There is a well known model in the financial industry for customer evolution based on lifetime customer value. If a organization (especially service company) deliver a great service and experience for lower end customers, once they become more “desirable” and higher paying customers. Almost every financial institution operates with this same basic assumption – and in most cases there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. After the right financial organization earns your trust through great service, why shouldn’t they grow with you?
Here’s the story of how HSBC lost a customer for life though he was most loyal.
For years Mr. Rohit has been a HSBC customer for his personal banking and it was indeed a good experience. Their advertising about being a global citizen and optimistic about the future was attention-grabbing. He was in their “HSBC Premier” tier of personal service, which made him feel like a globetrotting super star. The services on his personal account were top-notch and he was too happy. Thinks were going fine but he got surprised when he tried to open his business account with HSBC. He started his own business one year ago and need to open a business banking account. Of course, HSBC was the top because of his great personal experience then he filled out an application online on November 30, 2012 and all seemed in right way.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t. Over the next 8 weeks, he went into the local branch six times to sign papers or get materials verified. Apparently they were “changing processes” so his old paperwork wasn’t usable anymore, or they lost his few papers, or there was “just one more form.” So here’s what an average week looked like: he called their office four times to leave messages asking about the status of his application. In the meantime, he had already incorporated his business in his home state, filed his corporate paperwork, and was ready to start business with no bank account. After another two weeks of hearing nothing, he finally worked through their system to have the application expedited to a regional manager. That was January 30, 2013 – almost exactly ten weeks after starting the process to open a business account. Finally, the account was opened that day and his first deposit check was posted. Unfortunately, they couldn’t share his account number with him for this new account unless he came into the branch (again) to get it in person.
So after 10 weeks of first applying for an account, more than a dozen calls, and about 7 visits to the local branch things were seem to be settled. But the fun doesn’t end there. In order to reach his account online, he needed to have a special device sent to him that has a 6 digit code which changes every 30 seconds and apply for an entirely new account for online access. What’s the wait time for this device to arrive and set up this new account? Another 3-4 weeks. Finally, after placing another 3 irate calls to supervisors – he get this email from the bank manager he was dealing with to open the account, sent on March 11, 2013: “I’ve been told that your online banking access code will be set out tomorrow. You will receive it within 3 to 5 business days from tomorrow. Sorry for the delay.”
It took longer than that … but finally on March 23rd, 2013 – he first gained full online access to his business banking account with HSBC that he had first tried to open on November 30th, 2013. That’s exactly 144 days from application to access.
In the marketing world, their advertising converted exactly how it was supposed to. But perfect advertising is not enough if the experience fails and for HSBC, the experience failed so badly. Though it’s isolated incidence but it may hampered the brand image of such BIG BRAND.
http://www.rohitbhargava.com/blog