In this technical age of digital and social communications, amid a global pandemic and an uncertain future, it is now essential for financial institutions to humanize their approach to business and reconnect with the customer. In this blog, we explore some of the numerous benefits that a concerted effort to re-engage with lost customers can have on the customers and financial institutions alike.
Boost Personal and Community Wealth
One huge benefit of reconnecting with lost customers is, of course, the boost in personal and community wealth that this can provide. With falling interest rates and increased unemployment figures, 23% of the UK population alone are now living in financial poverty.
Reuniting customers with lost assets and dormant accounts can only have a positive impact on both the finances and the wellbeing of those that are contacted, many of whom are vulnerable people. With so many families living in poverty, and billions in unclaimed funds across the industry, even the smallest of reconnections can help change the quality of a customer’s life for the better.
Rebuild Customer Trust in The Industry
Reconnecting with your customers and staying abreast of any changes in circumstance will help ensure you can provide a service perfectly aligned with their needs.
The changes and daily restrictions we have experienced over the last 12 months will impact the lives of individuals and communities for many years to come and many families have looked to their financial institutions for help.
It is important to remember that any customer can become vulnerable at any time. Keeping in touch allows you to ensure if, or when, your customer becomes vulnerable, that you are there for them with suitable advice, products, and services. Reconnecting with customers that are owed money builds trust and opens the door to allow them to reclaim their funds and reach out to you, should they need it.
Open The Door To Cross-Selling
With customer trust and reconnection comes the opportunity to cross-sell and upsell your products and services. Positioning your institution as one that cares about the recovery of unclaimed funds, repaying owed money and reactivating dormant accounts paves the way for a longer relationship with the customer.
In a world where the consumer has a veritable choice of options for financial support and services, the trust and integrity you can display simply by reconnecting speaks volumes and displays a level of care and commitment that sets apart financial institutions from their competitors.
Meeting Regulatory Requirements
The expansion of The Doormant Assets Scheme by Her Majesty’s Treasury (HMT) is in support of reuniting customers with lost assets and unclaimed funds. As the consultation document states in the foreword:
“Dormant assets remain the rightful property of their owners, and the scheme guarantees their right to reclaim the amount owed to them at any time. This underpins the entire scheme, and is crucial to ensuring that everyone—from consumers to firms—trusts and supports it”
This means that by law, financial institutions are responsible, and actively encouraged to reunite customers with their owed money, unclaimed funds and dormant assets. With this in mind, actively reaching out to your customers can save a lot of time and resource spent trying to track down owners of accounts that become unnecessarily dormant through lack of communication.
Ultimately, when financial institutions actively and strategically reconnect and engage their customers, this creates a level of humanity, support and trust, which is required to help businesses evolve and safeguard themselves and the customer against accounts and shares becoming dormant. In turn, the trust gained can open the door to cross-selling, and the ability for institutions to provide relevant and suitable support in the event of a customer’s change of circumstance.
At Vestigium Services, we provide support, advice and tools to help you reconnect and stay connected with your customers. You can learn more about the services we offer, here.
