By Isabel Ferreira, Director of Sales, UK & Ireland at Adjust
The future of fintech
Along with the drastic change in app usage patterns and habits in 2020 came unprecedented installs and sessions growth across all verticals. One vertical that saw the biggest increases was fintech – and that growth has shown no signs of slowing down in 2021.
Banking app revenue reached £2.59 billion in 2021, by mid-2020, 25% of all banking app downloads were digital banks, up from 1% in 2017, and the average user now has 2.5 finance apps installed. Global payments reached £1 billion in 2020 and the e global mobile payment market size is expected to grow to £6.42 trillion by 2027 – with a compound annual growth rate of 29% forecast.
So how do apps in this booming fintech space proceed, and how does the traditional finance sector work to compete with digital-first businesses?
What banking apps have to offer
Credit cards and e-wallets are expected to surpass cash at all points of sales by 2021, which can be accredited to the benefits digital banking can offer. When developing a banking app, it’s important to consider how you can optimise the user experience by facilitating their needs. For example, a single mobile banking app can allow users to send and receive transactions, apply for loans, see their status for multiple accounts, and contact customer services. The ability to independently complete these tasks from any location is unrivalled by physical stores.
Another considerable benefit to developing a banking app is that they can be used at any time – enabling your company to offer a 24/7 service to your customers. This creates a win-win scenario –automated tasks save users’ time, and you benefit from a cost effective business model.
Where to begin when creating a successful banking app
- Get to know your audience
Understanding the banking app market is the first critical objective. You will need to conduct extensive market research in order to learn the many functions your target audience needs from a banking app
. The banking vertical caters to a wide age range and a variety of user types, so it’s important to identify the most critical aspects of mobile banking in accordance with your customers.
Moreover, if you already have services via desktop and mobile web, you should offer the same functions in your mobile app. Extensive testing is the best way to identify what works best and ensure your banking app is generating optimal results. You should also seek out user feedback from every demographic you are targeting.
As you gain a greater understanding of what customers want from your app, you should formulate a clear outline of your various target audience groups, why they will be interested and how you can compete against apps targeting the same audience. Answering these questions will give you the insights needed to plan your launch date and other critical components of your marketing strategy.
- Ask yourself ‘What customer support will your mobile app offer?’
There will be scenarios when your users need additional support so it is critical that they can contact a support team. This is a fail-safe way to ensure that users trust your company and know that their money is in safe, capable hands. However, there are ways to ensure users are speaking with a support member only when necessary: Chatbots and comprehensive FAQ pages can help you offer immediate answers to your customer’s most frequent questions in a more cost-effective manner.
- Enable your banking app for finance management
Another important feature for banking apps is the ability to view translation history and statements. This enables users to organise their finances in-app without having to use multiple channels. Depending on the nature of your app, you can also offer budgeting tools and additional insights to offer a superior user experience to your competitors.
- Ensure a safe and secure experience
None of the features above will convince users to install your app if they do not have trust in your app’s security measures. The importance of high-grade security for mobile banking apps cannot be overstated: this is a major concern for users that can make-or-break an app’s success. Ensure that your banking app has air-tight security before launch so that you are not susceptible to mobile bank fraud. Let’s dig deeper into this critical topic.
Banking app security
When looking for ways to make your banking app as secure as possible, it’s important to know how it will impact the user experience and efficiency of your app’s features. With that in mind, here are four features that can contribute to robust app security.
Only allow sophisticated passwords: This is a relatively simple way to make your authentication process more secure. Moreover, users will also already be familiar with having specific requirements for their passwords. In addition to disabling passwords that are easier to hack, you can also require users to change their password after a set period of time.
Don’t store unnecessary information: The best way to ensure user information isn’t compromised is to avoid storing it. Instead, utilize tokenization to ensure sensitive data cannot be stolen during a security breach. Tokenization is the process of replacing data with non-sensitive placeholder symbols called tokens. This is a buzzword within the fintech industry and has become more widely known due to the success of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.
Use two-factor authentication: This is a smart way to optimize your banking app’s security during login and before transactions are complete. For example, if a user wants to make a payment you can use two-factor authentication by sending them an email or contacting them via SMS. Your users can be sent a code to enter in-app, enabling them to complete their desired task.
Implement payment blocking: You can also combat fraud by developing a feature that automatically blocks payments that are suspicious. While this can frustrate users who are wrongfully flagged as suspicious, the additional security measure is worth it because user security takes priority. You can also use your two-factor authentication system to unblock these transactions.
Seizing the fintech opportunity
As the world emerges from the pandemic, the focus of the financial services industry will be to create more meaningful digital experiences that improve the financial health and wellbeing of their customers. The fintechs that continuously innovate and offer better user experiences will see the most success.
