Feature Phones Matter, Too
The latest and greatest technology for the snazziest device can be a moot point for banks across the nation if they don’t have the basics covered, too.
This sentiment came up in a call I had with Regions Financial Corp. last week discussing its latest IT launch, which widens mobile banking capabilities to allow customers with web- or text-enabled phones to enjoy elements of banking from their phones. Previously, only those customers with fancy phones and data plans could take advantage of Regions’s m-banking, while the new rollout does not require smartphone ownership.
“The biggest thing that we hear about the advantage of our new platform is access,” Stephen Lamar, head of mobile banking, tells Bank Innovation.
During the conversation with Lamar, a salient point came up: Though the majority of the bank’s customers use smartphones, particularly iPhones, Lamar emphasized that the bank is “not pushing that as where we should continue to build the [m-banking] product. It doesn’t mean we’ll focus on the iPhone.” Why? Now that non-smartphone users have an option, usage patterns of mobile devices could easily track in a different direction.
“Accessibility is the message,” Lamar says. “Consumers may have assumed it’s a little more difficult to do mobile banking than it is.”
For now, the focus on Regions is on pushing out marketing on the new features to see how customers adopt them. Lamar, for one, does not foresee adoption of the new capabilities as posing many obstacles. What key data points he’ll be watching out for most are adoption numbers, including which channels customers are using: mobile web versus text messaging, and adoption of alerts to know which way to direct its mobile banking road map. Already on his mobile path, however, is the tablet device.
“We are currently addressing [the tablet] strategically,” says Lamar. “It’s in our scope.”
Though Regions’s mobile browser currently works on the tablet, he says the bank is looking at how it can specify the experience. The tablet is an “interesting crossover” of mobile and online banking, two banking channels that he historically viewed as more-different-than-not experiences.
“The idea of banking when sitting at home at a computer is very different than going out shopping and checking your phone for a balance,” he says. “Customer experience is different and expectations are different.”
