5 Mobile App Optimization Ideas for Banking and Finance

More consumers than ever are turning to mobile apps for their banking and finance needs. Younger generations were quick to recognize mobile as the most convenient way to handle their finances. And the COVID-19 pandemic further intensified that shift, with brands and a wide range of consumers adapting to mobile commerce at unprecedented speed.

Those mobile-centric consumers also expect a lot from their apps. With expectations on the rise, it’s imperative to constantly experiment, test and optimize your mobile app to deliver the seamless experiences that your banking and finance customers demand. 

To help banking and finance brands meet that challenge, here are five best practices for optimizing your mobile app for more engagement, retention and a lifetime of loyalty.

Make Onboarding Easier 

Roughly 3 in 10 apps will be deleted from users’ devices within a month and 21% of apps are used just once during the first 6 months after install. Those are tough odds! To overcome them, try experimenting with your onboarding flow. One simple way to increase adoption and engagement is by streamlining the onboarding process. In fact, one of Airship’s financial services clients realized a 10% increase in conversions and a 6% increase in sign-ups just by simplifying their onboarding flow from four screens down to one. 

Segment for Success 

Your app users expect a personalized experience. They also have different needs depending on their location, account types and other factors. For example, if you’re a payment or banking app, some of your messages for your business customers may not be relevant to other users. However, when you segment your users by demographics, geography, behaviors and user-level attributes, you can make every message more personalized, relevant and relatable. 

Make It Personal

Once you’ve segmented your users, it’s time to drive action and engagement with personalized messages across all of your app channels. Every channel in your app has a role to play in keeping customers informed, engaged and delighted. Use push notifications, message center, live in-app chat, in-app messaging, and even mobile wallet to alert customers to deposits, payments due, special offers and more.

You can also use a mobile preference center to give customers more ways to manage their consents and preferences—and reward them with an even more personalized experience!

Increase Value with Geofencing

In 2020, location sharing opt-ins for mobile apps hit their highest rates in years following pandemic-related lockdowns, and use cases for geofencing proliferated as brands and consumers adapted to low contact options like Buy Online Pickup in Store. For banking and finance apps, consider setting geofencing triggers for messages that keep customers up to date with any changes to branch operations and hours; help them locate or access a nearby ATM; or learn about special offers when they’re near a physical location.

Keep Features Front & Center

As you iterate and improve your app, you need to keep customers in the loop on the latest and greatest features; if they don’t know about them, they might as well not exist! Try using push notifications or in-app messages to help users discover valuable features like investment dashboards, mobile transfers, balance notifications and security alerts. 

You can also leverage Feature Flags to roll out new features and code to whom you want, when you want, and minimize risk by getting user feedback before launching those enhancements globally.

Conclusion

With an ongoing optimization strategy for your banking or finance mobile app, you’re on the way to delivering massive value that helps acquire, retain and grow. For more inspiring app optimization ideas and case studies, download our ebook 45 Ways to Boost App Engagement & Retention. 

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