Thursday, May 06, 2010

Mobile banking is changing bank customer behaviour

It is now accepted as being a reality for banking: mobile will be a part of the future of how banking will be delivered to consumers. As was the case with ATM's, it is highly likely that consumer's behaviour related to their interaction with banks will change, as mobile banking usage picks up. Something else that we can have fun with speculating...

Based on prelimanry research and other evidence, it does seem as if the growth of mobile banking leads to a reduction in visits by customers to branches and a reduction of calls to contact centres. This is of course good news as this will directly lead to a reduction in cost. Some observations also seem to suggest that consumers do more transactions now. It is as if the ease with which mobile banking allows consumers to do transactions, stimulate them to do more. But what are some of the other changes that we could also expect?
  • Consumers will be more aware of their money (or the lack of it). I believe that consumers will become more educated about spending and saving money. People will budget better and become more savvy to manage and use their money.
  • More sophisticated mechanisms to stimulate impulse buying will become prevalent. This will change spending patterns and the effectiveness of alternative sales and marketing approaches.
  • As mobile banking systems become more mainstream, more advanced applications will be developed (making use of cellular characteristics like location based services for instance). This will lead to opportunities where new social and entertainment behaviour patterns will be triggered.
  • Mobile banking will change the competitor profile regarding banks and also non-banks starting to offer financial services. This will mean that customers will start buying their banking products somewhere else (than traditional banks) and even expect it to be bundled with other products.
What do you think?

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I agree with each of your points, but I believe the one behavioral change you left off was reduced preference for cash based translations. A change that is just as likely in both developed and developing economies.

Anonymous said...

Indeed that is good for the consumers and ordinary people. People would be much more careful when it comes to their money spending and most of all they will learn to be more responsible. I believe that the one who's behind this idea is very brilliant but when we talk about the real banking business I think a total business transformation is ahead of them.

globalprofeesional said...

With Mobile banking and Online Banking the long queues one used to witness at bank counters have become a thing of past. Still one will miss the friendly smile of the teller and the warm handshake of the Customer Relationship Manager.

Wise Bird said...

I agree with all the points mentioned by you... however I see a major challenge and that is the transaction fee that would be charged by the Mobile Operators. Success factor ia all dependant on this too.

siteowner said...

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