When I was researching the mobile and social media presence of banks in the UK I was especially impressed by the way Barclays had adapted to the new digital platform.
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Why I believe Barclays has done so well is because they have clearly set out their digital channel strategy by successfully paying attention to these six points highlighted by (Econsultancy 2008)
(Econsultancy 2008) Managing digital channels
- Digital channel strategy;
.2. Online customer acquisition;
- Online customer conversion and customer experience;
- Customer development and growth;
- Cross-channel Integration and brand development;
- Digital channel governance, including change management
In 2015, Mobile banking has seen a surge in customers and Barclays who decided to scale down its operations in investment banking changed its focus to high street banking. However, Barclays are not following the traditional ways of interacting with their customers they are instead using the innovations of technology to interact with customers (Information Age 2014).
Evidence shows that Barclays are also reaping the rewards because the bank has seen an increase of 80% in volume and value of unsecured loans through the mobile app last year, furthermore a third of the unsecured personal loans were processed through Barclays digital channels and amounted to £1bn (Financial Times 2015).
Another aspect of managing digital channels that Barclays have excelled at is their online customer conversation and experience. The reviews on the IOS and Android marketplace both have a 4-star ranking which shows to potential customers their app and services are more than satisfactory to their customers. Importantly, (Chaffey 2010) stated that less mature organisations tended to channel their focus onto online customer acquisition and conversion activities, rather than the more profitable initiatives such as drive retention and growth.
After reviewing Barclays cross channel Integration and Brand Development they have managed to also acknowledge that retail banking is changing into the Omnichannel age of banking where there is a seamless transition between platforms and a more integrated experience for their customer (TransformUK 2015). Additionally, this could aid banks in terms of cutting costs by shifting sales away from branches and onto different digital platforms.
When critiquing Barclays on their digital governance and change management they are managing to adapt to the change in technology better than their competitors (TransformUK 2015). This could give them an advantage over there rivals in terms of attracting new customers and younger customers because ideally in the future mobile banking will become the norm with different demographics.
So what can rivals learn from managing digital channels effectively that across all of these activities, it is very important to allocate sufficient resources for managing customer and changes in the market. (Chaffey 2010)
Barclays Bank (2010) Costs and Customers [online] Available at http://www.demographicsusergroup.co.uk/resources/2010conf-Rob_Harris.pdf [Accessed 1st Feb 2016]
Chaffey, D. (2010) Applying organisational capability models to assess the maturity of digital-marketing governance [online] Available at http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.brighton.ac.uk/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=0b42d699-1fe4-4f80-9b63-68f4a63e140e%40sessionmgr120&vid=1&hid=101 [Accessed 25 Jan 2016]
Econsultancy (2008) SAMPLE: Managing Digital Channels [online] available at https://econsultancy.com/…/managing–digital–channels…/1101-econsulta… [Accessed 25 Jan 2016]
Financial Times, (2016) Digital surge at Barclays points to the future of banking – FT.com. [online] Available at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/110733e4-c1b9-11e48b7400144feab7de.html#axzz3ywKxwUkV [Accessed 29 Jan 2016].
Information-age.com, (2016) How Barclays is restoring banking trust with innovation | Information Age. [online] Available at: http://www.information-age.com/it-management/strategy-and-innovation/123458397/how-barclays-restoring-banking-trust-innovation [Accessed 26 Jan 2016].
TransformUK.com, (2016) [online] Available at:http://www.transformuk.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Transform-UK-The-Age-of-Omnichannel-Banking-Report.pdf [Accessed 23 Jan. 2016].
YouTube, (2016) Enabling Omnichannel Interaction. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6S_WH1WnKs [Accessed 28 Feb. 2016].