Improving the Customer Experience

Improving the Customer Experience

Runge, C.

Buijs, J.A. (mentor)
Secomandi, F. (mentor)

Industrial Design Engineering

Industrial Design

Master of Science Strategic Product Design

2012-07-18

This project was executed for ING Bank, division Retail Banking Benelux, Sub-division ‘Mortgages and Leads’. Based on consequences resulting from the financial crisis there are several new regulations that will be implemented in 2013. One of these regulations is the Provision ban on mortgage advice. This change will affect customers in their decision process when looking for mortgages. Therefore the objective of this project was to put the customer first and ease his and her mortgage orientation process in order to improve the customer’s quality perception of ING. To achieve this the focus was put on identifying how online review and rating sites currently influence customer quality perception and how these online sites can be designed in the future as new interactive service tools that in turn influence, build brand trust and recognition and put the customer quality experience first. The guiding question was: how can online review sites be used as service tools to help improve the customer journey and experience which in turn will improve the customer quality perception of ING’s mortgage advice. This question was addressed through an extensive literature review into extant articles that cover service touchpoints, customer decision journey and online review sites. Next to that a customer research shed light onto which points of the customer journey are of high impact to the decision process. The results from these inform the research question. The main findings showed that service touchpoints and support throughout the decision process have a crucial effect on the customer experience process of acquiring a mortgage. The customer will come in contact with physical and online service touchpoints that let customers infer a quality perception of the service provided and the service provider. These touchpoints should help guide a customer’s decision process through alleviating uncertainty. It was found that this was not the case with touchpoints throughout the mortgage acquisition process. Review and rating sites were found to be useful in guiding difficult decision points and help customers orient and evaluate. The best practice guidelines for such review sites advice to separate reviews into two categories that address the ‘financial mortgage product’ and the ‘mortgage service’ provided in form of call, mortgage advise, branches and websites. Customer research especially showed that there are eight main factors that influence customer decision making and perception: trustworthiness-, expertise-, independence-, intentions-, and transparency of the service provider as well as the advising party, support in the decision making process and ease of process, and finally expectations – customers want their needs to be understood and taken to heart. The objective was reached through deducing findings from literature review and customer research into strategic recommendations. The overall strategic recommendation for ING is to develop a review website with emphasis on providing the customer with expert knowledge and advice. This recommendation entails two pivotal steps. First creating an all bank review and expert site that responds to the immediate customer need of overview on financial mortgage products and mortgage services once the commission ban is implemented in 2013. Second, before step one can be implemented ING should also focus on developing a review and expert service on the ING.nl site with focus on improving the customer journey and making it more accessible through direct online customer interaction with mortgage experts and customer reviews. This service in the future can be developed to include track-and-trace mortgage process possibilities and direct online video call communication with mortgage advisors. The vision here is that the ING.nl site will develop towards providing online service for customers and guiding them through their service journey with support and guidance of mortgage expert advice.

financial services
customer journey
touchpoints

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:ac57cac6-c7a9-4275-a50e-bb84649406dd

2013-07-18

Campus only

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2012 Runge, C.