Many consumers don’t even know their banks’ mobile pay options
Recent findings from Expectations & Experiences: Consumer Payments, the Fiserv consumer trends survey, highlight the importance of using consumer education in driving increases in adoption and use of those compelling services.
The survey, conducted by Harris Poll among 3,048 banking consumers in the U.S., found mobile banking and payment services are underused because consumers don’t know the products exist or don’t know how they work. For example, 45% of consumers surveyed don’t know if their financial organizations’ bill pay services allow receiving or viewing bills online. And 24% of those not currently using P-to-P say they don’t use the service because they don’t know how it works.
To overcome adoption barriers, consider three high-priority actions:
1. Simplify messaging. Control and convenience are key drivers of behavior, according to focus groups and other market research. Consumers may not need to know every technical detail about a service, but they do need to know how a particular service will simplify their lives and put them in control of their financial management. Messaging also should address specific barriers to adoption and use. For example, security concerns are known to be major obstacles to adoption of mobile banking, so messages should reinforce the service’s relative high security.
2. Empower front-line staff to evangelize. One of the most important ways to affect awareness and proficiency is to give branch and call center staff members the tools to market services. Those teams should be trained to identify transactions that can be done through digital channels and be ready to talk about the benefits and offer training via demos.
3. Surface the services. The most important action you can take to drive adoption is to “unhide” those important services. That seems intuitive, but the reality is many digital banking platforms were not built to accommodate the addition of complex features. When online and mobile banking were launched, they did little more than let consumers check balances. As more features have come on board, they often are added in counterintuitive ways. Audit your digital channels to understand what’s visible and what isn’t. If consumers don’t know a service exists, examine your overall payments journey and ask if it reflects the easy, intuitive experience your customers expect.
The common theme across these recommendations? Understand what matters to your customer and deliver accordingly. Expectations & Experiences: Consumer Payments makes clear that consumers want secure, reliable, convenient and fast payment options. The key is to meaningfully communicate how existing services can meet those expectations.
First appeared at PS
