Clickatell Resources

Bank of America chat banking It’s official: The future of banking is mobile. New data from the Smart Money People found that 78% of customers in the United Kingdom prefer mobile banking over online - a 75% increase from 2017. And innovative offerings like chat banking improve customer loyalty, and competitiveness in a crowded market. Customers need banks to meet them on the platforms they know and love. In retail, the growing popularity of chat commerce shows that young consumers prefer engaging with brands on  channels they use most, like WhatsApp,  and SMS. More than 60% of respondents said they want to receive service-based messages from banks, according to the Vibes Transactional Messaging Consumer Report . Innovative companies are paying close attention and are moving fast to address the needs of modern customers. “Many of the world’s largest enterprises are in the process of digital transformation — not by-election, but for survival,” says Evan Kohn in an excerpt taken from a Forbes piece on chat banking and conversational AI. The Bank of America tripled its mobile banking budget in 2015, acknowledging that cutting-edge mobile features are critical to attracting customers. Wells Fargo offers in-demand mobile transfer options, on top of security and mobile wallets. In e-commerce, businesses that offer chat commerce are increasing revenue by up to 25% . The pioneers of digital disruption package experiences that improve their customer satisfaction, and so customer service has never been more important. Millennials, the group of consumers who will soon have the most spending power , said if they didn’t have a seamless account opening experience, they would be less likely to buy additional products from a bank, and were less enthusiastic to recommend the bank to others, according to a Deloitte study . Many banks offer mobile solutions but make the mistake of introducing very limited functionality, which encourages dissatisfied customers to revert back to online channels. Use chat banking to improve customer service Let’s take a look at how organizations can deliver better mobile experiences by providing the basic services expected with mobile channels. Mobile transfers like bill payments, international, and peer-to-peer transfers are among the most in-demand mobile features. These are the features customers care most about, found the BI Intelligence Mobile Banking Competitive Edge Report . Clients also want to perform simple tasks quickly. For example, banks could allow customers to easily check their balance without having to log in first. A mobile channel must make it easier for customers to do business, including providing value-adds like a free mini-credit report, for example. These features needn't be delivered via a mobile app - many users are frustrated with downloading new apps , and this alone easily makes chat banking the most simple and cost-effective form of digital banking. Customers prefer chat banking and chat commerce for convenience and simplicity; they can easily and securely connect with banks and eCommerce sites on social media platforms. Imagine this scenario: A customer wants to transfer money. Instead of going online, or logging into their banking app, they head to WhatsApp and send a message to their bank contact: “What’s my balance?”. The balance is texted. What about new products? The customer types: “I need a new credit card.”. A quote and application form are sent back immediately. The First Bank of Nigeria partnered with Clickatell Transact recently to launch a chat banking channel on WhatsApp, so that customers can easily perform balance checks, transfers, and payments. This is one of a number of the largest banks in Africa that has partnered with Clickatell as an enabler of this valuable channel. Clickatell’s chat banking solution allows you to connect with your customers on their favorite messaging channels  Customers will love this approach: it’s fast, easy, and finds them on channels they’re already spending the most time on.

Consumers prefer chat banking Banking is not just an essential life function conjuring up images of stately offices, tellers, and familiar ATMs. It’s a seamless mobile experience and successful brands are understanding the change and adapting to the new opportunity that chat banking offers. Interestingly, the main driver is consumer expectation, not the technologies. This important shift is not a trend, but a seismic shift in banking, commerce, and consumption. Going digital is no longer about making friendlier websites, moving business operations to the cloud or publishing a mobile app. Those are important, but not sufficient to capture today’s consumer imagination. We are seeing tangible changes already happening in developing countries where constraints drive innovation and are a harbinger of a worldwide movement. Two key developments centered around the shift are the emergence of a mobile everything lifestyle and chat as a business channel. Two chat applications, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, command 48% of the 5.86 billion monthly active users of popular chat applications globally. Further, of the top 10 popular messaging apps, 9 have APIs to enable businesses to have a presence within the chat channels. In China, the two largest applications, WeChat and QQ Mobile, were the earliest to capture the mind set shift of consumers, from using the messaging application as a social platform to a full-blown channel to transact with businesses with the same convenience. It should, therefore, be little surprise that banking follows suit. Convenience drives consumption. Why should a consumer have a disjointed experience doing banking in a separate app, while commerce interactions are seamless and driven through a familiar chat interface? This spells a shift in app consumption: from an-app-for-that, to a-chat-for-that world. We believe that chat as an interface is the next big step in making businesses accessible. People love using messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Slack. Other platforms like Amazon Echo, Siri, and virtual and augmented reality, are on the rise. Consuming app-like rich visual experiences within a chat is gaining momentum. ABSA recently launched chat banking on WhatsApp using the Clickatell API.  Close on its heels, three of the largest banks in Nigeria are rolling out their chat banking experiences on WhatsApp. This is a movement gaining momentum across large regions in Africa and India. Banks are increasingly being seen as a commerce destination, not just a place to safeguard your money and get loans. In developing countries, banks offer direct debit-to-pay for services that can be acquired digitally: airtime, data, entertainment, electricity, the list is long. The service providers get access to customers on banking channels, and banks get to engage their consumers. All done through chat. Consumers learn about new products and services from friends and family conversations, group chats, and social proof. A business or bank is then just a click away. Transactions begin with a simple “Hi”. Zero app downloads, zero website navigations, zero learning curve . Marketing is now seamlessly interwoven into social conversations. Brand credibility and trust is always under a microscope and not controlled through PR alone. The emerging population is leading the behavioral change. Millennials drove the push to mobile and smartphones. And now, millennials are about to be surpassed by Generation Z. Gen Z will comprise 32 percent of the global population of 7.7 billion in 2019, nudging ahead of millennials, who will account for a 31.5 percent share according to a recent Bloomberg analysis . Marcie Merriman, an executive director at Ernst & Young LLP in her article “Rise of Gen Z: New Challenge for Retailers,” writes, “Gen Z, like all generations, was borne from disruption. Today, the very goal of businesses, political groups - not just technology companies - is to disrupt the status quo, to change how people think and live". Thanks to the internet, social platforms, smartphones and advancements in mobile technology, events and innovations are shared instantly and disseminated globally. The emerging population is leading the behavioral change. Millennials drove the push to mobile and smartphones. Technology makes the transformation a reality at a faster pace than ever before. Starting with smartphones and affordable data access, now within easy grasp across a wide economic spread, we are seeing rapid emergence of AI, virtual agents, and automation into production. Voice platforms integrated with AI driven by Amazon, Google, Apple, and Facebook are getting increased adoption. Large organizations in the US are making the shift. JP Morgan has embarked on a “digital everything” consumer business model to build an entirely digital bank. According to the Aug 2018 research article , “This is in part because customers no longer need to rely on banks for financial services - 60% of US bank customers say they are willing to try a financial product from a tech firm they already use, and that number rises to 73% for customers aged 18- 34”. In summary, consumer-driven digital transformation is once again upping the stakes for the banking experience. Banks need to think beyond traditional engagement. Consumers are loyal to their learnings and experiences. They might not remember the details of an interaction, but they will remember how it made them feel. And that makes all the difference in acquiring, retaining, and growing the customer base. Clickatell has had the fortunate opportunity to enable large banks to fulfill their chat banking ambitions in challenging market conditions. We have a long history in partnering with brands globally for their consumer communication needs. Our expansion into transactions and customer engagement was born out of the opportunity to help brands succeed in this rapidly evolving market. Clickatell can help you win consumers and keep them happy. We'll be at BAI Beacon 2018 , so visit our booth or set up a meeting to find out how we’ve helped some of the world’s top banking institutions with their digital strategies, including powering the 1st global chat banking service on WhatsApp .