Recently, after a long hiatus, I decided that the time had come to once again visit one of the exquisite exhibitions of modern art at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, Germany. It was a sunny Saturday afternoon, and the foyer was full of visitors. Tourists from all around the world seemed to be back in town and enjoying the city’s attractions.
“Sorry, that didn’t go through. Could you please try again?” the lady behind the ticket counter asked. I had mistakenly entered the wrong PIN for my credit card into the card reader. Just seconds later an SMS from my credit card provider arrived on my smart watch:
“Have you forgotten your PIN for 36002? Please use your app or online account to check or change your PIN. You may continue to use your card.”
The message took me by surprise. Luckily, I did have the right PIN at hand. Otherwise, it would have been very easy indeed to assign a new code by way of the credit card app on my smartphone. However, I’m sure that I wouldn’t have thought of that option myself in the heat of the moment.
Transactional SMS & emails facilitate digital process innovation
This is just one of my own personal examples of how companies in the financial sector have been successfully evolving their customer service, using digital channels to provide their end customers with the information they need – at the right place and time. Digital products for the financial and insurance industries represent a new array of challenges for providers. At the same time, a perfect customer experience throughout the whole digital customer journey is crucial. Banks, insurance companies, and other financial services providers have truly reconceived and redefined their digital customer service processes during the pandemic. Wide-ranging optimization has been carried out, improving both their commercial and sales procedures, as well as their digital customer service processes. In this regard, transactional SMS and email play a particularly critical role in designing innovative digital customer processes. Transactional messages, where transmission is often automated and system-based, attract the attention of their recipients – the end customers – immediately. They not only convey essential information, but also trigger customer interaction along the entire process chain.
Banks provide their customers with best-in-class service by using personalized, automated SMS notifications to keep their customers updated about their bank balances, incoming transfers, transactions, upcoming payments, security alerts, etc. Especially for conducting identity checks and verification, transactional SMS has long been an established part of the process, for instance in 2FA procedures (Two-Factor Authentication).
Many insurers too, have also opted to send a transactional email to customers when concluding a contract. This email contains the detailed offer as well as a link pointing to a web-based module, where the customer can digitally sign the contract (electronic signature). Depending on the device, this can be done using a mouse or even a finger. Following approval in the back-office system, another email is sent to the customer, including a welcome message for the customer and the insurance policy as an attachment.
Optimum customer relations with Retarus’ APIs for email and SMS
There are numerous use cases for leveraging transactional SMS and email, with the opportunities it provides being virtually limitless. With the backdrop of companies in the financial sector increasingly looking to expand and enhance their digital market approach and online sales channels, the use of transactional messages can be expected to increase at the same pace. Especially when addressing younger target groups and digital natives, it is essential that companies can communicate reliably via digital channels.
As experts in the field of business messaging, Retarus has already been facilitating digital transformation in the financial sector for many years. Whether through our Transactional Email or Enterprise SMS services, the cloud-based Retarus Messaging Platform ensures the very best connections in B2C communication thanks to our powerful email and SMS API.
Our messaging solutions are optimized from the outset to ensure that even when huge volumes of messages are transmitted, a company’s end customers receive and read them at lightning speed. Transactional emails sent via Retarus don’t end up in spam folders but are reliably placed in the customers’ inboxes within seconds. What’s more, with the global coverage offered by Retarus Enterprise SMS, companies reach their customers directly and instantly – no matter where they happen to be.
And all of this while maintaining the high levels of security and compliance a financial services provider expects from an enterprise-level business messaging platform.
Learn more about Transactional Email in tech-related industries by reading our customer story on Starmind AG.
