WHEN in mid-December 2013, Steward Bank said it was “introducing a bank that chats more than your teenager,” I sat up and took notice.
With Omen Muza
“Steward Bank is the only bank in Zimbabwe with an online chat function,” quipped the bank in an advertisement in one of the local newspapers. “Visit our website and try it out” it continued. “Our customer service representatives are on hand to answer your banking questions. 8am – 11pm, 7 days a week.”
There could not have been a better reason to try the chat function out other than to take the bank up on its offer. So I decided to become some kind of mystery shopper, but in the end not really much of one as my full name was visible to the Customer Service Agent (CSA) throughout the duration of the chat.
Once I visited the appropriate page of the website and established contact with the bank, the chat started with a request for my additional details such as full name and e-mail address. Almost instantaneously, the system dropped an e-mail from Steward Bank Live Support (SBLS) into my inbox, serving both as a welcome message from Steward Bank’s Live Support Centre and also as confirmation of successful registration in Steward Bank’s support centre.
It also provided the registration details including the registered e-mail address and a system-generated password which I could use to visit the Support Desk at any time in future via the relevant link.
Based on my subsequent chat with the Bank’s Customer Service Agent, I hereunder comment on the experience and pass my verdict on Steward Bank’s Live Chat Platform.
Response Time/Responsiveness: I thought this was good. I was able to get an agent online within a minute and the process of chatting itself was fairly quick as I didn’t have to wait too long to get the CSA’s response.
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Traceability: The customer has the option to instruct the system to e-mail a transcript of the conversation to an e-mail address of his/her choice; ensuring access to a record of the conversation, unlike in the case of telephone calls, for instance.
In addition to a blow-by-blow account of the actual conversation, the transcript also shows a summary of the pertinent transaction information such as the Department (Customer Experience), the agent allocated to the chat and the customer’s question.
Chat Closure/Conclusion: Though the agent was not able to provide clarification on the matter at hand he/she was able to provide closure to the conversation in a professional manner by asking if there was anything else he/she could assist me with, even after I had essentially signed off.
Customer Feedback: The system has provision for the customer to rate the user experience on a scale of 1 to 5. Needless to say, I exercised my right and rated the experience 3.5.
Utility: Though I wasn’t successful in getting an answer to my query, apparently because of its strategic nature, I thought the platform works quite well and can probably be relied upon to provide solutions to customers with smaller problems.
Verdict: I find the Live Chat to be a useful application which can save customers both the inconvenience and cost associated with a trip to the bank.
It also eliminates the need to make telephone calls which are notorious for the “run-around” which customers typically get from bank workers on the other end.
However, my view is that Contact Centre Agents should be empowered to a reasonable degree to enable them to answer questions on topical issues about the bank instead of simply referring them to their superiors, which while understandable in some instances, essentially negates the “immediacy” of engagement, which is the essence of a live chat function.
The response I ultimately got via a “LiveChat Follow-Up e-mail” from a Customer Experience Engagement Manager of the bank highlights the usual scenario of how banks often miss the opportunity to inform their stakeholders about critical events which ultimately have an impact on their services and projects.
Any well-clued customer will want to hear from their own bank about real or perceived problems, but in the end customers are usually left at the mercy of anyone who chooses to write or step up to the podium to speak about the relevant issue.
Sadly, such people are by default often given free rein by the banks’ deafening silence. Some have called it a Public Relations problem.
Feedback: [email protected]. Omen N. Muza writes in his personal capacity. You can view his LinkedIn profile at zw.linkedin.com/pub/omen-n-muza/30/641/3b8
