Financial services organizations such as banks, insurance organizations, and credit card issuers, are creating mobile applications that are not just focused on the products or services they’re selling. Instead, they’re using mobile as a way to get in front of customers and non-customers alike. At the end of the day, their belief, and rightly so, is that everyone is a potential customer…someday.
In an American Banker article, Oliwia Berdak, senior analyst at Forrester, said, “Maybe, if you can create a more frequent, deeper engagement with [a] noncustomer, then it might be a more cost-effective way of marketing.” The idea is to generate new customers over time. A company’s mainstay mobile application isn’t going to do that. That’s simply a supportive offering for existing customers.
In addition to Capital One’s CreditWise and Ally Financial’s Splurge Alert, which are mentioned in American Banker, there are many more examples of mobile applications, from the likes of Citibank, State Farm Insurance, T. Rowe Price, Visa, and Zurich Insurance Group, that have been developed over the years to draw more attention to their brands.
While some companies will develop mobile applications for branding purposes in 2017, many financial services firms will seek to specifically deploy a variety of gamification techniques that focus on educating users and encouraging them to save money and invest.
Barclays’ Financial Wings, an online personal finance hub designed to give people the knowledge and confidence to take control of their money and build the skills required to bolster their financial health, is a good example of what we can expect. Barclaycard Ring, which gives cardmembers the opportunity to discuss financial strategies, track their financial health, and vote on product enhancements, is another example of a financial institution leveraging gamification features to build stronger relationships with customers as well as to educate them about better managing their finances.
The financial services industry will continue using gamification techniques to win over existing customers, cultivate new ones, and become more efficient in its business operations.
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