"One of the many benefits of using an external review site to gain insight into your performance, is the impartiality it offers companies in examining their own data"
The introduction of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA)’s new Consumer Duty Act is fast approaching and the countdown is on to ensure firms are ready for its implementation on 31 July 2023.
Consumer Duty aims to set higher and clearer standards of consumer protection across financial services and requires firms to act to deliver four good outcomes for customers. Companies must ensure:
• customers receive communications at the right time, that they can understand
• products and services meet the need of their target customers
• products and services offer fair value
• customers are given the support they need.
For brokers, this means reviewing the FCA’s expectations against each element of their business and assessing and monitoring whether they are delivering good outcomes to customers. One of the ways in which this can be achieved is by using review sites to gain an insight into the mindset of the consumer and using this information to enhance and improve the customer experience within your business.
The majority of consumers will always research a market, company or product before making a decision to purchase goods and services, and the financial services sector is no different. In fact, research recently carried out by Smart Money People found over 40% of consumers seek reviews if the product or service they’re considering is new to them.
In addition, 84% of consumers trust reviews from other consumers, compared to 67% who trust reviews from professionals within the industry. This is unsurprising given the repeated warnings over the years regarding banking scams and scandals and signals that trust has become increasingly important for consumers when making financial decisions.
The benefits of customer feedback are extensive and should form an important part of every broker’s advice and recommendation approach. Listening to your customers and garnering their views on the services on offer can help you to deliver on your customer’s expectations and meet the requirements of the regulator.
One of the many benefits of using an external review site to gain insight into your performance, is the impartiality it offers companies in examining their own data. Many businesses can have an unconscious bias when looking at feedback from their customers and this can result in missed areas of opportunity.
An independent view can offer a different perspective allowing you to benchmark performance against peers and use the company’s knowledge and expertise to gain recommendations for areas of improvement. This can prove particularly useful in making changes to enhance the experience of the customer and therefore deliver on their expectations. It also enables you to evidence the requirements of the Consumer Duty regulations.
Gaining insight into the expectations of consumers will also give businesses an edge over competitors. Without consumers making new purchases or retaining customers with repeat purchases, businesses won’t survive. Equally, negative reviews can be as beneficial as positive reviews as they can act as a guide for any improvements that need to be made and provide greater understanding of your target market’s needs and wants.
External review sites can also help business expand their reach and can prove to be a useful marketing tool, improve click-through rates and website traffic volumes, all of which will boost your company’s position in Google searches.
Using a review site can be an effective way to help companies improve their services as well as deliver great customer experience and outcomes. Not only is this essential for instilling trust in prospective customers, the feedback can prove vital in ensuring the demands of the regulator are also met.
