| By Jim Bruene on September 21, 2009 6:09 PM | Comments (5) |
Some interesting data was released today from the American Bankers Association (press release). According to its annual telephone survey of 1000 U.S. consumers, online/Internet banking is now the most common banking method among U.S. consumers (note 1).
Here are the totals (see notes 2, 3):
Question: Which banking method do you use most often?
| Channel | 2009 | 2008 | Net Difference | Percent Change |
| Online/Internet | 32% | 25% | Up 7.5 points | + 30% |
| Branches | 28% | 34% | Down 6.6 | (24%) |
| ATM | 22% | 28% | Down 5.6 | (20%) |
| Mail (note 3) | 11% | 9.1% | Up 1.9 | +21% |
| Telephone (note 3) | 5.8% | 4.1% | Up 1.7 | +41% |
| Mobile (note 3) | 0.6% | 1.0% | Down 0.4 | (40%) |
| Total | 100% | 100% | -- | -- |
Source: American Bankers Association, telephone survey of 1000 U.S. consumers conducted by Ipsos-Reid, on August 14-16-2009
Notes:
1. Remember, this reflects households willing to take a telephone survey but who may or may not use the Internet. If you are surprised to see online usage trailing branch usage until this year, you may be thinking of research results from other surveys of online users, who have long preferred online banking over other delivery channels.
2. Unlike the ABA release, I've eliminated all the Don't know, Unsure, and Other responses from the totals. So, the figures above represent the delivery-channel penetration of customers who named a single one from the list read to them.
3. The changes in mail, telephone and mobile seem odd. It's possible that the way the question was constructed accounts for these counter-intuitive results in the lesser-cited categories. In 2009, respondents were given two new choices: "other" and "none of these." In 2008, without those two bail-out choices, more customers chose one of the six channels read to them over the phone. In 2008, 110 respondents out of 1000 said don't know, unsure, etc. In 2009, that number doubled to 226 respondents out of 1002.
4. Image credit: Bank of Hawaii.
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It's amazing to see that the digital age has completly transformed the way in which we carry out day to day tasks. 10 years ago the internet was still in its relatively early stages, now its sheer ubiquity encompasses every aspect of our daily lives! I would never have imagined that the majority of people would use the internet for banking purposes, clearly I was wrong.
I think that what this really reflects is that US banks have focused all of their mobile banking efforts on EXISTING online bankers. As such, mobile is simply an augmentation of what they already have.
The real opportunity - and the only way in which these metrics will move (and our research will soon show this) - is to migrate consumers from more traditional (and expensive) channels such as contact centers and branches.
This has been demonstrated time and again in other developed markets.
The decrease in mobile seems strange given the past year's increase in available applications. But whether it be online or on your phone, it's clear customers are looking to do more of their day to day transactions outside of the brick and mortar. The all important dilemma not resides in the question, "how do you convince them to come back for more personal and important financial conversations?" Because in the end, that's what the bank is suppose to be about - personal relationships.
I think that what this really reflects is that US banks have focused all of their mobile banking efforts on EXISTING online bankers. As such, mobile is simply an augmentation of what they already have.
Any survey worded in such a way as to yield 18% "Unknown" cannot be deemed reliable.
People know when, where and how they perform their banking. If they can't answer the question, it's because the question and/or answers were poorly phrased.
I rate the ABA Survey "Other _________ (please specify)."