Mobile Banking: Where Do I Start?

By Julie Zisman, Director of Marketing —

Last week I attended the banking show, BAI Retail Delivery. Most of the show buzz was around digital payment methods and the future of mobile banking. As technologies in this area advance at the speed of light, banks are scrambling to understand how to develop a meaningful mobile channel. Do you develop for a mobile web banking experience, an application or both? Which mobile channel is better for acquisition or self service?

My first piece of advice on this subject is to have a primary understanding of user experience thresholds. I recently saw a report that online shoppers will start an online shopping experience in the morning commute on their phone, continue it in the office on a desktop and finish it at home on an iPad. It's easy to see a banking customer paying bills or conducting online transactions in such a manner. Where, then, should banks start?

By tackling a mobile web banking experience first, you can gain valuable information to develop a mobile application strategy. Many products offer visibility into device type, browser and operating system, but with Tealeaf you get not only this type of environmental information but also insight into the critical individual experience and aggregate user behavior. Understanding how and when your users swipe, scroll, zoom and rotate their screens when they view your site will help your usability efforts and help you to determine what functionality your users will ultimately adopt. Here are few places that online bankers should review and optimize for their mobile channel:

• In new account acquisition, what's the threshold to adoption? Will people enter their social security numbers through your mobile website?
• If you have a number field that requires formatting, are you providing a format structure for the data? If not, you risk stranding your visitor in an endless loop.
• Is your mobile web page simply a mirror of your desktop experience? Are there simple ways to format the content for access from all devices, such as smart phone and feature phones?
• Are you able to distinguish your visitors from customers in the account creation process, so you don't have multiple accounts in play?

Of the customers we work with in this area, the most successful ones start with a basic foundation and continually run short tests to increase usability, conversion and self service adoption. Getting a general understanding of your customer's online preferences will help forge a path to a better experience regardless of the online channel, and ultimately increase customer satisfaction.