Mobile accessibility has fundamentally shifted the way consumers interact with a wide variety of industries, and financial institutions are no exception. Improvements in mobile coverage, phone technology, and security are all contributing to customers that are on the move, and who expect their financial lives to keep up with them.
That should not come as a surprise, given that 95% of US adults own a mobile phone, with 77% owning a smartphone.[i] All those connected customers need access to their finances, and they have high expectations for their mobile banking experiences.
Mobility Isn’t Limited to Millennials
It’s not just millennials driving the shift to mobile banking. While a majority of millennial customers manage their banking online (68%, according to the management-consulting firm CCG Catalyst[ii]), the drive towards digital and mobile banking crosses generational lines.
As Dharmesh Mistry observes in his report Future of the Branch: Where Do We Go From Here?, “[f]or the majority of banks worldwide, customer interaction has largely moved to digital spaces, with many banks experiencing almost 90% of all customer interactions online or through mobile”.[iii] And Gen Xers, Baby Boomers and other generations prior to Millennials are all adopting online and mobile banking features like bill pay, remote capture deposit and balance transfers for the ease and convenience that they provide.
With such a large segment of the financial consumer population relying on mobile accessibility, financial institutions should keep the rising expectations of mobile banking apps in mind as they engage with their customers.
Expectations for Excellence
Mobile banking customers want it all, and they want it all right now. They expect immediate, frictionless access to their financial details. They expect best-in-class fraud prevention and detection capabilities. They expect their FI to know them personally, understand their unique banking and spending habits, and make personally relevant product and service recommendations. They expect to conduct ALL aspects of their financial lives through their mobile devices, from account opening to mortgage approvals. And they expect it all to happen in real-time.
FIs have been working to meet these consumer expectations. But there’s plenty of room to improve. Let’s examine some of the top areas where FIs can increase customer satisfaction, while improving profitability and retention.
Mobile Account Opening
Mobile account opening is a huge opportunity for most FIs. Daniel Van Dyke, senior research analyst at BI Intelligence, sums up the opportunity nicely: “Financial institutions are pouring digital investment dollars into advanced servicing and marketing, while account opening – the single digital feature most clearly tied to return on investment – is left broken at most banks.”[iv]
Only 12% of the largest FIs offer mobile account opening, which means there’s plenty of opportunity for organizations to make that feature a competitive differentiator for their mobile experience. Offering mobile account opening provides a 38.4% lift in customer enrollment so there’s clear incentive for FIs to give customers that option.[v]
Biometric Access to Accounts
Many of us have a phone that allows simple, single touch fingerprint login. Consumers expect that same kind of authentication experience with their mobile banking, but only 53% of large FIs offer that capability.
Incorporating biometric authentication into the mobile banking experience can help deliver the frictionless experience consumers want. It also provides a 107% lift in customer enrollment, and can help drive down contact center workload. According to Steve Cook at Daon, 40% of the calls to most contact centers are requesting password re-sets, so adding biometric authentication into mobile banking can have a positive impact on an FIs operational efficiency.[vi]
Hyper-Personalization
FIs have more data than ever before to inform them about the individual preferences and habits of their consumers. And consumers have higher expectations than ever before for individualized personal experiences.
Using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies, FIs can potentially deliver unique mobile banking experiences. For example, an institution might employ machine learning to analyze the navigation path a user typically takes when they login to the mobile banking app. The algorithm would continually assess user behavior and identify specific use patterns per individual, automatically serving up the most-accessed screens (account balance, transfer funds, or mobile deposit) to individual customers when they log in to the app.
Personalization through AI and ML could also apply to the product offerings an FI extends to individuals. Using advanced comparative analysis and individual account-holder information, FIs could offer only credit products for which the customer qualifies AND that map to similar product sets that the most profitable customers hold. By presenting those offers through mobile devices, FIs could potentially increase share of wallet and customer loyalty at the same time.
Mobile Banking is the Future
The growth of mobile banking shows no signs of slowing. Consumers are increasingly dependent on their mobile devices, and FIs that remain competitive in the future will be actively developing the best-in-class mobile banking experiences to meet customer expectations.
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[i] http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/mobile/
[ii] Millennials & Mobile Wallets, CCG Catalyst
[iii] Mistry, D. (March 30, 2017). Future of the Branch: Where Do We Go From Here? (Rep.). Temenos.
[iv] https://www.americanbanker.com/news/if-mobile-banking-is-so-easy-why-is-signing-up-so-hard
[v] Zoot Enterprises Proprietary Research
[vi] What are the Advantages of Biometric Authentication in Replacing Passwords?, Steve Cook Daon
