A longtime customer opens her banking app to dispute a suspicious charge. The chatbot greets her but can't resolve the issue, so she calls the helpline. A phone agent picks up, unaware of the chatbot conversation, and asks her to repeat the whole story.
Frustrated, she visits a branch the next day, only to re-explain everything yet again. By the end of this ordeal, the customer is exhausted and wondering why her modern bank feels stuck in the stone age.
If you're a CX manager at a bank, this scenario might hit close to home.
In theory, omnichannel was supposed to prevent exactly this kind of disconnected experience. In reality, many banks still haven't cracked the code on true omnichannel, and it's testing the patience of both customers and the CX teams trying to keep them happy.
The omnichannel promise vs. banking reality
Omnichannel banking became the banking industry's favorite buzzword in the early 2010s.
A customer could interact with their bank via any channel and get a consistent and seamless experience.
In a perfect omnichannel world, a customer could apply for a loan on their phone, ask a question about it on chat, and walk to the branch to finalize it without ever having to repeat themselves
This is exactly what modern omnichannel contact center solutions are designed to enable continuity, context, and connection across every touchpoint.
Meet customers wherever they are, remember who they are, and keep the conversation going.
Doesn't this sound simple?
The reality in banking falls short of this ideal, and most banks are still delivering multichannel experiences, not true omnichannel ones.
Have you heard of this research statistic?
80% of business leaders believed they were delivering great CX, but only 24% of customers agreed.
This 56-point perception gap is staggering, and it has real consequences. Younger, digitally savvy millennials are extremely sensitive to such experience gaps. They've grown up with Amazon and Uber, and they expect a similar experience with banks as well. Anything short of it, they're not shy to look for alternatives.
Why is it so hard for banks to remember a customer's context across channels? For that, we need to understand the challenges that prevent them from offering omnichannel experiences.
Why do banks struggle with true omnichannel CX?
Several common challenges create this disconnect:
- Siloed Systems and Data: Many banks operate on outdated, fragmented systems that don't communicate, leaving critical customer data trapped in separate channels.
- Legacy Technology: Older systems weren't built for today's digital-first world. Upgrading them is costly, complicated, and often hindered by strict compliance regulations.
- Organizational Silos: When digital, branch, and call center teams work separately, it creates disjointed experiences.
- Inconsistent Communication: Customers receive different answers across channels due to a lack of centralized information, causing confusion and frustration.
- Lack of Personalization: Without integrated data, banks struggle to personalize interactions, leading to generic experiences that fail to engage customers.
Omnichannel nightmares and successes
Consider two scenarios:
Scenario 1: Fragmented journey
A mid-sized bank launched a new online account opening portal. A customer initiated an account opening online, but the system could not complete the ID verification. So, she had to visit the branch.
When she showed up at the branch, the staff couldn't see the info they had entered online.
"Sorry, it looks like we'll have to start from scratch" were not the words that the customer expected to hear after filling out lengthy forms at home.
This typically leads to abandonment of the process.
Scenario 2: Seamless experience
Citibank is often cited as a positive example when you speak about customer experience. Facing growing customer expectations, Citibank realized its traditional systems and fragmented touchpoints were holding it back.
Citibank developed an integrated omnichannel contact center platform that bridged mobile, online, and branch channels.
For instance, a customer could start the loan application on the mobile app, save it, check it later, or upload a document through the online banking portal. Then, the customer could walk into the branch to ask a few questions and finalize the loan.
The bank ensured that all those channels fed into a single customer profile. This prevents the customer from having to repeat themselves at any point during the interaction.
This unified approach significantly boosts customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Getting omnichannel right is not straightforward. Let us look at what it takes to get it right.
6 Practical ways to fix omnichannel banking
Here are tangible strategies banks can implement immediately:
#1 Start with an Honest Reality Check
Encourage your team (and executives) to experience the bank like a customer. Sign up for an account on the app, try to get an issue resolved on a weekend, etc. Often, leaders are surprised when they see the friction firsthand. In fact, industry research suggests "the biggest CX failures are the ones leaders don't see," which is why getting unfiltered feedback is crucial.
It might sting to discover how far off the mark things are, but this clarity will build urgency to change.
#2 Break the silos
Invest in technology that integrates legacy systems and creates cross-functional teams aligned on shared CX goals.
For example, branch employees should see themselves as part of a larger omnichannel team. If a customer mentions they tried something online, the banker should be empowered (and expected) to pick up from there, not treat it as "not my problem."
One tangible step is to align incentives: if digital and branch teams have a common customer satisfaction or Net Promoter Score goal (rather than siloed targets), they'll be motivated to collaborate rather than compete.
#3 Improve consistency and "Single source of truth"
Banks need to ensure all channels are singing from the same song sheet.
This involves establishing a centralized knowledge base that feeds information to your website, FAQ, chatbot, IVR scripts, and agent desktops. For example, an interest rate change or new policy update is reflected everywhere at once.
Customers love consistency even if they don't love your policy.
#4 Personalize the experience
If data shows a customer is a homeowner, don't pester them with first-time homebuyer loan offers.
If the customer predominantly uses the mobile app and rarely visits branches, maybe invite them to try a new app feature rather than advertising your branch seminar.
Imagine receiving a message like this when you log in to your app stating, "Welcome back, Vikram. Here's your last transaction and an update on the loan you applied for."
This can feel delightfully personal. To do this, you don't need sophisticated AI; all you should do is use the information at hand in a customer-centric way.
#5 Empower customers with self-service
If all I want to check is my account balance or the last five transactions, why would I want to speak to an agent or go through an IVR menu? Instead, I can access the information with a simple query on your self-service channels.
For routine transactional queries, self-service can be a great experience provider. However, when there is an issue like a loan problem or fraud, you would want to talk to a human. The bot should enable a seamless transition. Besides, the agent should get the context of the conversation before the customer decides to speak to an agent.
When self-service and assisted service work together, customers get quick answers when they want and empathetic help when they need it.
#6 Invest in the right platform and partner
Delivering omnichannel comes down to having a robust platform that can centralize customer interactions and information across all touchpoints.
A platform like ClearTouch Operator ensures that you do not have to toggle between 10 systems to get a full picture of the customer.
In short, a platform like ClearTouch breaks down system silos, it gives agents that 360° customer view for consistency and personalization, and it's built to integrate and adapt (so it plays nicely with your CRM, core banking system, etc., through pre-built integrations).
All of this happens with an eye on regulatory compliance and reliability, which are non-negotiables for any bank technology.
Achieving true omnichannel banking is about the basic promise that every customer relationship implies:
We know you, we value you, and we've got your back wherever you need us.
It's not out of reach. It just requires bridging the gaps one by one and not losing sight of the human element amid all the tech.
Here's to closing the omnichannel gap and truly putting customers at the center, where they belong.
