Do Your Customer Apps Measure Up?
By Brian Moore, Varolii
With instant information and seamless connections at our fingertips, companies have a unique opportunity to reach customers in new ways through mobile applications. However, some organizations are falling short of reaching customer expectations when it comes to mobile applications. Varolii recently conducted a survey of 600 mobile banking app users and found that most banks shouldn’t bank on their apps just yet.
This survey reveals several key trends in mobile banking that all companies should consider when developing their mobile application strategy. With the rise of the empowered consumer, it is no longer enough to offer basic mobile functionality to its customers. In fact, research show that customer expectations now go beyond basic functionality and reveal a strong desire for advanced proactive capabilities.
Mobile banking apps are expected to improve the relationship between customers and their bank by providing an easier, faster and safer way to manage their finances. Yet, if the app isn’t useful, consumers are likely to delete it. Varolii’s research shows that, of those who have downloaded a banking app, roughly 40 percent say they have thought about deleting it. Patience is even thinner among the newest banking customers—46 percent of 18 to 34 years old have considered dumping their bank’s app.
This raises the question of where current mobile banking apps – and other mobile apps – are falling short of meeting the “easier, faster, safer” desires of their users. So, how do we make mobile apps more useful for the user? The following are a few tips gleaned from the research that will help all companies harness the potential of mobile applications to maximize customer use and satisfaction:
· If they don’t use it, they’ll lose it. (And you may lose them). No longer are customers satisfied with just checking their account balance from an app. They increasingly want—and expect—to be able to conduct more advanced functions like depositing checks and receiving real-time notifications on account activity from their mobile banking apps. Constantly changing technology translates into constantly changing customer expectations. Stay in-tune to consumer’s behavior, and adapt your app accordingly.
· Educate, don’t just update. Getting a customer to install your application is just the first step. User education is critical, particularly as new functionality is made available. Even if an application supports advanced features, there appears to be a failure to effectively promote these to the user base. Nearly half (45 percent) believe their bank app offers only basic functionality, especially among those over the age of 55, who were 36 percent more likely to respond that their application enables only basic functions over the population as a whole. Don’t rely solely on application updates to promote these enhancements. Feature them prominently on your website and in email.
· Be proactive. Nobody likes to be surprised when it comes to money – or their health, upcoming travel plans or even their cable service – especially if a situation could have been avoided with forewarning. Sixty-eight percent of consumers report that a banking application could have helped them avoid a financial problem. Pushing notifications of low balances, unusual activity or loan payment due dates to the mobile application gives customers the opportunity to take immediate action to avoid costly and embarrassing situations. And since the application itself provides the means to fix most of these problems, its value is reinforced with every actionable notification. This same concept can be applied to many of the apps that consumers download. For example, a cable service provider should offer their mobile application users the option of receiving notice of their billing due date through push notification, enabling the subscriber to use the app’s bill payment features to avoid late charges or service interruptions because they missed their paper bill in the mail.
· Put more power at the consumer’s fingertips. Self-service is just one aspect of customer control. If you enable your customers to select how and when you communicate with them, you’ll get a better response. While some consumers will answer any call on their mobile phones, many won’t pick up unless they know who it is. Our survey showed that more often, consumers want to receive these notifications and reminders are by email (47 percent), text message (22 percent) and through their smartphone application (13 percent). Additionally, don’t ignore feedback from your customer. Data collected from users and external research can provide key insights on how you can meet their needs better.
· Don’t let your app act alone. With consumers showing such a wide variance in communication channel preference, banks and other companies must find a way to economically tie their system of record to a system of engagement. Standalone solutions for each channel will not cut it. This approach is too costly and runs a high risk of confusing the customer with too many messages about the same activity. Look for cross-channel solutions that capture and act on customer preference and orchestrate proactive communications in a way that ensures time-critical information is delivered to the customer in a way that drives them to take immediate and desired action.
It’s an exciting time for mobile applications. Their rapid and broad adoption provides an almost unprecedented opportunity for companies to lower their cost of service while at the same time improving customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. And, an ever-growing base of young consumers are using them, and expecting more advanced capabilities.
By making existing smartphone applications more relevant, useful and personalized, companies can more easily reach mobile consumers and engage them with the right information at the right time. To fully realize the benefits apps can bring, companies should also make sure these apps integrate with existing channels and deliver cross-channel communications options to your customers. The more you use this ubiquitous channel – and other channels – in the right way to interact with your customers and the more value-add services you enable, the more customers will stay engaged with an app – and with you.
Notes on Methodology
The national survey on mobile banking consumer experiences was conducted by Wakefield Research, an independent market research firm on behalf of Varolii, from December 3 to December 10, 2012. The 627 respondents included American smartphone and tablet users over the age of 18.
About the Author
Brian is the financial services market manager for Varolii Corporation. He joined Varolii in 2001, bringing more than 25 years of experience in collections operations and technology to the company. Prior to Varolii, he was Executive Director of Channel Development for Lucent Technologies CRM Solutions. He joined Lucent in July 1999, when the company acquired Mosaix, where Brian established the Professional Services division to deliver consulting and systems integration services focused on the collections market.