The Sushi or Fish Sticks Dilemma
What California rolls and Udon noodles take out can teach us about removing the bland from digital banking
Photo by Riccardo Bergamini on Unsplash
Ingredients
I’ve cooked for my kids for almost 20 years. That’s around 15,000 meals, taking into account some meals out and, of course Wawa hoagies.
I know what my daughter likes to eat.
This past weekend, I discovered that my daughter loves sushi. Really loves it. And she discovered that she loves Udon noodles.
We were discussing what to get for dinner on Saturday — I don’t usually cook on Saturday nights. She suggested sushi. I knew she liked sushi, but I wasn’t sure she liked it enough to eat an entire order of it. I’ve watched many dinner orders go partially-eaten or ignored. So, I stalled. She persisted. Sushi, she wanted sushi for dinner. I found a Japanese restaurant close to our house. On Saturday evening, we perused the online menu, called in our sushi & Udon order and picked it up.
She ate her entire order of California rolls and the Udon noodles. I’d ordered the noodles on a whim. She discovered she loved them. I had to find something else for dinner.
After dinner, after she told me how great dinner was and I had to reckon with these discoveries:
I’ll admit that my lack of awareness of her love of sushi might — just might - be due in part to the fact that I do not like sushi. It’s not been the first thing I think of for takeout.
I knew that she liked sushi - but not separately from her older brother. Partially because she tends to go along with whatever her brother eats (he’s very cool, obviously) and partially as a foodie, her brother’s opinions are the strongest.
I did assume that she deferred to her adored older brother. To address that since he’s gone to college, I’ve asked her directly about her food likes and dislikes. But even this effort failed to amplify the sushi message.
Hidden love of Udon noodles!
I’m not calling my parenting out as anything “bad” or “wrong” — not at all. That’s not the point of this story. This story amplifies a larger point about knowing customers.
I had the information but it took a precipitating incident to force me to pull it all together — after the fact.
Even though my kids like sushi, I fell into the assumption trap of “sushi isn’t a kid’s dinner”— instead of relying as I had for years on the specific likes and dislikes of my kids. Those specific likes led me to make a lot of mac and cheese, broccoli quiche and roasted chicken. I was unknowingly stuck in that trap.
The importance of her liking sushi did not register on me until longer after I received her message. Even then, the customer (my daughter) had to reiterate her desire for sushi for me to act on it.
A sea of bland banks
Which brings me to the Bland startup/product. Perhaps you’ve seen this Bloomberg opinion piece that has some very not bland words for many startups. Schott charges that
But what makes a brand a bland is duality: claiming simultaneously to be unique in product, groundbreaking in purpose, and singular in delivery, while slavishly obeying an identikit formula of business model, look and feel, and tone of voice.
I was surprised that Schott didn’t call out challenger banks for bland. So many of them look alike, sound alike, hype alike. What many don’t do is differentiate — except on the claims that their customer experience is better than traditional, legacy banks. Even then, they all do tend to look alike. Yes, some challenger banks do differentiate. Starling Bank, for example, has created a partnership ecosystem that really differentiates it from other SME banks.
To be fair, don’t all the traditional banks also look and work alike too?
The difference between bland and not bland is the difference between Aspiration and Clean Energy Credit Union. Aspiration plants a tree when you use their card and offers sustainable investing. Clean Energy Credit Union, which does not have as slick a website, specializes in clean energy loans for consumers and businesses (I wrote about CECU in Where are those hidden tribes?)
Most banks are still content to upgrade to a new digital banking solution or implement digital account opening that puts a fresh experience but leaves the same bank transactions and processes in place with personalization and customer journey capabilities. Too many digital banking solutions are content to facilitate a better customer experience and calling it a digital day without demanding that the bank change a thing. Everyone making assumptions about customers, whether consumers or businesses.
Stuck in bland ruts.
What does this mean for banks and digital banking vendors?
On the one hand, my daughter is stuck with me. I’m the mom and I shop for the food and cook the meals. On the other hand, she could teach herself to cook. And one day, I might go to the kitchen, open the refrigerator to make dinner and find that she’s used the chicken to make hot chicken wings. Because she was tired of waiting. Waiting for me to remember, to try something new, to get out of my rut.
Questions to Ask About Your Customers
How many customers are tired of waiting for a bank for services that address their specific needs?
How many Millennials/GenZ/GenX/Boomers are tired of the assumptions that your bank or your digital banking solution make about their life journey, events, car buying habits and their needs for a mortgage?
How many customers want sushi when you’re offering fish sticks?
How many times have they told you “sushi” or the banking equivalent but you just can’t (don’t or won’t} remember? Just today I got an email from a Very Large Bank reminding me that I could make my credit card payment from the bank’s mobile app (which I haven’t downloaded and haven’t used) or online (which I always use) instead of using the US Postal Service (which I haven’t done for years). Not only that, I’ve paid off the balance so why are they telling me to pay a bill that doesn’t exist?
If you can’t remember your customers like sushi, what happens when they discover Udon noodles? Probably nothing.
Questions for Your Digital Banking Solution
How much data is your digital banking solution not using to help your bank clients identify hidden tribes?
How much and what data have you never had access to or never used?
How many times have you assumed the customer journeys you provide are the ones that customers need? Or care about?
Does your solution require your bank customers to change? Why not?
When are you going to get tired of waiting for change?
You better believe we are having sushi more often here.
Who publishes this newsletter?
I’m a former Gartner analyst, now an independent analyst & consultant. I’ve worked in and covered the banking industry for 27 years. I still think & write about digital banking — but also indulge my other interests, women in tech, startups - especially those in the US Midwest & South Eastern Europe), leadership & change, and AgTech.
I write this newsletter for people and companies who are trying to differentiate their banking software in an increasingly competitive market. That could be people who work at software companies currently developing banking software or people at vendors that want to move vertically into the banking market. It’s also for bankers and investors who want to know more about digital banking transformation strategies & the technologies that power them.
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