The time is now for mobile banking

Pete Daffern explains why it is imperative for financial institutions to incorporate mobile banking as part of their overall strategic objectives.

Mobile banking is moving from a 'nice-to-have' innovation to a mainstream offering for banks. Why?

Pete Daffern. Financial institutions (FIs) are increasingly realizing that mobile banking is a strategic investment that they cannot afford to miss out on. The mobile channel provides unprecedented coverage: 95 percent of US banking customers own a mobile phone, most of whom keep their device within arm's reach 24x7. In comparison, most estimates put Internet penetration at only 70 percent, so mobile banking can have a potentially far greater impact than online banking.

The anytime, anywhere nature of mobile provides a level of availability and immediacy that other customer interaction channels can't offer, and makes it an ideal vehicle to proactively deliver high-value, personalized content to FI customers. Javelin predicts there will be 85 million US mobile banking customers by 2013, and TowerGroup projects a compound annual growth rate of 51.8 percent.

Mobile banking truly is a once-in-a-decade opportunity that FIs must capitalize on.

What is the business case for mobile banking?

PD. Recent market conditions have disrupted relationships between FIs and their customers. Increased competition, higher service costs and heightened government regulation on fees all threaten to reduce customer loyalty and drive down profits. As a result, FIs face mounting pressure to lower servicing costs, relieve competitive pressures, increase revenue and reduce churn by deepening customer relationships.

Mobile is in a unique position to solve these problems.

Customers who use mobile banking exhibit the characteristics most desired by FIs - they tend to carry higher balances, purchase more banking products and have longer tenures. As such, FIs should support and continually engage these more profitable customers, or chance losing them to competitors.

The mobile channel empowers customers with self-service tools which will reduce contact center costs. 40 percent of calls to live agents are typically for balance inquiries; deflecting even a small percentage of these calls - which cost an average of $4 each - will provide tremendous cost savings.

The more conveniences FIs provide to their customers - such as real-time alerts for potentially fraudulent activities - the more value customers will derive and the less likely they will attrite.

Mobile also enables FIs to deliver highly-contextual cross-sell marketing messages to customers to improve conversion rates and ultimately generate revenue.

Why should FIs choose ClairMail for mobile banking?

PD. Eight of the top 12 banks in North America already use ClairMail to power their mobile offerings - because its unique, comprehensive solution delivers proven results.

ClairMail offers the only mobile banking and payments solution capable of providing: a) 100 percent coverage via multi-channel enrollment and a dedicated adoption services program; b) real-time, personalized and actionable alerts that allow customers to instantly resolve issues directly on their mobile phones; c) an optimized customer experience that unifies messaging, mobile web and client applications into a single, intuitive interface, and d) a robust enterprise platform that seamlessly connects with any FI back-end system and enables cross-product, cross-channel orchestration.

What proven results have ClairMail clients seen?

PD. The positive results experienced by ClairMail's clients clearly demonstrate the value we deliver. Many of our clients have exceeded their adoption goals, some by up to 100 percent; one surpassed its annual enrollment target within three months after launch. 

Many have seen significant improvement in retention, including a double-digit retention increase among Generation Y customers, typically the segment with the highest attrition rate.

ClairMail is also driving customer acquisition. One client reported an increase in new customers and attributed mobile banking availability as the key factor.

ClairMail clients are also realizing considerable cost savings. One saw a 70 percent reduction in VRU usage by mobile banking customers, and another observed a 3 percent reduction in overall contact center calls following deployment of the ClairMail solution.

Our clients have experienced first-hand the numerous benefits that come with implementing ClairMail's mobile banking and payments solution. The time is now for FIs to incorporate the mobile channel as part of their overall strategic objectives, or risk being left behind.

Biography

Pete Daffern is CEO of ClairMail, the leading provider of mobile banking and payment solutions. Pete has more than 20 years of operational and business leadership experience in the technology sector.