What do you think of when you hear “financial services”? Chances are, warm and fuzzy isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. The industry has built a reputation on being transactional, you hire a firm for a specific service, they execute, and that’s the end of it. Little relationship-building. Few follow-ups. Not much empathy.
That reputation used to be tolerable. It isn’t anymore. (We’ve written before about why financial services firms struggle with marketing in the first place, this post picks up where that one leaves off.)
Every year, more of your customers’ financial lives move through channels shaped by companies that do treat experience as the product, not just banks and credit unions, but Amazon, Netflix, and every AI-powered app training people to expect service that’s fast, personal, and anticipates what they need next. Financial services companies aren’t just competing with each other anymore. They’re competing with every excellent experience their customers have had anywhere else. And here’s the harder truth: your customers are handing over some of the most sensitive information they have, their income, their debt, their financial fears, to your business. That’s not a transaction. That’s trust. Companies that treat it like the former are the ones losing customers to companies that treat it like the latter.
So what actually needs to change?
Show empathy
Your customers are trusting you with deeply personal information. That deserves more than efficient processing, it deserves genuinely understanding who your customer is, what they’re trying to accomplish, and what they’re afraid of. When you take the time to understand a customer’s expectations and exceed them, you don’t just close one transaction. You earn the kind of trust that turns into referrals, retention, and a reputation that outlasts any single interaction.
“Your customers aren’t handing you data. They’re handing you their financial anxiety and trusting you to handle it with care.”
Make connections. Be a friend and an advisor.
Yes, you can help a customer get a loan, open a savings account, or move their money more efficiently. But have you actually taken the time to understand how they think about money? Have you offered guidance beyond your core service, just because it helps them? That’s what today’s customers are looking for, someone who tells them it’s going to be okay, and means it. Financial services companies that lean into personalization aren’t being indulgent. They’re responding to a market where competitors have already redefined the game from service to experience.
Offer consistency
Consistency isn’t a one-time fix, it’s a habit that compounds. According to Salesforce’s State of the Connected Customer research, 85% of customers expect consistent interactions across every department they touch, and 83% say they’re more loyal to companies that deliver on that consistency. The inverse is just as telling: when customers have to repeat themselves to different people on your team, or get a different answer depending on who picks up the phone, that inconsistency quietly erodes the trust you worked to build. As more financial services companies enter the market, consistency isn’t a differentiator anymore, it’s table stakes.
“Consistency isn’t glamorous. It’s just the thing that decides whether a customer trusts you enough to come back.”
Use technology to be more human, not less
Financial services companies now have more powerful technology at their fingertips than ever, and the ones using it well aren’t hiding behind it. They’re using it to free up time for the human parts of the relationship. JPMorgan, for example, said at its 2025 Investor Day that personalizing content inside its mobile app helped increase customer engagement rates by 25%. Bank of America’s AI assistant for employees cut internal service desk calls by more than half, giving staff more room to focus on customers instead of admin work. Credit unions are moving in the same direction, a recent industry survey found that roughly two-thirds now plan to use AI specifically to speed up and improve credit decisions, turning what used to be a days-long wait into hours.
The lesson isn’t “adopt more technology.” It’s “use technology to ask better questions.” Most companies still don’t ask their clients and prospects what they actually want, more informational content, faster answers, proactive check-ins. You won’t know until you ask. And the institutions getting this right in 2026 are treating AI as a way to scale empathy and responsiveness, not replace it.
This same shift is changing how customers find you in the first place. We dug into this in The Answer Economy Is Here. What Was the Question?, the short version is that AI tools are now the first stop for buyers researching financial services providers, and the firms that show up are the ones already answering the hard questions honestly, in public.
Take advantage of a captive audience
Your customers already rely on you. That’s an advantage, but only if you use it well. Institutions that pair a genuinely empathetic approach with smart, well-used technology are the ones positioned to compete as new fintechs and AI-native challengers keep raising the bar on what “good service” even means. And often, the edge isn’t even about being better, it’s about being present. As we’ve written before, your competitors aren’t better, they’re just showing up more. The brands that win this decade won’t be the ones with the flashiest tools. They’ll be the ones who never let the tools get between them and the customer, and who keep showing up while everyone else waits for the “perfect” moment to start telling their story.
Ready to figure out what your story sounds like when it’s told this way? Let’s talk.
Common Questions About Financial Services Customer Experience
Why is the financial services industry seen as cold or impersonal? The industry has historically operated on a transactional model, service delivered, box checked, relationship over. That model worked when customers had few alternatives. It doesn’t hold up now that customers can compare every financial interaction to the best experience they’ve had anywhere, in any industry.
What does “consistency” actually mean for a financial services company? It means a customer gets the same quality of answer, tone, and follow-through no matter which department, channel, or person they interact with. Salesforce research shows 83% of customers say consistency directly drives their loyalty to a brand.
Does using AI make a financial services company feel less personal? Not when it’s used well. The institutions seeing the best results are using AI to remove friction and admin work so their people have more time for the human parts of the relationship, not to replace those interactions outright.
How can a financial services company start showing more empathy without a full rebrand? Start small: train frontline teams to ask about goals, not just transactions; follow up after major life or financial events; and actually act on the technology feedback customers give you. Empathy shows up in small, repeated moments more than in any single campaign.
