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TimeTrade Introduces 'Banking by Appointment'Oct 12, 2012 (Close-Up Media via COMTEX) -- TimeTrade, a company focusing on online appointment scheduling for business, announced TimeTrade Banking by Appointment, a new solution which revolutionizes the way in which banks interact and favorably engage with their customers. According to a release, "Banking by Appointment" helps retail banks enhance customer experiences and revenue opportunities by enabling customers to instantly book in-branch or phone appointments through bank websites, email loyalty campaigns, and via social media interactions. Through its solutions, the Company said it enables banks to create higher customer satisfaction and loyalty, while simultaneously driving customer worth, reducing attrition and streamlining multi-channel delivery. While they like the convenience of ATMs and online banking, customers consistently demand better 'personal' service from their banks. One-to-one appointments with customers (by phone or in-person) continue to give banks the greatest means to deliver personal service, build trust, and retain clients. TimeTrade Banking by Appointment ensures a favorable customer experience by eliminating the long-wait times that often endure when they try to connect through a phone call center or a drop-in visit to their bank branch. TimeTrade "Banking by Appointment" lets customers interact and schedule in-branch or phone appointments for a meeting day and time that is convenient for them. When customers "click to schedule" via the bank's website, through social media (e.g. Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook), or in response to email loyalty campaigns, they are instantly matched and booked to meet with a banking professional best suited to meet their individual needs at the nearest branch or call center. "Banks, credit unions and other retail financial services providers increasingly value the connection between strong customer experience and their bottom line," said Gary Ambrosino, President of TimeTrade. "In meetings we've had with national, regional and community banks nationwide - bank executives tell us that banking by appointment has become an important enhancement requirement to building and retaining brand trust. We think that within a year, virtually all of the leading U.S. banks will have embraced and deployed online appointment scheduling." Ernst & Young's recent Global Consumer Banking Survey 2011 describes a "new era of customer expectation" in which technology to "deliver a more seamless and personalized experience will be a major competitive battleground in all retail banking markets." Writing it is "more critical than ever that institutions maintain strong relationships with their customers," the Survey describes an imperative for banks to "enhance the customer experience - by investing in branches, delivering personal attention across channels." In order for them to prosper, Ernst & Young advises banks to deploy "new customer treatment strategies - using mobile, email and social media.... to drive appropriate cross sales and retention outcomes." Addressing the imperatives identified in the Survey, TimeTrade noted that "Banking by Appointment" gives depositors and other clients a range of scheduling options when it comes to setting a time to meet with a retail banking professional. Underpinning this solution is TimeTrade OneMobile - a technology particular to TimeTrade, which instantly sees which type of device a customer is using to interact with the bank and which renders a modern "touch" interface for self-service appointment scheduling. Through its true Web 3.0 capabilities, TimeTrade OneMobile provides a consistent, universal appointment scheduling experience that is personal and portable -- across all existing and future phone, tablet, PC and Mac devices, without requiring the user to install an app. TimeTrade OneMobile includes geolocation functionality using the latest Google Maps data, which is increasingly critical to the retail banking industry. TimeTrade OneMobile automatically detects the user's location and displays a list of the bank branches nearest to them through a familiar Google Maps display using the latest web technologies, while alleviating the need for apps to be installed on the user's device. The recent announcement of the Capgemini World Retail Banking Report 2012 also provides validation for both TimeTrade Banking by Appointment and TimeTrade OneMobile predicting "By 2015, more than 60 percent of customers worldwide will likely use mobile banking," and stating "banks must differentiate by building innovative products, improving channel management and service, and enhancing their mobile offerings." TimeTrade is an online appointment scheduling solution for business More information: www.timetrade.com ((Comments on this story may be sent to [email protected])) |