Win & Keep More Account Holders in 2025: Smarter Omnichannel Strategies for Better Engagement & Growth

As banking consumers become more discerning and diverse in how they choose to interact with financial institutions, delivering on their needs via seamless omnichannel engagements should be built into the bank or credit union’s operational strategies.

In 2025, banks and credit unions will need to rethink their service models to stay competitive and retain customers and members, driving both satisfaction and revenue. Investing in retail banking solutions that provide the right touchpoint at the right time ensures that clients can connect with institutions through the channel that works best for them—whether it’s a mobile application (app), in-person visit, or phone call. Understanding why consistency matters and how to optimize each channel is a smart place to start.

Omnichannel Retail Banking Solutions: Why Consistency Matters Across Channels

A FICO survey finds that 88% of bank customer respondents report that customer experience is as important or more important than its products and services. This statistic underscores the growing demand for seamless interaction across both digital and physical touchpoints. Financial institutions that offer fragmented, friction-full experiences risk losing customers and members to more agile competitors or digital-first financial institutions that excel in this space.

The value of an omnichannel approach is clear: Account holders want to interact with their financial institution where, when, and how it suits them—whether it’s via an online chat, video call, or a face-to-face meeting with an advisor. 

Let’s explore 2 main reasons why consistency is integral:

1. Consistency deepens customer and member relationships and meets rising expectations.

Many traditional banks and credit unions are falling short when it comes to delivering exceptional user experiences across channels. According to a recent report, global banking customer experience (CX) quality has dropped for three consecutive years.
This decline in satisfaction can largely be attributed to poor customer service experiences, such as long hold times, complicated routing systems, disjointed channels, and frustratingly slow resolution times.
By implementing omnichannel strategies that truly speak to one another, banks and credit unions can reverse these downward trends. It starts with providing customers and members with a variety of options for engaging with the financial institution, but more importantly, ensuring those options feel personalized, efficient, and as “human” as possible.

2. If users get the right kinds of support on the right channel, it results in a better customer satisfaction score (CSAT) and more revenue.

One of the biggest service issues large retail financial institutions face is routing customers and members from online channels to human support, and to the right advisors. Buried contact options, long call queues, and reentering repetitive identity information can result in a negative experience.
And banks and credit unions can’t just focus on virtual service alone: 75% of consumers prefer talking to a real human in-person or over the phone for customer support, highlighting the continued importance of the human touch in customer service interactions. Since financial institutions also score poorly on emotionally connecting with customers and members—especially on digital channels—weaving together a seamless, reliable omnichannel service experience is vital to improving user experience (and, ultimately, loyalty).
Connecting disparate support and service systems can be daunting for financial institutions. However, they can start by improving how customers and members are guided to their preferred channels—no matter where they are in the journey. Then, they can begin streamlining individual paths (online self-serve vs. contact center vs. in-branch help) to ensure customers and members stay connected, and stay satisfied.

Streamlining Omnichannel Support: Strategies for Every User-Facing Channel

Service quality is often the linchpin that determines whether an account holder stays loyal or switches to a competitor (research shows that poor service directly impacts loyalty). Customers and members may become frustrated when stuck in long call queues, having to repeat their identity information multiple times, or being confused by how exactly to get in touch with their financial institution.

To address these challenges, banks and credit unions must focus on creating seamless transitions between different service touchpoints across the digital banking platform. From the call center to the chat pop-up, financial institutions interested in selling more products and reducing churn must optimize every channel for CSAT success.

Let’s break down go-to strategies for each channel.

The Online Chat Channel

• Keep it human: Ensure users have the option to eventually chat with a human if the online chat isn’t meeting their needs.
• Direct them to self-serve: Ensure you can redirect the account holder to ‘How to’ articles or online banking or mobile app pages that offer self-serve options.
• Make appointment booking a breeze: Include in-chat options to book an appointment with a related advisor.
• Consider after-hours options: Provide your users the option to request a callback or email response if they contact you outside of business hours.

The Call Center Channel

• Allow queue-skipping: Offer callback or text-back features when a service rep is ready, so customers and members can avoid long hold times.
• Leverage chat during peak periods: Direct callers to a chat option (only during hours of operation) when volume is high.
• Personalize communications: Customize hold messages based on the need to direct users to self-serve channels.
• Optimize appointment scheduling: Ensure call center staff can easily direct customers and members to local, in-person services easily, or book them an appointment automatically.

The In-Person Channel

• Make calendars transparent: Allow customers and members to see which specialists are available at a branch near them and schedule an appointment proactively.
• Automate bookings: Ensure appointment booking flows automatically direct users to relevant self-serve options.
• Gather documents in advance: Send a list of required documents to an advisor before clients arrive to significantly speed up handle times.
• Diversify meeting options: If individuals walk into a branch, offer them the option to video chat with the advisor they need at another branch.

The Digital Self-Serve

• Optimize self-serve visibility: Promote relevant in-person appointment booking on support pages or in a mobile app.
• Make customer service discoverable: Make direct customer service line numbers easy to find on relevant pages or in a mobile app.
• Provide pop-ups: Enable chat windows that pop up with relevant information (during hours of operation) on support page or in our mobile in-app.
• Information-gather: Save service preferences in account holder profiles so their return experience is personalized and frictionless.

Seamless Omnichannel is the Competitive Advantage for Financial Institutions

Financial institutions with an omnichannel approach have seen marked success in UX scores and revenue growth after choosing digital banking solutions that offer cloud-based digital banking solutions for all their customers’ and members’ digital banking needs. Such technology is designed to power efficiency and ease across onboarding, engagement, and account servicing across mobile and desktop.

Alkami’s appointment scheduling integration with Coconut Software further provides that highly-coveted seamless omnichannel solution that customers and members are craving, allowing them to:

• Request an appointment in-app whenever they need it (versus waiting in line or calling the branch).
• Choose the type of service they need ahead of time so they are matched with a qualified expert who can provide the relevant advice.
• Receive an invite to their calendar app of choice so they don’t forget their appointment.

Offering an omnichannel experience that is consistent, personalized, and responsive will be crucial in driving loyalty and CSAT, and increasing revenue. By embracing the right technology, refining service processes, and focusing on the human element in omnichannel offerings, banks and credit unions can shine amongst their competitors.

Remember: The future of banking is personalized, seamless, and omnichannel, and those financial institutions that invest in these strategies and solutions will see success in an increasingly competitive industry.