on the website
9. citiphone support
EXPECTATION Phone support should be accessible, fast and free
REALITY
Citiphone operates only 08:00-20:00 on weekdays – issues which you experience in the evening / over the weekend can be resolved only during the working hours
8-800 toll-free number does not work for phones from Moscow – if you are in Moscow, you have to use Moscow toll number
WHAT TO DO?
Make Citiphone available 24/7: clients will feel that Citibank takes care of them at any time and will appreciate it, while I would not expect a myriad of queries to flow through helpdesk over the weekend
Enable 8-800 tall-free number for all regions, including Moscow
10. citi mobile support
EXPECTATION Mobile app should be used as one of support channels when servicing customers
REALITY Currently Citi Mobile provides only answers to FAQ, as well as Citiphone contact details
WHAT TO DO? As the segment of customers who prefer to receive support over messengers is growing globally, enhance Citi Mobile functionality and add a chat bot supporting natural language processing, which would respond to client queries, help to perform various operations within the app and connect to the operator, if needed
11. citibank online support
EXPECTATION Support over Citibank Online should be provided in a timely manner
REALITY Queries via Citibank Online get processed within 3 working days
WHAT TO DO? Reduce processing time for requests received via Citibank Online at least to 1 day to be in line with what competition can offer
12. social networks and messengers
EXPECTATION Clients should be able to contact the bank via the main social networks and messengers
REALITY
While responses in Facebook group are relatively fast (representative responds within 2 hours), recently created group in VK.comdoes not support communication with customers
Support channels in messengers are not established
WHAT TO DO?
Introduce the functionality to contact Citibank in vk.com
Establish support channels in Whatsapp, Viber and Telegram
Set and monitor customer support response targets via social networks and messengers