10/02/2010 - Why shouldn’t online banking leave you delighted?

Online banking consumer attitudes revealed

Towards the end of 2009, I bought a piece of research on global consumer attitudes to online current accounts. The research has confirmed many of the things we have seen ourselves when reviewing the market and updating clients, however it has also drew my attention to some things we suspected but weren’t sure.

Some of the less surprising findings include the:

• Maturity of Internet Banking in the Western World and consequential ubiquitous nature of the product.
• Massive growth of Mobile and chasing of that market by banks.
• Continuing issues around security as a blocker for adopters
• Global disparities between attitudes and behaviour being principally socio-economic


Some things did catch my eye, notably the:

• Large disparity between the number of current account holders registered for online compared to other Financial services products- i.e. credit cards
• Growing confidence of pro branch sentiment as a reason for rejecting online
• Low take up of administrative and some payment options online compared to the universal account view

Two things went through my mind.

One was, are we making the most of the opportunities and should we be doing more?
And two, was how much can we tell people what to do before they switch off (and don’t change anyway)?

Of course the answer is in reality a combination of both. We need firstly to make sure we deliver our current services to the best of our abilities, but secondly, and as a dynamic conflict to the first, not shy away from experimenting with the new.

We all love being delighted consumers and there is no reason why the online banking experience shouldn’t be that, even if that is “wow that wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be”.

A genuine focus on the customer experience in service delivery would be a good first step in achieving that.

Should you be interested in either discussing the article, or be interested in Mapa’s services, please feel free to email me on mark@mapa-uk.com

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