Banking Review

Count me in

Banks have jumped to offer mobile services, without strategically considering why. So why the “me too” attitude?

BY SAM SKONTOS

Today, almost all retail banks in Australia offer some form of mobile banking, but do people actually use it? While in theory I could utilise the “lost time” on the train ride to pay my electricity bill, the reality is I have never actually done that. In fact, I can rarely remember when my electricity bill is due, let alone utilise travel to catch up on my bills. But it is comforting to know that technologically I am able to do that, even if I don’t.

Does this mean the dream of the mobile channel for offering banking services has failed to materialise? Not at all. What we have really seen is a lot of “me too” deployments around the world; banks offering the mobile channel because everybody else does. Nobody wants to be left behind.

Here in fact lies the problem: most banks have not clearly thought out their mobile strategy. In fact, most banks have not even considered this channel in any strategic way at all. Many bankers see it merely as something they should be offering, which misses the crucial point on how to actually leverage or maximise the channel to lower costs and improve customer service.

Another simple reason mobile banking has not exceeded expectations is it is not easy to use. If you do not make mobile banking easy for the customer, then you cannot expect mobile banking to be a success. Obviously, there are exceptions to that rule, but in general, most implementations have not been that intuitive for the customer. As such, consumers are not likely to adopt it. While some services are easy to use, they lack worthwhile features or do not offer much value to the customer.

So what is the magic bullet for mobile banking? The answer is to simply make mobile banking easier for your customers.

Ban complex key words
You might have seen manuals that say “for your account balance, SMS the following; ACC BAL SAV”, etc. Solutions today offer free text banking, where you can ask your bank “what is my savings balance” or “savings balance please”. The rule of the thumb is: the simpler the service, the more people will utilise it. More importantly, bankers have to think outside the box.  While it is good to provide account enquiry services, what about allowing customers to ask questions like “promotions for my credit card on George Street”?

Mobilise customer loyalty
Every bank has its own loyalty scheme to stimulate credit card usage and drive loyalty. The objective of loyalty programs is to maintain spending and in order for this to be successful, the impulse purchase is critical. Without the luxury of “Internet on the fly” to manage my loyalty/rewards account, the mobile phone is your next best bet. Why can’t I have the ability to use my phone to: ascertain my points balance? Redeem points? Receive a mobile voucher for use on my favourite rewards partner’s promotion?

Offer a full menu
My favourite form of mobile banking right now is a full menu-based system, where you simply send in a “short code” and a menu is returned to the phone, with a simple user interface. For example, “press 1. Balance”, “press 2. Transfer”, etc. All you need to remember is one Ôshort codeÕ when you wish to mobile bank, and use the menu thereafter. How much simpler could it be? No keywords, even I can remember my bank’s “short code”, or better still, I could actually store it in my contacts list.

Once you have solved the issue on ease of use, what else can you do to make the mobile channel effective?

Simplicity rules: offer services that make sense to me as a consumer and to you as a bank.

Let us revisit the earlier example of me sitting on the train. If I received an SMS notification from the bank telling me that my electricity bill would be due in 24 hours during the journey, perhaps I would actually pay on the spot via my mobile. Give me information I can use. I certainly do not want to be spammed by my bank, but if I can set my own parameters, then there would be no issues. I would set alerts about when my credit card payment is due, or when the FX rate drops to a point where I should be remitting some money home, or even to alert me of movements in and out of my accounts. These types of notifications allow customers to save money and banks to make money.

The fact is, I probably visit a branch once a year and only if I am forced to. This means the bank now has two main ways to communicate with me: the Internet and the mobile phone. If my business only had these two channels, you can bet I would be working hard to ensure both of these are leveraged to the hilt.

Sam Skontos is the regional director for Australia and New Zealand with mobile messaging specialist Sybase 365.