Strong Customer Focus Meets Mobile Banking

This is part of a series of posts, written with my Bain colleague Maureen Burns, exploring the pioneering firms that are implementing Net Promoter System principles to make “digital frontline” experiences more human and delightful.

Digital banks have been trying to chip away at the traditional model in the US for more than a decade, but smart technology has not always paired with great customer experience. So it’s interesting to see how a company called Chime has built a bank with no branches but almost as many primary checking customers as U.S. Bank and one of the highest Net Promoter Scores in the industry. 

Chime has a broad customer base—a mix of younger, low-balance customers and older, more affluent customers—but not a single ATM of its own. 

Instead, Chime’s sleek mobile app focuses on “Spending Accounts,” with features such as early direct deposit and easy cashless payments (as well as access to a vast network of free ATMs if customers need them). Opening an account at Chime takes an average of 15 minutes.

Across all customers, Chime’s Net Promoter Score—a measure of customers’ likelihood to recommend—is among the highest in the industry at 66. It rates even higher on certain customer episodes such as opening an account, as Maureen and our colleagues Joe Fielding and Jason Barro recently explained. (For more, check out “How Chime Is Leading the Way in Customer Loyalty.”) 

As Covid-19 risks subside, it will be interesting to see how customers behave. Will they return to traditional bank branches or stick with digital offerings?

What’s your plan? 

I hope you’re enjoying reading this newsletter as much as I am putting it together. As a big believer in the word-of-mouth recommendation, I hope you’ll consider spreading the word about Customer Obsession by sharing the newsletter’s link with your LinkedIn network.

Thank you,

Fred