The Effectiveness of natural language processing (NLP) in enhancing customer experience in fintech: a case study of commercial banks in Harare CBD.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the impact of Natural Language Processing (NLP) on the Customer Experience (CX) in the FinTech industry in Harare CBD, with particular emphasis on commercial banks. The study aimed to explore the level of use of NLP technologies, analyze their effectiveness in improving customer experience, assess the impact of NLP based conversational systems on customer satisfaction, highlight the challenges in their implementation and suggest improvement strategies for financial institutions with the following objectives: to examine the level of utilization of NLP technologies, to evaluate their effectiveness in enhancing customer experience, to determine the influence of NLP based conversational systems on customer satisfaction, to highlight the challenges in their implementation, and to suggest improvement strategies for financial institutions. The mixed methods research was used. A total of 199 participants responded to the questionnaire out of the total target population of 218, representing 91.3% response rate. For qualitative data collection, a total of 13 out of 15 targeted subjects were interviewed and five out of five targeted subjects were held in focus group. Descriptive statistics, inferential analysis and thematic analysis were used to analyse the findings. The findings indicated that commercial banks are deploying NLP tools like chatbots, virtual assistants and automated response systems, with the extent of use varying by customer. The study also identified that NLP leads to better customer experience as it enables faster response times, convenience and availability, and reduces the need to rely on physical banking halls. However, responses are generic, support is limited in the local language, there is a concern regarding privacy, system downtime and poor customer education and poor escalation to human agents. The study found that the NLP can enhance the customer experience in banking as long as it is accurate, secure, inclusive, reliable, and with support from human assistance. The study suggested that commercial banks enhance the accuracy of the chatbots, integrate local languages, communicate privacy more effectively, educate customers, and establish feedback mechanisms for their NLP services.