Time passes and the world changes. With it, the consumer market too. After all, we are talking about culture, society and mainly, influences. This directly implies the profile of the modern consumer and the style of buying and selling products and services. 

Before we could say that a company offered its products and the customer chose the one that best suited their needs. Today that is no longer the case. The consumer defines which products make sense for their lifestyle and companies that wish to prospect them must seek methods to meet such demands.

It is at this moment that user experience becomes fundamental. Proof of this is the fact that 89% of Brazilians nowadays state that the shopping experience directly impacts the decision to take the product. The study, conducted by PwC, also shows that globally, 73% of consumers take into account the pre-purchase experience. 

The impact of this on the general market? More than 60% of companies from various niches have been investing heavily in user experience. Read on to understand the impact of this on the financial market and why your company needs to pay more attention to this trend. 

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What is the customer experience in traditional financial sector companies today?

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Thinking about a context of traditional, little-digitized financial institutions, most users’ experience is based on the same foundation: delay in problem resolution. This is due to the slowness of some companies in understanding the importance or the right path to follow towards the digital universe. The reflection of this is customer dissatisfaction. 

Among the main problems in this work model we can mention technology gaps, bureaucratic and stressful execution of internal and external processes. The consequence is demotivation on the part of employees and customers. Finally, a high cost of operations, which could easily be lower with basic optimizations. 

Thinking in the medium and long term, it is possible to predict a decline in customers who migrate more and more to less bureaucratic companies and facilitated solutions. Today no one has time to waste hours in a line, life happens online. People want to solve everything in a few minutes and, preferably, in a few clicks. 

What needs to improve in traditional financial sector companies? 

Investment in technology is the answer! But where to start? We have separated some trends that indicate the best path for the financial market to reformulate. 

Design Thinking

A technique already widely used in multiple markets, ideal for exploring new insights, solutions and expanding the innovative business vision. In the financial market, it is an excellent way to map problems that the company faces in the face of competition and chart a strategy focused on user experience. 

Always basing itself on people at the center of product and service development, the objective is to identify what are the biggest barriers between today and achieving goals. Thus, finding ways to overcome them.  

Mobile first

Today more than 155 million Brazilians have and use cell phones, according to IBGE data. This means that a large part of the population, regardless of age group, is online via mobile. In this context, your company also needs to be there and, furthermore, develop strategies focused on this channel. 

This involves rethinking website design, developing applications, improving responsive layouts and more. The idea is to make the user experience increasingly comfortable given the structure that mobile offers. 

Thinking about a specific segment of the financial market, mobile is present in at least 74% of banking transactions.

Transparency and deregulation 

Whether traditional or digital, transparency is fundamental and should be non-negotiable. One of the main challenges of the digitization process, depending on the public it serves, is precisely developing the bond of trust and credibility.

At the same time, it is necessary to intensify actions in favor of process deregulation, which is one of the main reasons customers abandon traditional means. While trust is what keeps them. The challenge is to offer both, focusing on the experience of these customers in the short, medium and long term. 

Personalization

Finally, but no less important, the personalization of services, products and service. More and more consumers are looking for companies that offer everything tailored to their needs. They want optimization, to solve everything with the fewest products and services possible. That is why the importance of creating flexible delivery models. Thinking about the financial universe, always focus on platforms that aim to strengthen the relationship with the customer, and with that, in constant transformation. 

3 trends that impact user experience in the financial market 

Now making a special cut for the financial market, we have separated 3 trends that positively and directly contribute to user experience. 

Are you out of the loop? Seek specialized consulting and stay up to date on the rights and duties that concern the LGPD, which is now mandatory for all companies. 

1 – Pix and Open Banking

Pix needs no introduction, after all, there is no one who does not know it or use it daily. The Central Bank’s novelty came to revolutionize financial transactions and facilitate monetary processes. 

Today it already has more adherents than the traditional DOC and TED. There are more than 380 million registered keys and 71% of the Brazilian population is a recurring user. 

In turn, the concept of Open Banking is born as an aggregator and provider of banking information. It offers the possibility of sharing a user’s financial data between different banking institutions, facilitating, for example, credit requests.  

2 – Open Finance

Just like Open Banking, Open Finance facilitates the transmission of financial data, but not only between banking institutions. In this case, it extends to any companies with financial services. This gives the customer more autonomy and makes them available to receive more proposals, thus being able to choose the one that best fits their needs. 

3 – Fintechs 

Fintech is a term that has been growing more and more in the financial market. Today there are more than 1,200 operating in Brazil. But after all, what is a fintech? In short, it is a startup that offers fully digital financial services at a lower cost to its customers. 

There are several solutions offered, including credit cards without annual fees, 100% digital accounts, loans and other services exempt from fees or with a much lower value compared to traditional banks. Fintechs have been gaining space and preference, especially among the younger public, the famous Generation Z (born between 1995 and 2010). 

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Beyond user experience, what technologies should we keep an eye on in 2023?

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ITP and better performance in data sharing

Some of the trends expected this year in the financial market are directly linked to the improvement of existing technologies. This is the case of Open Finance, mentioned above, which now promises to further develop performance in data sharing, as well as service coverage.

Among these, we can highlight investments, insurance and pensions. Another highlight is the acceleration of ITPs (Payment Transaction Initiator). Therefore, Open Finance will be a strong pillar in financial development, being increasingly incorporated into the population’s daily life and essential for financial institutions. 

Beyond Banking 

The objective of Beyond Banking is to give banks, fintechs and other financial institutions the possibility to provide various services, solutions and products through partner companies. 

Thus, financial institutions can expand and diversify their portfolio in addition to personalizing the customer experience and achieving good differentials in terms of competition. 

With the advancement of Open Finance, the trend is that more and more institutions embrace the Beyond Banking concept. That is, go “beyond banks”. 

Real Digital, exchange and international Pix 

A natural movement that the market has been going through is the deregulation of the exchange market. In the first half of 2022 alone in Brazil, there were 1.2 million exchange transactions, a jump of 297% compared to the same period the previous year. 

In this constant expansion, the great ally in the process will be the, already dreamed of by many, international pix. Perhaps the most anticipated change by consumers. The news will be a great tool for multiple currency transactions as well as further strengthening the facilitation of the international sector. 

Real Digital will be a CBDC (central bank digital currency), issued by the Central Bank of Brazil, and not by a commercial bank. This innovation will bring new challenges for financial institutions, in addition to enabling new ways to track money and prevent money laundering, potentializing credit offerings by institutions.

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Why is innovation and user experience still a distant reality in some financial institutions? 

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It is well known that the financial market has several authorities, sometimes impeditive in accelerated innovation processes. Among them the Central Bank of Brazil, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the National Monetary Council and others. Although some of these, such as the Central Bank, have undergone significant simplification processes, they are still a barrier in the innovation process. 

Beyond this context, today one of the main obstacles that the financial universe faces regarding process innovation and user experience improvement is the lack of resilient systems. To put it briefly: the modern consumer is intolerant of systems that are down or slow to load desired information. This is quickly noticed and discarded by these customers. 

Studies state that sites that take a long time to open can generate a loss of up to 9.1 billion reais. For this reason, it is important to develop resilience and scalable investment in technology. 

Another pillar that tends to be a barrier in the market is the need to reduce operational costs. But managing to make this cut in expenses without generating losses is a challenge. After all, it involves reviewing the entire ecosystem of a company. From employee expenses to equipment investment. But where to start saving? 

Getting to know the concept of Open Innovation

The concept of open innovation emerged in 2003 with the aim of expanding investment in innovation within companies. Initially understood as opposite to the model already used before, called closed innovation. However, what is little discussed is that both can – and should –  work together, complementing each other. 

Open innovation comes with the proposal of expanding visions on certain issues related to technology. For this, the idea is to count on partnerships with other companies. These, with well-filtered expertise according to the objective to be achieved. Closed innovation is the one we are already used to, which is limited to the company’s internal, own resources and so on. The news proposes that we increase our execution power by counting on specialized partners. 

Seeking specialists on the topic

Following the premise of open innovation, a next step to change the scenario of difficulties is to look for specialist partners. At Zappts, we offer services in Open Finance & Compliance, Digital Channels, Experience Design, Quality Automation, Pix and Financial Integration Tools and much more. 

We have specialists in accelerating your company’s digital transformation, always aiming at the best digital experience for your customers. 

Learn about our services

• Open Finance & Compliance: gain competitive advantages in the market with Open Finance, ensure compliance with Bacen regulations and offer your users the best digital experience. 

• Bank as service: we are focused on helping you develop and strengthen digital maturity as well as improve functionalities that allow connection with other institutions.

• Digital Channels: we help financial institutions develop, optimize and integrate digital channels in order to boost customer relationships, making them faster and more effective. 

• Quality Automation: delivery in record time and with quality, all thanks to service automation. We evaluate the entire product validation cycle, including specification, development process, tools used and more. 

• Pix and Financial Integration Tools: we help you design and apply API & Middleware strategies with security and optimized governance. Thus, we guarantee integration with fintechs and partner ecosystems, B2B customers and more. 

• Experience Design: user experience starts in design. Through our structured processes, we help in the creation, design and development of prototypes in order to accelerate the process of new digital solutions. 

• Product & Solution Design: through our Solution Design Process, we design, implement and test quality prototypes together with the user for the creation of digital products.

• Design Sprint Facilitation: we facilitate Design Sprint sessions, an objective process to validate potential solutions and materialize ideas, through prototyping and tests, creating the best digital experiences.

• User Experience Analysis: we review your product’s UX and propose improvements to the user experience.

• Design System: we help your company to Develop, Implement and evolve the Design System of its digital products.

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How about getting to know the solutions that Zappts offers to the financial market? Click here and check it out. 

Conclusion

The financial market is a living organ in constant expansion, those who are not ready to follow the changes tend to fall behind and lose more and more opportunities to prospect new customers and partners. 

The year has started and with it a new world of possibilities. How about starting today to pay more attention to your consumer’s behavior? It is from there that you will find the right path to develop services and products increasingly connected to their needs and objectives. 

Learning to dialogue with our users is a challenge that goes through constant maintenance, but it is also the basis for achieving goals and results. Get to know Zappts and see everything we can do to help you!

Since 2014, Zappts has been delivering business results through technology. Always delivering high-relevance cases using agile processes, best practices in software development and quality, and a unique ability to understand and solve the day-to-day pains of technology development projects. Companies like Porto, BTG, Santander, Getnet, PagoNxt and Auttar trust their consulting and technology development processes with Zappts.

We provide solutions for all phases of digital solution development, from discovery processes to solution sustainment. With defined processes and agile management, our deliveries are always based on expectation alignment, quality and technical robustness.

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