Case Studies

Improving The Customer Experience

Harris Bank is the third largest bank in Chicagoland area with $50+ billion in assets and 280 branches serving over 1 million customers. Operates in retail, business banking and private banking sectors. Owned by BMO Financial, a $370 billion global banking organization

Challenges

Intense competition in the Chicago retail market resulting in challenges in acquiring and expanding customer relationships

Higher cost deliver model made it difficult to compete to price

Lack of insight into customer needs and preferences – generally treated all customers as single homogenous group

Goal of differentiating retail bank and competing on the basis of superior customer experience

Approach

Leveraged internal and external data to develop attitudinal-based customer segmentation model which defined four discrete segments

Identified single segment – “Builder” segment – as target based on alignment with bank’s core value proposition and solution offerings

Conducted in-depth primary research into Builder segment to define needs, behaviors, preferences, and brand perceptions

Created customer experience that best matched the needs and expectations of the Builder segment and which would deliver a differentiated banking experience to the target customer group

Results

Deep insights into the needs, behaviors and preferences of target segment

Targeted, differentiated customer experience designed around target segment

Customer satisfaction scores improved to highest ranking of Midwest banks (JD Power) and highest Net Promoter Score of large Chicago banks

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