Ideas For Communicating With Clients During COVID-19

Keep your clients up-to-date on everything your financial institution is doing to support them, the community, and your staff during these chaotic times. Open and regular communication with your clients is key right now, but there are a lot of different things to communicate and it can be hard to prioritize and plan for every single one of them. That’s why we’ve created this list of the top types of communication you should be focused on.

Pay attention to these categories of communication:

Regular Business Updates

When something changes in your business you should update your clients. Whether it be a message from the CEO, the roll-out of a new product, service or procedure, or just a positive customer story. Regular, business-wide communication is key to keeping clients engaged.

Banking Hours, Branch Standards, and Operational Changes

Along the same lines as business updates, you also need to be providing regular updates on a branch level too. As your hours of operation, standards of operation, etc. change, your clients need to be the first to know. For example, if you are now requiring that masks be worn or that people stay 6 feet apart from another, or if you are changing the way self-service machines are being used, you should let them know.

New Cleaning Procedures

These updates also need to include your cleaning procedures. People are thinking more about germs than ever before, which means you need to be also. Clearly communicating how you are cleaning and sanitizing your branches and drive-thrus is crucial for keeping your clients comfortable. 

Pro tip: Check online regularly for new, recommended cleaning standards and let your customers know about any adjusted cleaning procedures immediately.

Mobile & Online Banking Education

It’s no surprise that less people are coming into branches, but that doesn’t mean their banking needs have stopped. More and more people are being forced to adopt mobile banking methods to complete these needs. Provide them with resources and educational content for both getting on-boarded and how to get the most out of this new way of banking. 

Financial Journey Support & Resources

It’s no surprise that people all over the world are being financially affected by this pandemic. No financial class is exempt. So as everybody starts to seek resources to help them along their financial journey, you’ll want to be the first to provide them with the answers they’re looking for. 

This is the sixth blog in an 8-part series. 

• Read part 1 here:  "How Financial Institutions Can Survive (& Thrive) During COVID-19"
  
• Read part 2 here:  "When Social-Distancing Becomes Distance Banking."
  
• Read part 3 here:"A New Standard for Community Involvement."
• Read part 4 here: "How To Take Maximum Advantage of Empty Branches."
• Read part 5 here: "A Quick and Easy Way Banks and Credit Unions Can Cut Costs."
• Read Part 7 here: "3 COVID-19 Trends That Are Here to Stay"