Commonwealth Bank
Humanising the digital complaints experience for Australia's biggest bank
Context
Over 1 million complaints every year
Commonwealth Bank receives over one million complaints every year. These complaints can range from small issues with apps, to fee and interest rate complaints, to simply leaving feedback about an experience in a branch.
CommBank approached our team with the strategic goal to reduce reliance on phone calls, and leverage their digital communication channels more heavily.
Over 6 weeks, we prototyped and validated a future complaints experience, designed to drive more positive outcomes for customers and CommBank teams.
Problem
Vague questions; vague answers
Nobody likes when things go wrong with their banking, and just to make matters worse, being put on hold for any extended time can be excruciating.
With so many phone call complaints coming through, CommBank was struggling to keep their phone lines free for customers with critical issues.
The Bank had an online complaints form, but its questions were short and vague, meaning customers weren't providing enough details, because the bank simply wasn't asking for them. The form's simplicity also meant that very little automatic triaging could be done, slowing down the resolution process for customers.
In essence, staff were left to do grunt work instead of focusing on issues that truly require human attention, and customers were left feeling unsure and frustrated throughout the complaint process.
Process
Realistic prototypes for each participant's unique complaint circumstances
We spent 14 hours interviewing Australians who had recently made a complaint to their bank, asking about their experiences and what happened after they lodged their complaint.
I designed 4 distinct interactive prototypes over these 4 research sessions, and made variants specifically for each participant's unique complaint circumstance to enhance the realism and garner deeper insights.
While researching with customers, we were also talking continuously with subject matter experts within the Bank about their experiences handling complaints that came in.
Solution
The humanity of a phone call, with the scaleability of digital
Through our testing, we quickly learned that just picking up the phone was much more effective and satisfying than submitting an online complaint. But why? What is it about a phone call that made us feel at ease?
We discovered that a complaint is about more than just getting the compensation or outcome you want. It's about the underlying need to feel heard and understood. Without addressing that, customers were unlikely to be satisfied with a digital complaint experience.
Our vision was a complaint experience that combined the responsiveness sand humanity of a phone call, with the power and scalability of digital channels.
Capture the details
Give customers space to tell their story, express themselves, and have a say in the outcome they seek, while intelligently collecting the information the Bank needs to process cases efficiently.
Clear and consistent communication
Guide customers through their case from start to finish — making it easy to understand what to expect, what they have to do, and the status of their case.
Deliver rapid outcomes
Leave customers better off than when they arrived — adding value no matter their situation through instant resolutions and more effective triaging.
“I think it will save everyone time, people complaining and the bank as well. Instead of going through a phone call, you can do it straight away.
“To save a couple of dollars, I had to spend an hour on the phone. And sometimes you wonder if it’s worth it. Because time is money. I think it’s really good.
— User research participant responding to our mobile prototype
Impact
In-depth triaging for faster resolutions
Since completing this project, CommBank went on to radically uplift their digital complaints experience, adding in-depth triaging and space for customers to express their feelings about their situations, as per this project's roadmap and final recommendations.
In addition to that, Commbank continues to explore the automatic resolution process using its Ceba digital assistant, particularly with the rise of generative AI and natural language processing.