According to new data from the British Bankers’ Association (BBA), bank customers in the U.K. downloaded nearly 23 million mobile banking apps in March 2015, up 56% from the same time in 2014.
These findings are in line with what we reported last year when we showed how mobile is stealing the spotlight within the banking sector. Forecasts project that mobile banking will grow by 300% by 2016 as consumers continue to become increasingly mobile-first across all facets of their everyday lives.
Consumers are demonstrating strong intent for banking activities on their smartphones with the top searches including: looking up branch locations, researching branch hours, and calling customer service.
Mobile bankers are performing more of these banking-related actions within apps as well. As app activity increases within banking, marketers must retain these mobile consumers by offering a convenient user experience and tracking and optimizing advertising activity to drive deeper engagement and grow lifetime value.
But, consumers are not leveraging mobile in isolation for banking needs as research from Google found that 46% of individuals start banking on one device and continue later on another. Given this, it is key for marketers in this space to have holistic coverage across devices to capture the full consumer journey.
As reported in MediaPost, the BBA also notes how “British banks such Nationwide and Barclays are experimenting with wearable devices such as wristbands that can be pre-loaded with cash and used for mobile payments.” These types of innovations bring new opportunities and challenges for brands and those best poised to succeed are the ones who remain agile in their marketing strategies.
To learn more about mobile banking trends, download Skai’s spotlight infographic.
