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For many banking professionals, a quiet truth persists: account holders have been inadvertently trained to overlook your outreach. In today’s digital landscape, a customer attempting a simple online task might encounter a cascade of notifications – a credit card promotion, a system maintenance alert, a mortgage refinance invitation, and somewhere amidst the flurry, a critical fraud notification.
Which message truly captures attention? Which is dismissed? And most crucially, which vital alert goes unnoticed?
Troubling new research from CSG reveals a stark reality: bank customers are learning to tune out all communications. A staggering 70% of consumers across industries report receiving so many brand messages that they simply cease to care. Even more concerning, 59% admit to deleting crucial messages – including bills, data breach alerts, or money-saving opportunities – mistaking them for marketing spam.
This situation represents a significant, self-inflicted wound for financial institutions. Banks, entrusted with the core financial well-being of their customers, inherently possess an advantage; they don’t need to contrive relevance to foster engagement. Yet, this inherent trust is often squandered through an overload of marketing and messaging that contributes to customer overwhelm rather than providing clarity.
CSG’s 2026 State of the Customer Experience Report underscores the impact of this excessive contact. Sixty-five percent of consumers worry about missing important messages due to their habit of ignoring communications, and a significant 34% have ceased doing business with brands that send too many messages.
The path forward demands sharper focus. Instead of attempting to engage account holders constantly, across every channel, with every message, leading institutions are identifying and prioritizing the pivotal “moments that matter most.” In discussions with The Financial Brand, CSG executives Richard Ullenius and Brandon Sailors highlighted how concentrating on these critical junctures can empower financial institutions to differentiate themselves in a saturated market. Here are five such moments where banks can cultivate enduring customer loyalty.
Critical Moment 1: Seamless Onboarding and Service Activation
Consider the mindset of a new customer. They’ve invested time and effort in choosing your institution. They’re ready to commit, knowing they’ll share significant personal data. In return, they expect a flawless experience. Will account activation be smooth? Will the application process inspire confidence and security? Will they receive clear updates, or will their submission vanish into a digital void?
For banks competing against agile, digital-first challengers built on effortlessly simple onboarding, the standard is exceptionally high. Success in the onboarding phase requires operational excellence and precise communication. “If banks can deliver services faster, without sacrificing trust, and do it with greater predictability, transparency, and reliability, they win,” states Ullenius, Vice President, Global Banking & Financial Services for CSG.
This means sending proactive updates at every stage (e.g., application received, documents reviewed, approval pending, account active), simplifying subsequent steps, and ensuring consistent status updates whether customers check online, call support, or visit a branch.
Banks that excel at onboarding lay the foundation for the entire customer relationship, positioning customers for deeper engagement rather than prompting second thoughts.
Critical Moment 2: Transparent Billing and Payment
When an accountholder receives a bill or makes a payment, their attention and vulnerability are heightened. This is where they directly experience the ebb and flow of their financial life. They understand the consequences of missed payments – fees and accruing interest – and desire control. The user experience during this crucial interaction must be unequivocally clear.
Yet, all too often, payment reminders are buried, or customers receive conflicting information. Statements might require multiple clicks to access. Sailors, CSG’s Vice President, CX Strategic Accounts, illustrates how easily trust can erode: “If you send them a note to make a payment, and then you send them an email the next day that says, hey, you have to make a payment and they’ve already made it, you’ve kind of already lost some trust there.” Even those with autopay arrangements seek confirmation that everything is in order.
CSG’s research indicates that 43% of consumers are comfortable with AI handling payment-related tasks, provided the AI experience is seamless and reliable. This involves suppressing redundant messages when actions are complete, proactively alerting customers before late fees, and making the payment process as frictionless as possible.
Critical Moment 3: Empathetic Customer Service
According to CSG’s research, poor customer service (45%) and difficulty resolving issues (44%) are the leading reasons customers leave their banks. This is unsurprising; when a customer seeks help via chatbot, phone, or branch, they are already facing a problem or confusion. This moment can define the entire relationship: will the bank simplify or exacerbate their frustration?
While AI offers speed and precision in automated problem resolution, it carries risks. Only 41% of consumers believe chatbots are more effective than human agents, and 56% remain uneasy with AI taking direct actions on their behalf. Crucially, 62% state that a smooth transition to a human agent is vital for building confidence in automated support.
Many institutions approach customer service with a technology-first, rather than an outcome-first, mindset. They deploy AI agents without fully considering pathways to first-contact resolution or seamless human handoffs. Ullenius emphasizes, “AI must support, not sabotage, these moments.”
Internal AI tools can empower service representatives by providing real-time context and suggested solutions, thereby eliminating the frustrating “let me transfer you” scenario. Sailors stresses, “You have to understand in real time what the customer is doing and have that real-time context as it drives the journey and how you respond.” A service team that can articulate a caller’s past interactions and current account status immediately instills confidence.
Critical Moment 4: Robust Security and Fraud Protection
It’s no revelation that account holders deeply value interactions related to fraud prevention and data breach responses. A suspicious transaction alert or security warning demands immediate attention and definitive action. Yet, these critical messages, too, often become lost in the sheer volume of communications.
When a customer misses a fraud alert, for any reason, it represents an institutional failure. Sailors notes that banks are now held to an “Amazon-like” standard: “If I order something, I’m going to get an immediate confirmation; when something ships, I will proactively be notified; same thing, when something has shown up at my door.”
“Why wouldn’t a bank provide the same sort of experiences for fraud notifications?” Sailors queries. For financial institutions, the security moment is an opportunity to differentiate through personalized attention: combining intelligent detection with undeniably clear, urgent communication that cuts through the noise. This involves reserving specific channels (like phone calls or SMS) for high-priority alerts, using straightforward language to explain the issue and next steps, and ensuring customers can immediately reach a human for verification. Banks that safeguard security communications – never diluting them with cross-sell attempts or burying them in routine notices – will master this critical moment.
Critical Moment 5: Meaningful Retention and Growth
While the first four critical moments primarily focus on the accountholder’s perspective, a customer’s decision to add another product or service is a clear “moment of truth” for the institution itself. This signifies a willingness to deepen the relationship, setting the stage for long-term profitability.
Such moments are often triggered by significant life events and can pass unnoticed by the institution. A customer might need a mortgage, an insurance policy, or a place to deposit a bonus or inheritance. Meanwhile, competitor messaging is always present, contributing to information overload. Does the existing relationship provide an advantage? Or have mishandled critical moments undermined their willingness to trust the provider they already know?
More importantly, has the bank’s own marketing strategy helped or hindered? Sailors describes situations where an institution continues to push cross-sell campaigns even as the individual is navigating other critical issues. “If a person is trying to solve an issue with one of my business units, but they keep getting a ton of marketing messages from my other business units, aren’t I actually undermining both efforts?”
The retention and growth moment requires banks to shift from a volume-based to a relevance-based approach. This is where relationship banking can truly flourish, but only if communication reflects a genuine understanding of each customer’s financial journey. CSG’s data supports this: 51% of consumers find messages relevant when tailored to recent activity, and 60% remain subscribed for exclusive deals and discounts that resonate with them.
Banks that achieve this delicate balance – offering support when customers need it and stepping back when they don’t – will transform satisfied customers into lifelong advocates. This includes knowing when to pause promotional messages, recognizing life-stage cues, and ensuring growth discussions feel like valuable advice rather than opportunistic sales pitches.
Source: thefinancialbrand.com