There’s only one opportunity to make a first impression. The First 100 Days is a programme of work designed to personally welcome customers to Westpac. Creating a solid foundation is paramount to an enduring lifetime relationship with the bank and when done well can lead to increased customer lifetime value, reduced churn and the creation of advocates.

The potential value of new customers is therefore huge. But Westpac realised the experience customers were having just wasn’t good enough and they were voting with their feet. Faced with these alarming facts, drastic changes were needed.

Focusing firmly on understanding their new customers’ needs, Westpac undertook a review of the onboarding customer journey, and identified pain points as well as opportunities to significantly improve customer experience. A cross-functional team led by Customer Marketing (including retail, call centre and the Westpac digital team) then radically redesigned onboarding with the end customer journey in mind.

The First 100 Days programme takes a refreshing approach to conventional onboarding campaigns. It is shaped entirely around individual customers’ behaviour; recognising each action they take, prompting them on the next step and providing personalised support whenever they need it. Addressing all major customer pain points, the non-linear contact strategy is fully adaptive to give them exactly what they need, when they need it.

In stark contrast to standard onboarding programmes, the multi-channel strategy for The First 100 Days programme is built entirely around a digitally-led, human-backed approach – it includes email, SMS, DM and outbound calling, with each of these channels offering different benefits for engaging with customers and delivering different behavioural or emotional outcomes.

After just five months, churn was dramatically reduced, average customer satisfaction scores soared and there was a big uplift in additional financial needs met. Best of all, customers feel valued: “In this big world I felt like I mattered”.