It’s that time of year again. Random PTO requests (and sudden cancellations); a fashion burst of bright primary colors; spikes in office printer usage; increase in waste basket shot attempts; Dayton, Des Moines and Tulsa emerge as travel destinations — it can only mean one thing: March Madness is here!

The Big Dance also serves as a magnificently chaotic metaphor for an event that every financial institution inevitably enters with passion, high expectations, and even higher anxiety. Navigating a digital conversion, start to finish, is no less fraught with risk and full of opportunity than piloting the annual field of 68. But the similarities don’t end there…

It’s a Journey
Successful digital conversions are more than simply delivering technology — they are strategically planned, expertly guided events designed to deliver an optimal transition experience by engaging and delighting customers at every touchpoint. Every customer interaction occurring before, during, and after your merger is a moment of opportunity to make a lasting impression.

You’ll Need an Action Plan
Digital conversions are unique and powerful customer engagement opportunities. They’re your chance to seize the ordinary and make it exceptional. Best practice recommends developing a high-touch, customer-centric action plan, based on data-supported methodologies, designed to create a truly sustainable brand experience. 

Don’t Get Caught Watching the Paint Dry
There’s no time to stop and celebrate victories, because a new engagement is coming up that will present an equal, if not greater, challenge. Legendary UCLA Bruins men’s basketball coach John Wooden, winner of 10 national championships, focused on the process, not the outcome. He preached the little things – like daily improvement, selfless teamwork, overcoming setbacks – add up to victories.

Communicate. Communicate. Communicate.
Like a highly choreographed four-corners offense (showing my age), your communications should leave your customers feeling engaged and delighted. Remember, there’s a bigger goal that can only be achieved by keeping your customers engaged and fully informed through the entire digital conversion journey — from awareness and implementation to full adoption and utilization.

The Economic Impact Is Impossible to Overlook
Taking the necessary steps toward optimizing your digital conversion result in greater satisfaction and loyalty among your customers. Successful digital conversion journeys produce business customer satisfaction ratings greater than 76%1; and 68% of customers are likely to stay with their primary institution.2

Count on Vericast to deliver a better customer experience. And one of the things we’re great at is digital conversions. Vericast offers a world-class infrastructure of expert resources — people and processes, guidance, and industry-leading best practices to deliver quality customer experiences before, during and after your conversion. No other solution can match our depth of conversion expertise.

1. Bank Customer Survey Responses
2. “2016 Retail Banking Voice of the Customer Survey,” Capgemini Global Financial Services, 2016