Historically, when we think of account origination, we often think of hefty applications with lots of data entry, repetitive fields, and manual work for the prospective account holder. If that’s their first impression of your financial institution (FI), they may quickly look for an alternative who offers a more seamless account opening experience. Those first 30 seconds are crucial to capturing their interest and building a banking relationship that could last a lifetime. Legacy account origination systems were created by providers who took in-branch processes and digitized them. For consumers and businesses alike, this is simply not going to fly in a digital-first era. In our everyday lives, we expect simple, seamless experiences. Why not cater to these preferences while addressing users’ online banking needs?
Neobanks and megabanks have heard the consumer demand and have responded with their version of the best user experience (UX) for account origination. This looming fintech threat presents a major problem for traditional FIs. If consumers and businesses begin using alternative neobank providers, the primary financial institution (PFI) relationship is now on the line – opening the door wider for account holder attrition.
According to The Financial Brand, over 50% of new deposit account applications are abandoned. If FIs only offer an account origination solution that is riddled with in-branch barriers and complex requirements, it’s no wonder there’s such a high drop-off rate. Applicants expect transparency, ease, and convenience. To compete, banks and credit unions should take a hard look at their current digital onboarding process and identify where innovative improvements can be made.
Account origination is so much more than a mobile-first application. It’s about every aspect of the digital account opening process being digital-first, from an online shopping experience for financial products to seamless digital banking user registration, and push provisioning cards to digital wallets from within the retail banking solution.
Committed to accelerating user acquisition, Alkami has introduced a comprehensive account origination solution designed to:
Only 50% of newly opened accounts survive more than the first three months (The Financial Brand, 2022). Why? For a myriad of reasons – the user opened the account but did not fund it, direct deposit was not established, they were not targeted with personalized offers in the digital banking platform – the list goes on and on.
With a little less than half of FIs having a solid onboarding experience in place, it’s understandable why so many new account holders end up abandoning their accounts. Working with a regional and community FI has many perks, one of which is being able to rely on them as a trusted financial partner. While account holders have gone increasingly digital, FIs have to find a way to provide that personalized, well-attended relationship online.
At Alkami, we’ve designed a digital account opening solution that seamlessly integrates with an FI’s digital banking solution – enabling you to develop the PFI relationship from the website layer and into the online banking platform.
Within digital banking, FIs can foster the banking relationship, provide an excellent user experience, and achieve PFI status. To accomplish this, FIs need to develop a successful onboarding strategy focused on delivering personalized engagements through targeted marketing offers predictive of the users’ needs, 24/7 customer service, financial wellness, and money movement tools. By tying all of these invaluable elements together, FIs can elevate their digital presence and grow relationships with users to last a lifetime.