2023 Consumer Lending Industry will Focus on Customer Needs

Senior executives from the country’s leading credit and consumer lending institutions shared their top three 2023 focus areas and growth plans with us. According to Forbes, “a robust customer experience” is the lynchpin for success or failure. Our respondents agreed—the top drivers for the consumer lending industry all point to serving the customer.

When we asked respondents how they planned to grow business, the top response was “enhancing tech for an improved experience.”  Following that theme, the “ability to improve customer experience and trust” was the most common response when we asked about each company’s top business priorities for 2023.

Here’s a deep dive into all the insights.

2023 Business Growth to Come from Technology for Better Customer Experience, Developing Partnerships and Cross-selling/upselling

As you see from the graphic above, the top three responses for business growth cut across improving overall customer service/experience. That makes sense given that the digital customer has become the norm in banking. In fact, according to bankrate.com, an estimated 203 million people use digital banking services in 2022, and that number is projected to reach 216.8 million by 2025. Because today’s customers have such high expectations, we’re seeing clients increase technology offerings and assess customer journeys. These actions help to meet the evolving needs at a faster pace than ever before.

The logical next step is to seek out partnerships. Partnerships designed around bringing in digital opportunities and new products will keep customers satisfied. Accordingly, there’s been an influx of lending products offering convenience, such as BNPL offerings. According to Forbes, offering value-added products with efficiency in turnaround time and taking services to the customer is the key to customer delight.

In 2023, Consumer Lending Industry Leaders Will Focus on CX & Trust, Regulatory Compliance and Managing Lower “Cost to Serve” Needs and Higher Digital Volumes

We know from the answers to our business growth question that customer experience and trust are critical to growth. So, it’s natural that this area receives a higher degree of focus across the industry, as our top response shows.

The second most selected response (“Meeting needs for lower ‘cost to serve’ and higher volume demand for digital”) is about the ongoing need to keep costs down. Financial institutions are all looking to increase service but reduce cost. The most effective way to do that is through digital advancements similar to those in other industries (e.g., Amazon, Carvana).

We weren’t surprised by the popularity of needing to manage the increased scrutiny from regulators. In fact, several clients have reached out to us. They’ve requested help to shore up compliance management in order to protect customers from harm and reduce regulatory risk.

Although consumer lending industry leaders have always been concerned about improving customer experience and trust —2023’s expected rise in consumer debt and delinquencies will prove to be challenging for lenders who are not prepared to tackle both the increasing volume of customer interactions on digital and the compliance challenges those interactions present.