The Rise of the Mobile-First Consumer — and What That Means for Banking

The move to mobile is happening faster than anticipated and profoundly changing banking in fundamental ways. Almost 1 in 4 primary bank customers currently claims to be “mobile first,” that is, he or she primarily uses a mobile device to access a checking account (23%). Driven by the adoption of smartphones and tablets, the U.S. banking system has reached an important crossover point at which the number of weekly mobile bankers now equals those of customers who use the branch. This represents a shift of almost 53 million consumers in just four short years. This report describes in detail how to service mobile-first bankers, based on primary research into their habits and preferences. It also includes deep insights into servicing branch-first and online-first customers.

Primary Questions:

• Who are mobile-first vs. online-first vs. branch-first customers?
• How does each segment’s needs differ? What technologies and services do they use?
• How valuable are mobile-first, online-first, and branch-first customers to their primary banks?
• How likely are they to switch primary banks and why?
• What are the different channels they use and ways they bank?
• How do they interact with customer service?
• How do they monitor their accounts?

Companies Mentioned: Apple, Bank of America, BankMobile, Chase, Serve, Citibank, Gobank, PNC, Simple, Wells Fargo

The consumer data in this report is based on information collected from Javelin online surveys that targeted respondents in representative proportions of gender, age, income, and ethnicity, compared with the overall U.S. population:

• A random‐sample panel of 6,000 consumers in November 2014. 
• A random-sample panel of 3,225 consumers in a July 2014 survey. 
• A random-sample panel of 6,000 consumers in a May 2014 survey.