In the last months, with the requirement of social distancing due to the pandemic on one hand and the ongoing needs of financial operations for both individuals and businesses on the other, mobile banking apps have reached significant importance.
The development of mobile banking apps has been on the rise for the last decade. It corresponds to consumers’ needs in a more compatible and convenient way. Furthermore, traditional banking services and solutions are not sufficient for the millennial generation who fuel the banking apps momentum.
In the first half of this year, 89% of U.S. bank account holders used mobile banking to manage their accounts. By 2021, there will be approximately 7 billion mobile users on a global scale and by 2024, mobile banking usage will exceed 3.6 billion users.
To reach this amount of success, it is important to have a well designed mobile banking application. To do so, you must know how to build a banking app. Read further to better understand the fundamentals of developing a banking app and making your mobile app a part of your customers’ finance experience.
It Serves Both Ways
Offering your clients a mobile banking app will, of course, provide them a better banking experience. But what’s in it for you? Here are some of the advantages of having a mobile banking app for you to benefit from.
- Eliminate your competitors: The banking industry comes with many competitors. A bank that provides 24/7 banking services will be more preferable among traditional banks. Especially millennials are more willing to handle their banking activities through their mobile devices. Being able to offer them a mobile banking app will make you more favorable among the new generation.
- Low cost for banking services: Having your customers operate their own banking services will save you from the costs that come with operating a branch (employee payments, rentals, etc.). When you have lower costs, you can offer loans with lower expenses and fees. You can also offer your clients higher rates for deposits! Both will make you more favorable among other banks.
- Collaboration: People love special offers and discounts. When you have mobile banking apps, you can partner with other businesses such as movie theaters, shops, etc. This will again be attractive for your current customers and also draw new ones from your partnership.
- Big data: Once you go mobile, or online, you are able to track your customers’ financial activities. Learning their usage patterns will help you customize your banking services. Customer-oriented services are always more welcomed. With the push notifications that you will be able to send through their mobile devices, you will not only keep your customers informed on your newest updates, but you will also be able to build brand loyalty and reduce the chance of losing your customer to another bank.
How to Build a Banking App
You’ve learned the benefits of having a mobile banking app. Now let’s dive into the steps on how you can develop one.
- Know your customers
Identifying your customers and knowing their needs has a crucial impact on developing your banking app. You can use big data and analytics to source this information. This step requires you to think like a customer, not a bank. What do you need to serve your personal banking activities?
- One for all, or not
Mobile banking applications can be used on all kinds of mobile devices ranging different brands. All have different systems that you will have to optimize your mobile app for to properly support it. Devices also come with different screens, features, and cache sizes.
To prevent incompatibility, run as many tests as you can on different devices including real and emulated ones. Pre-launch testing will save you from numerous bugs and further poor feedback. In addition, you can integrate analytic systems to gather reports and evaluate your performance. Doing so, you will be able to identify and solve issues quickly, collect user experience, and upgrade applications.
- Security measures
One of the most disincentive factors in mobile banking is security. As much as most of us have integrated the internet and technology into our lives, many people still face insecurities, especially when it comes to handling banking services. Including the features and settings below will reinsure your customers and prevent fraud.
- Configure servers: You can test-drive whether or not your mobile app is protected by using configure servers. They inform you if you are protected from phishers and spam apps.
- Integrate 2FA: 2-factor authentication is an additional option of second login confirmation via SMS or Google Authenticator.
- Use digital signatures: Designed for online use, digital signatures can be used by your clients to verify transactions, and for better security.
- Close sessions automatically: Frauds often get access to accounts left open. Automatically end sessions that have been inactive within the last minutes.
- Detect jailbroken mobile phones: People use jailbreak on their devices to open the system for downloads, etc. but it reduces security. Prevent installing banking apps on such devices.
- Security policies: If you already have a developed app, make sure it is coherent with new planned products in terms of security.
- Less is more
Mobile banking apps are not only mobile but they also have to be practical. You have to revise step 1 and think about what your customers use banks for most:
- Account management
- Deposits and withdrawals
- Transactions
- Loans and interests
- Payment processing
- Personalized offers
- Loyalty programs
- Customer support
A mobile app best functions with these features. You can add extra features that will help your customers even further, which we will mention later on. However, when you overload your app with all kinds of banking services, it will not only make it harder for your customers to navigate it, but it will also affect the productivity of your app and reduce response time.
For example, according to a study conducted by Keynote Systems in 2013, Charles Schwab’s application which had only 6 elements led the ranking with 5 seconds average response time and the product from the Bank of America with 58 elements was the slowest one with about 30 seconds.
Extra features:
- ATM locators: Integrated GPS systems will help your customers’ to locate the nearest ATM. It is important to be able to fulfill the needs of your customers’ within the app without having them search online about information on such things.
- Chatbots: This AI feature will be available for your customer service needs 24/7 and is way more cost-effective than a real-life customer service representative.
- Cardless ATMs: Cardless ATMs allow customers to withdraw or deposit money via QR codes or one-time reference codes.
- Voice banking: Another AI fintech product that makes mobile banking even more convenient.
- Appeal to the eye
When something is mobile it has to be visually appealing. For branding purposes, use typography, icons, color palette, buttons and themes that suit your bank. Make sure that your design is convenient and ergonomic. Your app should be unique and your banking solutions must stand out.
- Use CRM
CRM has a crucial importance in developing a mobile banking app. Once you launch your app, you’ll have to track both positive and negative feedback that you receive on it. This will not only improve your app, but you will also provide customer satisfaction when you take your customers’ needs into attention.
You should not only use CRM to get information about your customer, but also to provide them information about your bank and products. Push notifications are the best way to make your customer feel special. With the gathered information from CRM and big data, you can offer your customers specialized banking solutions or banking services. As mentioned before, this will build both brand loyalty and customer satisfaction.
Conclusion
The world is a place with many mobile devices and less time that people have to spare on banking activities. With the new generation’s thirst for modernization, it is impossible to stick to traditional banking perspectives. Especially with the ongoing pandemic in the world, both people and banks have acknowledged the benefits of mobile banking apps even more than before.
However, from picking the right software development to providing the right banking solutions, developing a mobile banking application has many steps to go over. It requires experience, knowledge, and most of all a systematic analysis of the application to keep it updated, bug-free, and always open to the newest banking solutions and services.
ForInvest offers you digital banking solutions that will carry your bank into the future. Contact us to have experts build your own mobile banking applications tailored to your needs.