Why CEM matters as much as CRM, the best places to deploy in FinTech and selecting the right one – this is how customer experience management platforms can boost satisfaction and loyalty in FinTech
Need to accelerate customer satisfaction and promote loyalty?
Traditional CRM solutions help you capture data and manage customer relationships, while Customer Experience Management (CEM) platforms focus on optimising each user's interactions and engagement across your product and brand touchpoints.
We’ve illustrated in the past the value of boosting customer experience in finance, including segmenting high-value customers for better retention and optimising UX for customer satisfaction. Now, we explore using Customer Experience Management platforms to ensure customer satisfaction and increase loyalty.
CEM is the strategy FinTech companies use to understand, manage, and enhance how customers interact with their brands. By analysing customer behaviour and feedback across all touchpoints, CEM enables FinTech companies to optimise the user journey, address pain points, and foster stronger customer relationships.
Unlike traditional customer service, which is reactive, CEM adopts a proactive, data-driven approach to create experiences that meet customer expectations and exceed them whenever possible.
See our guide to customer feedback and experience tools.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) focuses on managing and storing customer data, such as contact information, purchase history, and sales interactions. It is primarily a tool for sales and marketing teams to track and nurture leads or manage customer accounts.
On the other hand, CEM centres on the customer’s experience at every touchpoint, from onboarding and app navigation to resolving a query with customer support.
For FinTech companies, the difference lies in intent and application. A CRM platform might help track a user's financial inquiries and purchasing behaviour, while a CEM platform ensures the journey is intuitive and engaging, addressing pain points and enhancing satisfaction.
CEM platforms analyse customer data in real time to deliver tailored interactions that make users feel understood and valued. For example, a FinTech app can suggest savings plans or investment opportunities based on a user’s spending habits or financial goals.
See how to use machine learning for personalisation in FinTech.
CEM platforms can detect anomalies or potential problems – such as a customer struggling to complete a transaction or encountering slow page load times – and intervene before the customer even raises a complaint.
See how to predict needs with modelling off customer journey analytics.
CEM platforms can help simplify friction points such as KYC by identifying pain points and providing step-by-step guidance tailored to individual users or even automating key steps, like document verification while ensuring the experience remains engaging and user-friendly.
See how to optimise your UX for customer satisfaction.
By analysing usage patterns, these platforms help companies identify what features customers value most, as well as the frustrations that may drive them away.
Learn to max retention by segmenting your high-value customers.
CEM platforms collect and analyse feedback from every touchpoint, providing actionable insights that inform product development. For instance, a spike in customer inquiries about budgeting tools might prompt you to introduce new app features tailored to this demand.
See how to boost innovation with data-driven development in finance.
By identifying upsell and cross-sell opportunities, CEM platforms can directly contribute to revenue growth. For example, a payment solution might use CEM insights to recommend premium features to high-usage customers, while an investment app might nudge users toward advanced portfolio options.
Learn how to max growth by enhancing customer experience in finance.
Digital banking has been one of the most prominent adopters of CEM, using these tools to optimise app interfaces, simplify transactions, and provide intuitive budgeting or savings tools.
Payment solutions and wallets are also leveraging CEM to ensure seamless transactions, address failed payments, and improve overall user trust, as have investment and wealth management platforms that use it to personalise portfolio insights.
Similarly, lending platforms benefit from CEMs helping simplify loan application processes with more accessible language and guidance, while InsurTechs use it to improve customer experiences during policy selection, claims processing and renewals.
Also see how to A-B test effectively in banking.
Scalability is a top consideration; you likely need platforms that can handle growing user bases and increasingly complex interactions without sacrificing performance. Next, it needs to integrate with your existing systems, such as CRM platforms, payment gateways, and compliance tools, to provide a unified view of the customer journey.
A solution that offers real-time analytics can help you address issues, optimise touchpoints, and even predict customer needs before they arise, while regulatory compliance capabilities are non-negotiable – any CEM platform should include GDPR, POPIA and other local regulation features.
Lastly, AI and automation capabilities can help speed up insights and pattern detection, freeing up your team for more strategic work.
See how to use big data to understand customer needs.
Local South African CEMs include:
International ones are:
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