Mobile Marketing and the Growth of e-Banking

Mobile marketing is spreading like wild fire, snatching a large chunk of the e-banking market share. The increase in banking apps in the digital space is not only creating a very interesting deviation from traditional banking practices, it is a confirmation of the crucial role digital marketing plays in the financial sector.

Digital banking is breaching boundaries and creating new frontiers, expanding their customer base, and pushing their operations further and beyond national boundaries. Banks are entering a new phase where most banking transactions are done via mobile devices, and cash deposits as well as withdrawal are done using POS, right within the banking hall. In minutes, customers can now open new bank accounts straight from their mobile devices.

By the end of 2017, experts are forecasting that the number of people that would access their bank through their smartphone device, would be over 1 billion. The banking industry is getting smarter and smaller, and banks are getting closer to their customers now than ever before. Customers now carry their banks along with them in their pockets, and this has drastically helped to reduce the need for carrying out cash transactions and make over the counter payment in-store.

Funds transfer has since gone digital, but the increasing use of mobile banking has further bridged the wide gap that existed between banks and their customers. The days of waiting in long queues both in the banks and in stores are almost over. Digital payment systems such as POS, mobile payment and online fund transfers have brought a new lease of life to bank customers and shoppers alike.

This spectacular deployment and use of banking apps as well as the amazing adaptation of mobile devices for banking transactions have providing clear direction of the future of the banking industry globally. With the advent of e-banking and the increasing use of banking apps, banks are now able to cut down on the number of brick and mortar branches and they are now moving rapidly in the direction of digital banking.

With the growth of digital banking, banks now open ATM galleries in locations where they have previously avoided, rather than open new brick and mortar branches. For the customer, this new role of digital banking is a big relief, freeing them from all the unnecessary waiting time in the banking hall, reducing paper work and the travel time to and from banking locations by customers. Customers are happier for being able to carry out most banking transactions such as funds transfer, check account balance and several other banking transactions digitally.

Smartphones have continued to increase in penetration rate, sales and in Internet usage. In 2017 mobile app revenue reached $77 billion in 2017. Mobile app downloads in 2016 was 146 billion, increasing in 2017 to 197 billion downloads. In an article published by IDC in April 27, 2017, it reported that phone companies shipped a total of 347.4 million smartphones worldwide in the first quarter of 2017 and worldwide smartphone shipments grew 4.3% in the first quarter of the year, a 7% increase from last year’s figure.

The romance between digital marketers and mobile app developers have expanded the scope of the digital marketing industry beyond the traditional advertising and ecommerce. It presently offers diverse opportunities in areas else while not thought about, especially in the financial and banking sectors. There are very few banks that have not embraced digital banking, especially mobile banking.