Technology has given us the ability to access information and services almost instantly. When Netflix started, you had to go online, select the movie you wanted to watch, and then wait for the DVD to come to your house. Now you can open the app, choose from hundreds of movies and TV show options, and start watching instantly. Can’t find what you’re looking for on Netflix? You can probably locate it on one of the dozens of other available streaming platforms and access it on your device just as quickly. This brings us to what boosts all financial institution’s margins – a user experience that is simple enough to maintain the attention of easily distracted consumers.

The ability to get what we want instantly has turned into an expectation in all areas of our lives as consumers. Opening an account using traditional banking methods is anything but instant. If your financial institution cannot offer an onboarding process that meets customer demands for instant gratification, they’ll be looking for another financial institution that can. You can boost your financial institution’s margins by offering customers a quicker, easier onboarding process through digital account opening technology.

Instant Gratification: Technology and Patience

Thanks to the internet, you can now have almost the entire wealth of human knowledge at your fingertips in seconds. Unfortunately, seconds may still be too long for some users. According to a study by UMass Amherst, most viewers will abandon an online video if it takes more than 2 seconds to load.

Ironically, our instant access to so much information has also eroded our patience for actually absorbing information. The Nielsen Norman Group found that most users leave a webpage after having only visited long enough to read about 20% of the text displayed on that page.

The nature of the internet is that if users cannot get what they’re looking for fast enough from one website, they will quickly abandon it and find a site with a better response time. This pattern has gone beyond webpage loading times and started to impact almost every aspect of life, including banking.

Customers are always looking for the fastest, most efficient, most convenient way to manage their money. If their current institution doesn’t offer what they’re looking for, they are not hesitant to switch to a bank or credit union with better, faster online options.

Online Account Opening vs. Traditional Account Opening

One of the ways to offer your customers a faster experience than other banks is by enabling them to open an account completely online. In-person account opening is something that people just don’t have time for anymore. First, they have to schedule a time to go into their local branch’s location during normal business hours. Then, they have to gather up their relevant identifying documents and bring them to the meeting. Once there, they will be asked to read and sign stacks of paperwork. The process is anything but instant.

Online account opening can boost your financial institution’s margins because it allows your customers to open an account on their schedule from any location that is convenient to them. Improving your customer’s experience doesn’t end with just offering a digital onboarding process—you need to remove as much friction from that process. If you ask them to fill out lengthy forms on their phone or provide pictures of documentation they don’t have in reach, they are more likely to abandon their application. 

An excellent digital account opening solution that effectively boosts your financial institution’s margins should not just be your in-person application converted into a digital form. You need to streamline the whole process so that customers can have an open account with money in it at your institution within a matter of minutes.

Customer Satisfaction and Your Profit Margin

Speed is one of the top-three factors in ensuring customer satisfaction when it comes to online banking. Consistently satisfied customers become loyal, long-term customers, and they are more likely to recommend your institution to others.

How can a financial institution profit through instant gratification? 

Today’s customers don’t want to wait for anything; they want satisfaction right now. By offering a digital onboarding process that supports instant account opening, you can entice more customers to do their banking with you.

A low-friction, user-friendly online account opening system satisfies your customers’ need for instant gratification in banking services, helps you acquire new customers, and brings more revenue, increasing your financial institution’s margins. When you generate more revenue, as long as your expenses stay the same, you increase your profit margin, and your institution experiences financial growth.

Key Takeaways:

• Thanks to the internet, most customers expect instant gratification and will not accept less.
• Online account opening is far more immediate and convenient than in-person account opening.
• Online account opening needs to be as low-friction and user-friendly as possible to satisfy the need for instant gratification.
• An efficient digital onboarding process improves the completion rate of applications and brings more customers and revenue into your financial institution.
• Access to secure, user-friendly digital bank account opening technologies makes digital onboarding easy for you and your customers, so you can increase your financial institution’s margins.

The Best Digital Bank Account Opening Solution

IgniteConnex provides a secure, user-friendly digital bank account opening technology that makes digital onboarding easy for both you and your customers. We offer intuitive, secure solutions designed by bankers for banks.  We can help kickstart financial institutions’ digital transformation by enhancing the account opening experience and approval process for new customers. Access a cost-effective digital onboarding solution that can offer your financial institution enhanced security, a good return on investment, and scalable growth.  Schedule a Demo to learn more!