The Challenge
After recently acquiring a large US regional bank, a global retail bank experienced higher customer attrition than expected.
To tackle the problem, bank leadership created a new functional group responsible for customer retention. To guide plans and ensure their success, the client wanted an objective, external view of customer retention best practices and recommendations for improving performance.
Project Description
Further Advisory assessed the bank’s current-state customer strategy and operations, and identified root causes for customer attrition across strategy, organization, operations, and customer experience. We provided recommendations to move from a product-centric to a customer-centric focus, along with a 2025 roadmap for realizing retention results. To kick off the roadmap, we assisted the client in developing and launching a quick-win campaign to mitigate customer churn.
Outcomes Delivered
- Identified root causes including customer churn drivers, operational inefficiencies, a lack of focus on customer retention strategy, and organization alignment that was driven by product lines rather than a holistic customer experience.
- Evaluated Best Practices for retail banking customer retention, and best-in-class companies and industries, and their application to the bank’s specific circumstances.
- Prioritized an inventory of opportunities to address customer attrition, including marketing campaigns, changes to sales incentives, coordination of shared services teams, and a matrix organization structure that aligned the business to the customer lifecycle.
- Built a roadmap for the sequencing and delivery of initiatives in 2025, based on the opportunity inventory.
- Developed a KPI dashboard structure for customer retention (along with requirements for development), consisting of customer retention metrics, leading engagement indicators, and a major outcome KPI based on net bank benefit due to increased customer tenure.
- Designed, built, and launched a Quick Hit Campaign consisting of outbound service calls to high-risk customers, within a 10-week timeframe.
