Would-Be Mobile Payers State Their Case

Banks have been loudly criticized for getting mobile banking off on the wrong foot. Marketing messages have extolled the miracle of anytime, anywhere account-balance queries, or that life-or-death savings accounts funds transfer that can’t wait a half-hour ‘til the user gets home. By not pressing more about the benefits or possibilities of mobile payments, banks are wasting a crucial period to acclimate users to the non-card, cashless paradigm, argues Forrester ResearchForrester, which recently polled a multi-generational group on their mobile and online payments preferences, has some suggestions.

These customers consider mobile payments’ potential benefits would include time savings; not having to carry cash or writing checks, and greater convenience that credit/debit cards. The latter might be hard to quantify, but Forrester found in its survey that 43 percent think PayPal, Google Checkout and Bill Me Later easier to use than online credit cards.

While not mobile payment plays, “each does reinforce a potential benefit of mobile payments and allows customers to question the value of existing payment choices,” wrote lead analyst Emmett Higdon. When looking at payment options, banks could consider things like two-way actionable alerts (get a message about a bill; then reply to the bank to “pay bill”) and introducing text-delivered, one-time passwords to ratchet up security confidence in the end-user.

And there’s even room for improvement on the balance inquiry: think speed dial.