Consumers Most Value Communication Features In Online Banking

Consumers most value online banking features that address communication and personalisation, according to recent surveys by Gartner. However, financial institutions could be failing to capitalise on online banking by not providing the features that consumers really want.

“As consumer adoption of online banking increases, banks are searching for ways to differentiate their services while maximising the cost-effectiveness of self-service channels,” said Stessa Cohen, research director at Gartner. “Online banking represents a key opportunity to achieve these objectives if banks can provide the features that consumers prize most highly.”

Gartner surveys conducted in the US and UK found that younger online banking consumers value features that enable customisation of their online banking experience, while older customers seek tools that let them use current services more effectively or communicate better. Further analysis indicated that older consumers want features that make the online banking channel itself easier to use, while younger consumers are looking for additional financial planning tools to help them manage their money more effectively.

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“The survey showed that banks and customers want very different things on a bank’s website,” said Cohen. “Customers want to personalise their experiences, analyse their transaction and payment data, so they can better manage their money, pay bills and transfer funds,” Cohen said. “Banks want to sell customers more products. Banks that neglect personalisation trends now will sacrifice online — and possibly mobile — banking customers later.”

Gartner advises banks to measure their ability to meet current customer requirements by analysing the features ranked most highly by consumers in the survey against the capabilities of their own current online banking site. Based on these findings, they should then plan a path to increased personalisation, including features ranked lower in the survey in order to enable the bank to differentiate in the future and meet emerging consumer online banking requirements.

Once new online banking features are available, banks also need to ensure that customers are aware of them — high percentages of consumers surveyed report that they were not aware that the features that they consider very important were available from their bank.