BUSINESSMANAGEMENTREVIEW.COMAUGUST 20259in understanding and empathizing with customers, allowing them to refine and optimize experiences while delivering meaningful solutions.USING PERSONAS TO GUIDE DEVELOPMENTUnderstanding your customers is the foundation of designing meaningful products and for midsize banks, identifying key customer segments is essential. Let's go back to the example of gig workers. Through research, a midsize bank might discover that gig workers make up a significant portion of their customer base. These individuals, such as freelancers, independent contractors and side-hustlers, represent a growing demographic with unique financial needs. Unlike traditional employees, gig workers face challenges like irregular income, managing multiple clients and preparing for taxes without employer support. By focusing on this segment, banks can position themselves as trusted partners for a group often underserved by larger institutions.Take Emily, a 32-year-old freelance designer. She struggles to track her income, manage expenses and handle taxes. Her financial stability feels uncertain and she needs tools that simplify her financial management while giving her peace of mind. A bank focusing on gig workers like Emily could design solutions tailored to her needs. These might include a real-time cash flow tracker to help her monitor her finances, automated invoicing tools synced with peer-to-peer (P2P) payment platforms and a tax estimator with quarterly reminders to ensure she stays on top of her obligations. By addressing these specific challenges, the bank not only provides practical solutions but also builds trust and loyalty by showing it understands her world.REFINING EXPERIENCES THROUGH JOURNEY MAPPINGJourney mapping takes this understanding a step further by examining how customers interact with a bank's products and services. For gig workers like Emily, mapping her journey might reveal pain points, such as a generic onboarding process that fails to guide her toward tools she needs most, or dashboards that prioritize irrelevant features over essentials like cash flow visibility or tax preparation.Using these insights, a bank could enhance the experience for customers like Emily by offering a personalized onboarding process that showcases tools specifically tailored to address her unique needs. A simplified dashboard could prioritize features like income trends, upcoming payments and tax deadlines. These improvements make the banking experience seamless, helping Emily feel supported from the start.EMPATHY AS A DIFFERENTIATORWhile digital transformation often emphasizes efficiency, midsize banks can stand out by humanizing their offerings through empathy grounded in research. By combining data with insights into customer emotions, banks can design solutions that truly resonate.For gig workers like Emily, financial stability is both a practical and emotional need. Research might reveal common concerns such as missed payments, tax deadlines, or unpredictable cash flow, highlighting the need for tools that provide clarity and reassurance. Features like payment alerts, predictive cash flow insights and interactive tutorials, along with secure live support, can address these concerns while building trust. By embedding empathy informed by research into their designs, midsize banks can create deeper connections with their customers and differentiate themselves in the market.THE PATH TO THRIVING IN 2025Thriving in the digital era requires focusing on a few key areas for midsize banks. First, investing in research is essential. Understanding customers on a deeper level allows banks to uncover unmet needs and deliver targeted solutions. Second, midsize banks can stand out by concentrating on niche markets where they can offer tailored value. Finally, designing with empathy ensures that products address both practical and emotional needs, creating trust and loyalty.In 2025, the banks that prioritize research, targeted strategies and human-centered design will be the ones that succeed. By seeing the full picture and turning insights into action, banks can carve out their place in an increasingly competitive market, building long-term connections with the customers they serve. BMUNDERSTANDING CUSTOMERS ON A DEEPER LEVEL ALLOWS BANKS TO UNCOVER UNMET NEEDS AND DELIVER TARGETED SOLUTIONS. DESIGNING WITH EMPATHY ENSURES THAT PRODUCTS ADDRESS BOTH PRACTICAL AND EMOTIONAL NEEDS, CREATING TRUST AND LOYALTY
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