Investing in a strong customer acquisition strategy is critical to attracting leads and converting them into high-value customers. In this blog post, we’ll be focusing on one of the first stages of the customer acquisition process: the application stage.
Challenges with online customer application processes
When it comes to the customer application stage, speed, ease, and convenience are no longer nice-to-haves — they are musts. But various challenges exist for lenders and consumers in terms of online credit or account application processes, including:
- Limited digital capabilities. Consumers have grown more reliant on digital channels, with 52% preferring to use digital banking options over banking at branches. That said, financial institutions should prioritize the digital customer experience or risk falling behind the competition.
- The length of applications. Whether it’s a physical or digital application, requiring consumers to provide a substantial amount of information about themselves and their past can be frustrating. In fact, 67% of consumers will abandon an application if they experience complications.
- Potential human error. Because longer, drawn-out applications require various steps and data inputs, consumers may leave fields blank or make errors along the way. This can create more friction and delays as consumers may potentially be driven offline and into branches to get their applications sorted out.
Improve the speed and accuracy of online credit applications
Given that consumers are more likely to abandon their applications if their experience is friction-filled, financial institutions will need an automated, data-driven solution to simplify and streamline the online form completion process. Some of the benefits of leveraging an automated solution include:
- Improved customer experiences. Shortening time-to-value starts with faster decisioning. By using accurate consumer data and automation to prefill parts of the online credit application, you can reduce the amount of information applicants are required to enter, leading to lower abandonment rates, less potential for manual error, and enhanced user experiences.
- Fraud prevention. Safeguarding consumer information throughout the credit application process is crucial. By leveraging intelligent identity verification solutions, you can securely and compliantly identify consumer identities while ensuring data isn’t released in risky situations. Then by using identity management solutions, you can gain a connected, validated customer view, resulting in minimized end-user friction.
- Faster approvals. With automated data prefill and identity verification, you can process applications more efficiently, leading to faster approvals and increased conversions.
Choosing the right partner
Experian can help optimize your customer application process, making it faster, more efficient, and less error prone. This way, you can win more customers and improve digital experiences.
Learn more about Experian’s customer acquisition solutions.
