User experience: Supporting all our clients in their life projects

In an ultra-connected world subject to globalised competition, brands can no longer set themselves apart simply through their prices or products. Rather, the capacity of each to propose a fluid, omni-channel, seamless and pleasant customer experience constitutes a new growth lever.. Based on a detailed knowledge of its clients’ expectations and habits, BNP Paribas is multiplying initiatives in this area.

Towards a revolution in banking services

Redesigning their organisation to become fully customer-centric is the new challenge for all global economic players, regardless of their sector of activity. According to Adobe’s Digital Trends 2018 report, nearly half the companies surveyed considered the customer experience to be one of their absolute priorities in 2018. 62% of them say they have a long-term action plan concerning the customer experience they offer.
These strategic guidelines respond to a need. Business conditions have changed radically with the general spread of digital technology. Ultra-connected, consumers have acquired new instincts and are increasingly demanding of their brands: they expect customised services, a highly-developed ability to listen, instant responsiveness, ethical commitments… The purchasing decision no longer depends on the intrinsic quality of the product or service proposed. Consumers expect support from the brand, before, during and after their purchase, and this on all channels (web, app, telephone, face-to-face meetings, etc.), as well as from one channel to another.

Brands are therefore now seeking to develop new services to offer their customers optimised support. This new approach represents a real opportunity: by forging closer links with their customers, brands can create a relationship based on trust and loyalty. For Sophie Heller, COO for Retail Banking & Services at BNP Paribas, “It is vital to collect feedback from customers on an ongoing basis as to understand what they feel when using our services and being able to change them”.

Innovation built around the customer

In order to offer the best customer experience, BNP Paribas has identified several strategic points on which the bank will work as a priority. Thierry Laborde, Deputy Chief Operating Officer and Head of Domestic Markets at BNP Paribas, sums them up as follows: “The customer experience is becoming hugely digitalised, meaning instantaneous service, services delivered in real time, personalised services for customers and operational excellence at the bank on a day-to-day basis. The challenge is to reconcile innovation and data security, because this is what our customers demand”.

Customise to provide better support

According to Sophie Heller, COO for Retail Banking&Services at BNP Paribas, the customisation of services offers three major benefits.
It enables all customers to interact with their bank depending on their specific needs (by telephone with an advisor, on the web, etc.): “Simplicity consists of offering a fluid experience on all supports and in particular on mobile, which is becoming the cornerstone of the customer relationship, placed at the centre of omni-channel interactions”. It gives customers the opportunity to benefit from better monitoring of their affairs: “faced with greater demand for transparency, we must explain our rates and give every customer the possibility to monitor their affairs on a continuous basis”.
It improves response speed: “immediacy is crucial: digital technology has made people used to getting rapid responses, whatever the request”.

New services adapted to real needs

By keeping an eye on new trends and emerging technologies to constantly improve the banking and insurance experience, BNP Paribas wishes to support its customers in all their life projects by proposing products and services as close as possible to their needs. Customer knowledge is therefore fundamental to consolidating our positioning as a major player in developing new, useful and easy-to-access services.
For customers wishing to benefit from cutting-edge digital services, BNP Paribas has launched online bank Hello Bank! This offer enables customers to open an account in a few clicks, take out a loan online, while being able to benefit from the support of a remote advisor if needed.

For even more personalised digital support, BNP Paribas Fortis has launched Didid, a mobile savings support application thanks to which users can identify and meet the objectives necessary to fulfil a dream they have defined on the interface. For its part, BGL BNP Paribas, the Group’s Luxembourg subsidiary, has developed a 100% digital personal assistant based on artificial intelligence intended to help customers better manage their bank accounts on a daily basis.

For customers wishing to make their purchases in a secure and automated fashion, BNP Paribas has launched Lyf Pay. This free and secure mobile application uses the QR Code system to make instant payments to a third party: connected to a bank account, it enables, for example, customers to pay for shopping or pay back their friends with a click or create a kitty free of charge. Another service proposed by BNP Paribas, Paylib enables payments to be made online, in store or to a loved one by smartphone much more quickly than with a card or bank transfer.

For customers wishing to combine wealth management with digital services, BNP Paribas has joined forces with the start-up Pax Familia to propose a digital wealth management solution. Hosting on a single platform a statement of assets, an inventory of donations and a digital safe, the platform offers customers and managers a complete overview of their wealth and the actions undertaken, and thus facilitates decision-making.

For entrepreneur customers who need flexible and rapid solutions, BNL, the Italian subsidiary of BNP Paribas, proposes My Biz, an application enabling small and medium-sized companies to better manage their activities. The application enables numerous remote transactions to be managed very easily, including payments or loan applications.

For customers solely wanting simple and inexpensive support to better manage their family life on a daily basis, the Group has acquired Nickel. This solution for small budgets, accessible in tobacconists’, enables an account to be opened in a few minutes at lower cost, and proposes easy-to-use account management functions.

Supporting customers beyond banking services

Through its diverse business lines and the development of external partnerships, BNP Paribas is able to offer complementary solutions to traditional banking services in order to meet other needs such as mobility, healthcare and shopping. For the purchase of a house, for example, the Group wishes to offer broader support than just taking out a real estate loan: an experience that ranges from the search for a property to moving house, and includes financing simulation and taking out an insurance policy!

By developing integrated service platforms that work like real service ecosystems around a banking offer, the Group has now positioned itself as a life partner for its customers.