Banking chatbots 2025 trends: from personalization to humanization

The latest wave of our Chatbot Rank researchis about to launch, and we’re excited to highlight one of its most valuable achievements: measuring the seemingly immeasurable - the humanity of a chatbot’s behavior.

Chatbot Rank – our periodic research series. You can explore the findings from the new wave here.

In our Chatbot Rank methodology, we’ve developed specific criteria to evaluate how "human-like" a chatbot feels during interactions. This isn’t just about technical precision or speed of response; it’s about creating a connection that feels natural, empathetic, and engaging. In Chatbot Rank 2024, we identified a strong trend toward personalization, solidifying it as a reliable growth vector for banking chatbots. However, our research also revealed a broader opportunity: uncovering the core practices with the greatest potential to redefine the user experience. This core lies in humanization - the next evolution of the personalization trend. Humanized functions are not just a passing trend but a crucial growth area, and we confidently predict their growing importance in 2025 as chatbots evolve to meet ever-higher user expectations. In this insight, we’ll dive into the principles behind these criteria and share how they help us define and measure the elusive quality of chatbot humanity.

Why is it important to study chatbot humanity?

The shift from personalization to humanization is redefining the role of digital services, and chatbots are at the forefront of this transformation. While personalization focuses on tailoring experiences to individual preferences, humanization goes deeper—it aims to create meaningful connections, empathy, and trust in digital interactions. Chatbots are increasingly expected not just to provide accurate and timely information but to engage users in ways that feel natural and human-like.

Banking chatbots in 2025: evolving from personalization to humanization

Personalization creates relevance and efficiency by using data to predict needs and deliver targeted experiences. For example, chatbots can provide tailored financial advice based on past behavior, ensuring a seamless and convenient user journey.

Humanization builds on this foundation but introduces the 3E rule: empathy, emotional intelligence, and ethically informed choices. It’s not just about what users need - it’s about how they feel and how those needs are addressed.

Today's banking chatbots are highly advanced, and true leadership lies with those who combine seamless solutions with humanized, emotionally intelligent interactions for ultimate customer comfort.

A humanized chatbot doesn’t just respond to queries; it recognizes emotions, adapts its tone, and fosters trust through thoughtful, context-aware interactions.

The 3E rule of humanization

  1. Empathy: Acknowledging and addressing users' emotions, such as frustration or confusion, to provide reassurance and comfort.
  2. Emotional intelligence: Understanding context and adapting communication to create a sense of connection, much like a human would.
  3. Ethically informed choices: Prioritizing transparency and fairness in interactions, ensuring users feel respected and valued.

Here is the table matching elements of personalization with their corresponding aspects of humanization:

Personalization Corresponding Humanization
Customized profiles Individual understanding
Targeted offers Meaningful recommendations
Automated responses Conversational AI
User segmentation Ethically-informed choices
Behavior tracking Emotional intelligence
Data-driven decisions Proactive support
Predictive analytics Contextual guidance
Custom alerts Adaptive interfaces
Preference settings Personalized, empathetic interactions

Why humanization matters?

Incorporating the 3E rule transforms chatbots from functional tools into relational assets, capable of building trust and loyalty. This shift reflects a broader trend in digital banking, where emotional resonance and ethical interactions are becoming as important as speed and accuracy.

By embracing humanization, businesses can redefine customer engagement, creating experiences that not only solve problems but also resonate on a personal level. This marks a critical step toward the future of truly empathetic and emotionally aware AI.

How do we research banking chatbots?

Our Chatbot Rank research is rooted in real-world customer interactions with banks, focusing on common scenarios such as managing card products, current accounts, deposits, personal data, and connected services, as well as handling complaints and negative feedback. These frequent use cases form the backbone of our assessment, with the overarching goal of evaluating the quality of customer experience when interacting with chatbots in mobile banking applications.

A comprehensive, multi-level analysis

At Markswebb, we deconstruct the concept of digital experience quality into measurable elements, applying hundreds of criteria to assess chatbots.

These criteria encompass:

  • Diverse communication channels.
  • Dozens of user scenarios and their contexts.
  • Individual preferences and market innovations.

This approach allows us to capture the nuances of customer-centric digital service capabilities and how effectively they are implemented.

Unlike graphical interfaces (GUI), conversational user interfaces (CUI) still lack established, market-adapted standards. To address this, we developed a proprietary evaluation system based on 9 CUI principles. These principles incorporate insights from disciplines like sociolinguistics, language philosophy, and communication theory, drawing on the foundational works of Paul Grice and Geoffrey Leech. This theoretical grounding enables us to create tools that help define more effective and human-like conversational interfaces.

How can chatbots feel more human? Markswebb’s 9 CUI principles offer a clear guide to crafting meaningful, effective interactions. Discover practical examples and elevate your chatbot communication now!

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    What is the key focus of our 2024 research?

    In 2024, we’ve made a significant shift in our research methodology to better replicate real-world user interactions with chatbots. This evolution emphasizes two major enhancements: query simulation and response accuracy assessment, both designed to capture how effectively a chatbot performs in authentic scenarios.

    Understanding that real users rarely craft perfect or structured questions, we’ve introduced a system to randomize query formulations. Instead of relying solely on expert-created prompts, we now use Chat GPT to generate human-like queries that closely mirror real user behavior.

    Here’s how it works:

    • For each intended use case or "intent," three unique query formulations are generated. These formulations include natural language elements and relevant keywords to ensure authenticity.
    • Each query undergoes a human review to refine its tone and ensure it feels natural and relatable.
    • Finally, three queries are selected at random, with their sequence shuffled to simulate unpredictable user behavior.

    By standardizing this approach across all tested chatbots, we ensure consistency while maintaining a user-centric perspective.

    In addition to query simulation, we now evaluate how many attempts it takes for a chatbot to deliver a relevant response. This reflects real-life frustration when a chatbot fails to understand a user's initial query, potentially leading to dissatisfaction or disengagement.

    Example of a task from the "Responding effectively to negative feedback"

    One of the key humanization task for chatbots is acknowledging and addressing user frustration in emotionally charged situations. For instance:

    When a user expresses dissatisfaction, such as reporting an unauthorized transaction or experiencing issues with their account, the chatbot not only needs to respond promptly but also demonstrate empathy and offer reassurance. For example:

    1. Detecting emotional cues:The chatbot recognizes negative language or urgency in the user's tone, such as, "I’m really frustrated; someone accessed my account without permission!"
    2. Providing reassurance:Instead of a generic response, the bot acknowledges the user’s emotions:"I understand this is concerning. Let me help you resolve this right away."
    3. Taking immediate action:The bot proactively offers next steps, such as initiating a card block or connecting the user to a fraud specialist:"I’ve blocked your card to prevent further transactions. Would you like me to guide you through filing a claim for unauthorized charges?"
    4. Maintaining a supportive tone:Throughout the interaction, the chatbot ensures the user feels heard and supported, even if the final resolution requires additional steps:"I’m here to assist you. If there’s anything else you need, don’t hesitate to let me know."

    This approach not only resolves the immediate issue but also builds trust and shows users that the chatbot values their concerns.

    Chatbots: a hybrid future

    Let's summarize the above. Of course, changes in chatbot behavior and algorithms cannot happen overnight. Even with the advancements in AI capabilities, fine-tuning a banking chatbot remains a complex and time-consuming process. The ideal chatbot 2025 blends personalization with humanization to deliver an experience that is not only efficient but also emotionally resonant. The nearest future trends point to chatbots becoming digital partners, capable of adapting interfaces to individual preferences while providing empathetic interactions that enhance trust and loyalty.

    Actionable tips for development:

    1. Invest in emotional AI: Equip chatbots with natural language processing to detect and adapt to emotional cues.
    2. Bridge digital and human channels: Seamlessly integrate chatbot functionalities with live agents for complex queries, creating a cohesive experience.
    3. Prioritize transparency: Ensure users understand how their data informs interactions, enhancing trust.
    4. Incorporate predictive insights: Use machine learning to anticipate and proactively address user needs before they arise.

    So, by combining advanced personalization with a deep commitment to humanization, chatbots can evolve into indispensable tools for fostering customer satisfaction and building enduring relationships.

    More insights coming soon – stay tuned!

    Our upcoming ChatBot Rank 2024 research promises to shed light on critical questions about the chatbot market, from automation trends and competitive dynamics to growth areas and best practices. These findings aim to enhance chatbot efficiency and elevate user experience, providing actionable insights for teams striving to deliver outstanding conversational solutions.

    We’re also excited to expand our focus beyond digital banking. Whether it’s retail, telecommunications, or other digital services, our methodology can help evaluate and improve chatbot performance and humanity across various industries. If your organization is looking to optimize its chatbot solutions and create meaningful digital interactions, we’re here to collaborate.

    Stay tuned for the release of our full research, and don’t hesitate to reach out if you’d like to learn more or partner with us. Let’s shape the future of conversational AI together!

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