FMI

CMO Digest

The Future CX Roadmap in Financial Services? Gain Insights from Accenture

At Financial Marketing Insights (FMI), we've taken a look at Accenture's ‘Life-Centric’ view of customer experience (CX) - to stand out, engage, and keep customers. We believe this idea, and the associated data points from their research, can really help drive conversations internally and deliver the CX your customers expect. This concept is also equally as true for retail as it is for institutional market participants.

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We’ve discussed before how the financial services landscape is undergoing a dramatic shift, driven by evolving customer expectations, digital transformation, and competitive pressures. Accenture’s Life Centricity Playbook and Customer Experience Research articulate this well, alongside the growing need for CMOs to drive the shift from transactional relationships to meaningful, holistic customer experiences (CX).

For CMOs in financial services, this means connecting customer personas, journeys, and touchpoints across the entire organisation – from sales and marketing to IT and operations.

Why CX Transformation is Essential

Customer experience is no longer the domain of marketing alone – it’s a cross-functional priority. All consumers expect personalised, proactive and seamless interactions across all engagement channels. Accenture’s research shows that firms that embrace a ‘life-centric’ approach, which understands customers as dynamic individuals, outperform their competitors in speed-to-market and customer lifetime value.

To capitalise on this shift, CMOs must lead CX transformation by integrating customer insights, aligning business functions, and leveraging technology to create seamless experiences.

Great stats to gain buy-in

We’ve selected some compelling data points from Accenture’s research that highlight the business impact great CX can achieve, and to help you get the alignment and resources you need.

  • 65% of customers expect companies to respond to their changing needs in real-time, yet only 15% of financial institutions are equipped to do so.

  • Financial firms that adopt a life-centric CX approach see a 32% increase in customer retention rates and a 25% boost in revenue growth.

  • Companies with strong cross-functional CX alignment report 1.6x higher customer satisfaction scores than those with siloed operations.

A New Roadmap for CX Excellence

To successfully implement a next-generation CX strategy, CMOs must focus on three key pillars: Customer Personas, Journey Mapping, and Seamless Touchpoint Integration.

1. Customer Personas: A Data-Driven Approach

  • Immediate: Conduct advanced segmentation using AI and behavioural analytics to create dynamic, real-time customer personas.

  • Near-term: Shift from demographic-based personas to ‘life-moment’ personas that anticipate financial needs based on contextual factors such as economic conditions, life stages, and behavioural patterns.

  • Mid-term: Use predictive analytics to proactively address customer needs, delivering hyper-personalised interactions across all touchpoints.

2. Customer Journey Mapping: Creating a Unified Experience

  • Immediate: Audit existing customer journeys to identify friction points and gaps in service.

  • Near-term: Implement AI-driven journey orchestration to tailor experiences dynamically in response to customer behaviour.

  • Mid-term: Integrate omnichannel engagement strategies to ensure customers receive a consistent and seamless experience across physical and digital touchpoints.

3. Seamless Touchpoint Integration: Connecting Sales, Marketing, IT, and Operations

  • Immediate: Foster cross-functional collaboration between marketing, sales, IT, and customer service teams to align CX goals.

  • Near-term: Develop a unified CX governance model to ensure consistent messaging and service levels across all departments.

  • Mid-term: Deploy a centralised customer data platform (CDP) to create a 360-degree view of customers, enabling real-time decision-making and personalised engagement.


Download our free one-page roadmap to help you formulate a plan


You’ll need a toolkit to do this well:

  1. AI-Powered Insights: Leverage AI and machine learning to create predictive customer profiles.

  2. Journey Orchestration Platforms: Deploy technology that enables real-time, adaptive customer experiences.

  3. Cross-Functional Collaboration Frameworks: Establish clear communication and data-sharing mechanisms between marketing, sales, IT, and accounts.

  4. Customer Data Platforms (CDPs): Unify customer data across all touchpoints for consistent engagement.

  5. Regulatory Compliance Tools: Ensure data privacy and security measures align with industry standards while enabling innovation.

Conclusion

For CMOs in financial services, CX transformation is an urgent priority that requires a holistic, integrated approach. By embracing dynamic customer personas, optimising customer journeys, and connecting all customer-facing functions, CMOs can create a truly 'life-centric' experience that drives loyalty, growth, and competitive advantage.

To read more about Accenture's 'Life Centricity Playbook, visit: https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/song/life-centricity-playbook