Even As Lockdowns Are Lifted, Consumers Want Remote Banking More Than Ever
Slowly but surely, lockdowns and mandated social distancing policies are being lifted around the US. As a result, many banks are gearing up for a return to pre-pandemic banking habits, such as an abundance of full-service bank branches and physical paperwork.
However, a Lightico survey of 1,024 Americans in mid-September 2020 found that consumers were even more eager to try new digital tools and open financial accounts online than they were in our May survey. Consumer resistance to in-branch banking is independent of fluctuations in official mandates. In other words, the belief that “If you open it, they will come,” couldn’t be further from the truth.
Unfortunately, it gets worse. Not only do consumers prefer to bypass the branch visit––47% of consumers would be less likely to attend to a non-loan banking or financial task if it forced them to visit a branch.
Furthermore, 33% of consumers would not take a loan if it required a branch visit. This should come as a shock given the desperation we see among consumers for new lines of credit, and the importance of lending in the banking industry. Yet, if we do not make lending seamless and if we require our customers to come into our branch, we will lose these opportunities.
We can surmise that two things are at play here: First, banks have gotten better at serving customers digitally throughout the pandemic; there are more opportunities now for financial institutions to serve their customers digitally.
Second, consumers have had more time to get comfortable with digital interactions throughout the pandemic. This may be especially true of nontypical digital users, such as senior citizens, who started to rely on digital channels to safeguard their health during the past half-year. Online and mobile banking no longer seem so intimidating; many now come to see digital channels as an essential convenience.
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