Monday 4 January 2016

Messaging App - The New Face of Retail Banking


Messaging App - The New Face of Retail Banking
Similar to what we saw in the 90s, with telecom companies getting into the credit card business, today we’re seeing messaging apps get into the retail banking business. In the past few months, SnapChat and Facebook Messenger have announced payments, the primary service of retail banks. Tencent’s WeChat extended its payment services into merchants and Xiaomi introduced an interest-bearing payments account. Slowly but surely, these apps are becoming the new face of retail banking, catering mainly to millennial, a segment highly receptive to changes to how they bank. In fact, a recent study by Goldman Sachs revealed that 33% of millennial don’t think they will need a traditional bank in 5 years.  
Retention rates of messaging apps out-performed the average of all apps. Messaging app retention is 1.9 times better than the average for one-month retention and 5.6 times better than the average for 12-month retention. Here we define retention as users who launched the app “n” months after install. It’s worth noting that the absolute retention rates were slightly lower last year compared to previous years, mainly because of the Apple iPhone base upgrading (in droves) to iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. But, since we are comparing apples to apples, the point is still valid. Messaging apps rule on retention.
Messaging Apps Rule in Frequency of Use
Ask any parent of a teenager and they’ll tell you that their kid is addicted to messaging apps. Messaging apps’ daily use is 4.7 times higher than the average app. The average daily use of an app across all categories is 1.9 times. Messaging apps are used, on average, almost 9 times every day. By definition, communications apps are chatty. Add to that the convenience of the smartphone device and the fact that it is glued to your body, and you get the multiplying effect making messaging apps rule on session frequency as well.
Messaging As the Platform
Messaging apps have made the leap to become the platform for many services, starting with payments and most likely ending with commerce. Messaging is already the platform of mobile and customer loyalty is its most valuable currency.




About Author: The author of this blog has done research in the field of business solutions, customer service, outsourcing, bpo

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