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Scheduling Software for Banks: How can it Help Boost Customer Relationships and Simplify Daily Operations

Banks in a city

Banks today have evolved from being just places where you lock your savings to dynamic institutions that provide various solutions to their customers.

Be it giving customers the right advice regarding their investments or helping them choose the appropriate loan option, they devote themselves to providing the best of services to their clients. 

While banks continue to develop resource management solutions to optimize their workforce and improve customer satisfaction, they undeniably have to work harder to serve their constantly increasing customer base. 

Basically – simple and good service equals more customers

Scheduling tools offer a great solution to this problem. Scheduling software have been widely accepted in various industries – primarily to simplify business operations, streamline meetings, and optimize time. 

Needless to say, an ultimate solution to improve operations, as provided by a bank appointment scheduling software, will definitely be a huge advantage to the banking industry today

This blog shall outline the key areas where a scheduling system can create a difference for banks and hence help them deliver better results. 

The two key solutions that are offered by a scheduling tool are as follows:

  1. Helps in elevating and managing customer relationships 
  2. Assists in streamlining bank operations 

Let us see some specific examples of how these advantages are put into action! 


1. Elevating and managing customer relationships  

Banks deal with a lot of customers. These customers could be existing account holders or prospective clients. Either way, it is important for the bank to foster these ties and make sure that they have a long-term relationship. And, a scheduling tool can help them achieve this!

A few advantages of using an online bank scheduling system for improved customer relationships are as follows:


A. Provides a relationship-centric bank experience

A bank official having a face-to-face interaction with a customer

Customers would prefer face-to-face interaction with the bank to clarify all possible queries regarding the banking services offered. Recovering from the pandemic has imposed restrictions on the frequency of ‘in-person’ meetings.

Therefore, enabling a scheduling option on the bank’s website or on the bank’s listing on Google through which customers can fix up an appointment with the bank creates a one-to-one connection between the customer and the bank’s interface.

This helps the bank deal with their clients on a priority basis and also adhere to safety norms as a consequence of the pandemic. 

Offering customers the choice to schedule an appointment based on their preferences creates a positive effect on the psychology of the person and ensures credibility on the side of the bank

When the customer enters the bank with an appointment, there is absolutely no waiting time involved and the corresponding bank representative is already prepared for them. 


Using data from the appointment scheduling system, banks can identify whether the customer is an existing client or a prospect. This helps the banks in two ways:

i) Existing client retention:

If they are an existing customer, the bank can tailor the meeting to suit the requirements of this client based on their history with the bank. This way the bank can maintain a positive retention rate.

ii) New customer acquisition:

If the customer is new, then the bank can adequately prepare themselves to give the best experience to the individual. This way, the bank is able to seamlessly convert its prospects to long-term clients. 

Customers always prefer personalized treatment and a good online scheduling software enables the bank to make their services unique to each customer and solve specific pain points that they face


B. Aids in making the best first impression 

One of the most common requirements of a customer is opening a bank account. This is ideally the stage where the bank can make a great first impression, and an efficient scheduling solution can make the process ultimately smoother.

Showing the customer that the bank is ready to be flexible with their working hours to accommodate them and deliver the best possible service, reflects great customer ethics. This naturally gets the customer attracted to the bank. 


C. Increases customer trust

The “mere exposure effect” is a theory that states, 

An individual that is repeatedly exposed to a particular stimulus object, shows an emerging preference for that object

Repeated exposure creates a sense of familiarity in the customer. Companies can track customer interactions to offer solutions. This immediately increases the sense of familiarity the bank shares with the customer, thereby creating trust.

Giving customers the ability to schedule multiple appointments with a trusted financial advisor from the bank increases their trust in the services offered.

An appointment booking system, thus makes sure that the bank is able to give the customer the exact type of treatment that they prefer without any compromise.


D. Easily integrates with other tools

Buying a home is a particularly time-consuming process that might mandate multiple visits to the bank or several meetings with financial advisors. An appointment booking software can expedite the process and ease the burden on the customer. 

Some sophisticated online scheduling apps can be integrated with video conferencing tools that can help customers connect with bank representatives online and get their queries answered immediately.

This makes sure that the bank is ready to solve customer issues immediately, thus increasing customer satisfaction. 


E. Helps in efficiently managing time

Much like home loan advice, customers often look out for personalized treatment with retail insurance.

Using a bank scheduling software can help prevent long queues and can avoid the customer from being shuttled from counter to counter.


F. Adds the personalization factor

A system that harnesses customer data and creates a pattern can efficiently predict the needs of a customer before they face an issue. 

Studies show that an increasing number of customers associate positive feelings with companies that are aware of their user history or recommend services based on their past experiences. Systems and technologies such as open banking have made customers expect a completely seamless, hassle-free experience.

This technique of mapping the customer’s journey with the operations of the organization results in longevity and retention

A personalized system creates: 

  1. Perceived Control 
  2. A manageable framework
  3. Relevance 

Using an online booking software to complement a banking system involves features such as tailored emails, interactive chatbots that understand customer needs, and most importantly, the flexibility of letting the customers choose. This creates a strong sense of personalization that results in both acquisition and retention. 

Now that we are aware of how a scheduling system can boost customer relationships, let’s take a look at the second major advantage!


2. Streamlining bank operations 

Scheduling tools offer a strategic advantage to banks in terms of helping them improve their daily operations. Besides offering their customers the advantage of personalized treatment, they also let banks streamline workflow to reach maximum efficiency. 

Some key areas where a scheduling solution comes in handy are:


A. Helps the bank take an omnichannel approach

A person scheduling an appointment using a phone

Due to their appeal, customers don’t hesitate to accept new systems, like mobile applications or other digital channels. However, they are reluctant to let go of the ones that they use currently, such as physical meetings or phone calls with their financial advisor. 

Basically, they want new features to augment their experience while retaining existing channels. This poses a challenge for the bank – an operations-related problem in the longer run. 

An appointment scheduling app integrates these channels into one platform. Adopting an omnichannel approach creates a market advantage in terms of retaining the customer base, as well as, a means to ensure business sustainability. 

It presents the following benefits:

  • Reducing the risk of losing the customer during the customer journey by providing unified and integrated services, and an excellent experience.
  • Encouraging the customer to proceed with the company by providing seamless and intuitive transitions across channels that match their preferences and behavior. 

With a sophisticated scheduling solution, banks can integrate their app or digital service with the scheduling interface. This seamless integration creates the space for banks to offer omnichannel solutions to customers. 

This allows them to monitor the requirements of their clients closely, hence making their operations better. 


B. Optimizes available resources

An appointment scheduling solution avoids unnecessary phone calls or queueing at the bank, and saves a lot of time for the customers.

Time saved for the customer is simply time gained by the bank which gives the advantage of the essential operation.

This extra time gives managers the chance to gather data to evaluate and improve scheduling. Knowing the client they are about to meet ahead of time allows managers to organize their staff and resources better to serve the client for optimal performance.


C. Helps in making data-driven decisions

Data is a powerful tool in the industry today. Beyond just numbers and words, data from customers is the closest available representation of customer needs and their intent, to the company.

Efficient data analysis involves creating a story or a customer journey that lets the company understand pain points and provide specific solutions to remedy them. 

An online scheduling system is basically a data sink. Using cloud-based servers, it stores large chunks of customer data as they interact with it (think of it like cookies, which are the reason why Google and Amazon seem to know what exactly you’re thinking).

Sophisticated data management systems can help companies streamline their efforts in specific regions to satisfy demands. 

As customers constantly use the application to schedule appointments, banks are fed with customer data. Therefore, such a tool makes it simpler for the bank to understand what each client wants

Some of the details that are tracked include the time when customers make regular visits that result in sales. The arrival patterns followed by customers allow the bank to divide a working day into high-demand and low-demand time blocks. 

Data-driven decision-making using these scheduling patterns have the following key benefits:

  • Creates greater transparency and accountability 
  • Stimulates continuous improvement
  • Helps in backing up every business decision with customer-centric analytics 
  • Provides clear feedback for market research
  • Creates consistency 

Thus, decision-making becomes data-driven and lets the bank customize each decision to adhere to the demand. 


D. Boosts business growth

A line graph showing a bank's growth

The likelihood of a customer choosing a certain bank to avail services is certainly compounded by the inclusion of an appointment scheduling feature. Customers prefer ease and immediacy, and such a tool enables these attributes. 

Banks can use digital prompts on their website/app to lead customers to the appointment scheduling platform. This way, a large share of their client base is now getting integrated with their scheduling model which ultimately simplifies the process for both parties.

Depending upon the search intent of the customer, banks can modify the scheduling algorithm to show customers relevant prompts to schedule appointments with the concerned experts.

For example, if a customer is looking out for loan plans, banks can place a link on the loan page that directs the customer to make an appointment to speak with a loan officer.

It is, therefore, in the best interest of the bank to sell the right products to the right customers at the right time, and in a way that is most convenient to the customer. Having an online booking system increases the conversion rate from online searches to clients.


E. Improves efficiency

With smart scheduling solutions, banks can efficiently manage traffic spikes of customers through their branches. Long waiting times at the bank send a message to the customer that the bank is inefficient. 

Reducing peak traffic using scheduling results in an even flow of customers, which is vastly spread throughout the day. This not only keeps the bank busy at all times but also makes sure that no customer feels ignored or ‘lost in the crowd’. This in turn helps the bank generate more revenue. 

Even walk-in customers who may not have an appointment will find themselves having a smooth experience because of the streamlined nature of workflow at the bank.

Effective scheduling makes sure that there is some representative available at all points to treat customers who walk in


Parting thoughts

The future of scheduling services involves the integration of an online appointment booking system with powerful industry solutions such as cloud-based servers or artificial intelligence. 

This blog outlines the strategic advantages of using scheduling tools with banking systems. 

There are many scheduling system in the market that offer a wide range of services. It rests on the bank to choose the best scheduling solution that compliments their operations and provides the most fitting solution to the problem. 

Make the right choice for your bank and ensure a streamlined workflow along with an outstanding customer experience. All the best!


About Appointy

We at Appointy, help business owners grow and run their businesses with our online scheduling software. This blog was a part of our ‘Manage your Business’ category, where we provide expert tips, and resources, or simply talk about the challenges that small and medium businesses face every day. 

If you have any thoughts on this blog or would like to chat about your business struggles and achievements, let us know in the comments below. 

We love a good talk!