Michelle Moore has drawn inspiration from three different companies — some obvious, some not — when thinking about digital innovation and the customer experience at Wells Fargo. She also follows three guiding principles: creating "fans for life," making processes "fast and easy" and wowing users with beauty.
"I'm pretty sure the first company that came to your mind was not a bank when I asked you to think of a company that creates fans for life," said
However, considering such aspects of the customer experience are vital because, "when we are building out our digital capabilities, too often we are thinking about getting things out the door or responding to the next need," she said. "But we should take a step back. Unless we earn the trust of our customers and get the basics right, it doesn't matter what's coming next."
Apple is her primary example of "creating fans for life," between a smartphone that people find indispensable and an ecosystem of payments and banklike products.
Amazon, meanwhile, epitomizes "making it fast and easy" to order goods without inputting an address or credit card details, or thinking too deeply about the process at all.
Clothing retailer Zara inspires her with magnificent imagery.
"There is power in delivering something so spectacular in your app that you can't help but look at it," said Moore.
Wells Fargo is in the process of infusing its products and services with all three principles.
One example — and a way that Moore hopes to create fans for life — is with LifeSync.
LifeSync, a component of the Wells Fargo mobile app,
"We did this in a way so that you can have a relationship with your Wells Fargo banker," and with the hope that it will lead to more productive conversations, said Moore in her keynote. When a customer enters a goal in the app, it will immediately show up on their advisor's desktop. The next step is to broaden this feature to consumers, so their goals materialize on their banker's desktop in a branch.
"Your client becomes a relationship, not just someone who is coming in for deposits or withdrawals," said Moore.
The mobile app's
"We studied mounds of data, [including] what are our customers calling us about, what are they telling us in the app store, what are they searching for on WellsFargo.com and the FAQs," said Moore. In its first six weeks, customers have been using the Fargo assistant most often to review their spending summaries, check their credit scores and send money through Zelle. By the end of the year, Moore plans to introduce proactive insights such as telling customers when spending patterns look suspicious or when a refund has been posted.
Her team aims to weave aesthetically soothing touches throughout the app. For example, the sign-on screen will transition between different scenes of natural beauty depending on whether the time is morning, noon or night.
"We know that most of the time it's stressful to use the app so we want to alleviate that," said Moore.
No less important is intuitiveness.
"Our clients told us it was very hard to navigate the app," said Moore. Now, she says, most activities are one to two clicks away.
With all the focus on innovation in Wells Fargo's mobile app, Moore has not forgotten about the branch. Another goal is to integrate more seamless technology into the branches, such as faster account opening.
"Digital is not here to replace the branch," she said.
David Schiff, a senior partner in financial services at West Monroe, views the intersection between digital banking and branches similarly.
"Digital solutions span channels," he said. "It's about figuring out how you lift [digital solutions] out of the online and mobile channels and push those into the branch."
Putting this into practice is complex, because it means retraining bankers and rethinking compensation models.
"It's easier to create a whole new 'above the glass' experience with the mobile app than it is to integrate it into the branch," said Schiff, referring to a concept by a keynote speaker at Digital Banking years ago that describes the customer-facing experience rather than the underlying mechanics of the mobile app.
Finding a way to integrate slick digital banking technology into branches "is really important, but really expensive," said Schiff. "It often has to be proven online before they roll it into anything else."
