Many business outfits pay lip service to the refrain: ‘The customer is king’. But the way they treat their customers shows that they are only interested in what they get from them. For the banking industry, this is more pronounced as the lenders are interested in the customers’ deposits and interest on loans, among others. But when the customers need the banks, they are hardly there. A new marketing campaign by FirstBank of Nigeria, You First, is determined to change this trend, ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI writes.
TREATING customers as king is a new marketing concept. It is a management orientation which maintains that firms establish relationships with selected target customers for whom superior values are designed, offered, redefined and realised in close cooperation with other partners in the marketing system to realise long-term profits through customer satisfaction.
According to experts, the new thinking in marketing is making firms to embark on broader reinterpretation of their marketing approach, hence, placing the customer in a pivotal role.
In the Nigerian banking sector, customers hardly enjoy any good service or benefit and they have continued to suffer great abuse.
Some years ago, reports indicated that customer confidence in Nigerian banks was low as most of them reportedly lacked respect for their customers. However, considering the harsh environment under which the banks operate, experts believe the path to achieving customer centricity can be long and difficult, especially for well-established companies.
“The challenge is creating business models that deliver what customers want, and developing the critical new capabilities to enable transformation,” Forbes magazine stated.
But in a new campaign, You First, unveiled by FirstBank of Nigeria, the oldest bank is raising a hope for customers. The 120-year-old bank has signaled its new marketing concept when it rebranded its logo and redesigned its brand story early in the year.
With the slogan, You First, campaign critics have argued that FirstBank has seen that today’s customers are more discerning and they don’t want to be caught in the web of their fury.
While some old banks are failing because they could not connect with the new upwardly mobile customers, FirstBank’s You First, it’s believed, would change customers’ psyche through new brand architecture, such as new logo, colour, redesigned elephants, coupled with improved services which are enhanced by technology.
The GMD/CEO of FirstBank, Bisi Onasanya, said the lender was committed to putting the customer first and would continuously generate initiatives that resonate with customer needs and aspirations while delivering the ultimate gold standard of service always.
He said: “At FirstBank, we recognise the immutable merits of maintaining a You first mindset and culture, as a critical component of our business strategy. Our brand has evolved over the years, with strengthened brand muscles to match the constantly evolving expectations of today’s increasingly discerning stakeholders.”
Its Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications, Folake Ani-Mumuney, said the bank would continue to deliver memorable customer experience that is consistent, deliberate and differentiated; one that delights and surprises to fulfill the campaign promise, You First.
She said: “We must remain dynamic by continuously innovating in line with the consumers’ changing preferences while re-aligning our operations in response to market trends. As a major player in the Nigerian economy, it is only logical that we must be the change leader and adapt to meet the needs of our consumers.
“For those desirous of taking advantage of the growth opportunities in Nigeria, there can be no substitute for our on-the-ground presence in Africa’s biggest economy. “FirstBank has been investing continuously in Nigerian for the better part of 120 years. This experience has yielded many lessons that have continued to help us in developing and implementing strategies and initiatives for sustainable growth.”
Ani-Mumuney, who gave an insight into the logo, said the body of the elephant has evolved as the bank’s name signifing that customers of the bank drive the brand. The new trend has positioned the bank as a consumer-centric bank with service excellence built on a new direction.
Analysing the new brand icon of the bank, Ani-Mumuney said, the elephant’s raised head, forward raised-leg and eyes raised signify a focused and forward-looking bank. She, however, said the refreshed identity reiterates the bank’s new commitment to serving customers better, and also to expanding its service to other countries as a global brand that has operated in the sector for 120 years.
She said: “We have re-ignited this iconic symbol with a number of enhancements that communicates a robust evolution relevant to today’s banking business. The raised head of the elephant in our refreshed identity is our promise to all customers that with the bank by them every financial challenge they face, they can face with their head held high. The deep blue colour according her represents momentum, innovation and evolution. The raised foot of the elephant according to her is a promise that the bank will always put its foot forward for each and every one of its customers.”
Meanwhile, analyst at Forbes Magazine listed three essential steps to customer centricity. The global business magazine urged firms to create customer-centric operating models. “An organisation focused on the consumer builds an operating model around a deep understanding of what they value and the contribution each makes to the profitability of the company,” the magazine stated.
It also urged firms to use data analytics as a tool for designing effective customer experience. “Data analytics has become critical to designing an effective customer experience. Companies need to understand the true drivers of customer satisfaction — for every segment. What aspects of their experience (price, personal attention, response time, service, etc.) will have the most positive impact?
“Equally, companies must identify what is not driving value, as this presents an opportunity to reduce costs,” analyst said.
Companies are also urged to get social through effective integration of digital channels across sales and service activities in order to deliver a positive, brand-reinforcing customer experience at every touch-point in the customer relationship life cycle. “It enables you to harness real-time feedback at a lower cost than traditional customer service channels,” said analyst.
However, a recent survey showed that Nigerian bank customers have the highest level of trust for their preferred financial services providers (PFSP).
The Ernst & Young (EY) 2014 global consumer banking survey released April 28th in Lagos, showed that 69 per cent of Nigerian banking customers had confidence in their banks, the highest in Africa and second highest globally, behind India.
The You First campaign it’s believed must have reckoned with this trend to communicate clearly to the customers that, despite that the bank is the oldest, it is still in touch with the desires of the new generation of bank customers.
