You Can Replicate Amazon’s Powerful New Tool

Hear the full conversation with Jorge Camargo of Bank of America on Banking Transformed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KibFqG47KzQ

Banks and credit unions can let customers see and correct what the institution assumes about them, the way Amazon's About You page does for shoppers. Bank of America's experience shows customers will share what matters when someone asks.

Amazon now gives shoppers a page where they can view, change or remove the preferences behind their recommendations, and even ask its shopping assistant what it knows about them. Most banks and credit unions still decide what a customer needs from transaction data the customer never sees. When that guess is wrong, the customer gets an offer that doesn't fit and quietly concludes their financial institution doesn't really know them.

Jim Marous draws on his conversation with Jorge Camargo, who runs digital platforms at Bank of America. Erica, the bank's virtual assistant, has handled more than 3 billion conversations that came down to about 700 consumer banking topics, and one overarching concern customers bring to the relationship: am I good? By 2023, Life Plan users had scheduled more than 2.3 million follow-up appointments with the bank's financial specialists.

Jim lays out three questions any institution can ask: what's your biggest financial challenge, how can we do better, and where else do you do business? The follow-up that matters most is "Did we get this right?" This isn't a big bank story. A community bank or credit union can start this week with one financial need, one channel it already has, and a promise to respond.

About: Banking Transformed is hosted by Jim Marous, top five banking industry influencer and Co-Publisher of The Financial Brand. Banking Insights episodes deliver the most important strategic ideas in under ten minutes, for the executive who wants the takeaway without the deep dive. Subscribe to the Digital Banking Report at thefinancialbrand.com.