Technological sophistication is all pointing towards one thing: reducing the requirement for human labour, and input.
But in the fintech industry, humans aren’t simply a necessity – they’re irreplaceable.
Human developers are obviously needed to write, and maintain code, as well as learning and understanding the products that make the code necessary. Say these processes eventually become automated, the need for humans would remain.
That’s partially due to the fact ‘build it and they will come’ isn’t applicable to the disruptive world of fintech. Even the most boisterous, compelling and revolutionary products need effective branding, marketing and PR teams that will help the product succeed. Particularly as we see the rise in the importance of search ranking, SEO professionals will also have an integral part to play in making their fintech visible in an increasingly competitive space.
Moreover, while technology drives many fintechs services, certain businesses need real-time human emotion to overcome unique challenges. For some enterprises, such as online mortgage brokers, they’re task is to convince consumers to change from traditional brokers to their banks or existing lenders. This is just one case in which human empathy can’t be replaced or simulated by technology.
Consumer attitudes
Understandably, customers can be hesitant to trust small, relatively unknown startups with their personal and financial data, especially if it involves one of the biggest financial decisions you can make.
Recent research conducted by TopLine Comms found a whopping 83 percent of respondents were ‘unsure’ of fintech companies and how they work. Insightfully, 27 percent ascribed a lack of understanding as the reason why they were unsure.
Consumers will only trust Fintech firms once they understand and address customers’ concerns, one pertinent method to educate and earn potential consumers trust is through marketing, communication and branding.
But that’s solely acquiring customers. Consumer experience is what turns a cynical user into a fully-fledged customer, and a hybrid approach that encumbers an equilibrium of tech and human interaction is likely to be the key to the best customers experiences in fintech.
For example, fintechs in the banking industry can use technological innovation to alleviate their human advisers from the arduous and time-consuming parts of the job. Now finance experts can spend more time sourcing the best advice for their customers and building a relationship that raises trust between both parties.
These relationships build advocacy, which can in turn convert others – offline and online word of mouth is undoubtedly one of the best methods of attracting new customers. Ninety-three percent of respondents in a recent survey by Podium said online reviews affected their decision to make a purchase or not.
Many people intend to use an online fintech, as opposed to a traditional service because they won’t have to deal with a human when liaising with the former. Often, customers aren’t too keen to talk about their own sensitive financial situations issues and said customers in these circumstances may prefer to not speak to an actual human. Entirely digital experiences, that use complex technological features such as Artificial intelligence in the form of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning, could be the best solution for them.
The truth is that both kinds of consumers exist – and so a hybrid model that uses tech and human interaction flexibly, to improve the Customer Experience may be the most pragmatic approach.
The future
As fintech moves into the mainstream, consumer attitudes may also move in a certain direction. The more sophisticated and accessible technology becomes, the more likely it is that people may start to feel less anxious about trusting new businesses with their data. The arrival and widespread adoption of Open Banking could be the catalyst to start this paradigm shift.
But in the meantime, fintechs must combat the dichotomous challenges of converting sceptical customers and making themselves stand out in a crowded marketplace. In both cases, humans will remain an integral and irreplaceable element to any fruitful fintech.