SiteSpect Has a Plan to Help Seniors Edge Into Mobile Banking

March 6, 2024         By: Steven Anderson

One of the biggest problems when it comes to a move to mobile banking is that there are some people who simply do not want it. While these people come from all walks of life, perhaps the biggest concentration of people who straight up do not want mobile banking is the senior citizen set. Trying to get these rather recalcitrant souls to move into this technological frontier isn’t going to be easy, but SiteSpect filled us in on what may be an answer: A/B site testing.

The mobile banking numbers, for folks of a certain age, are downright pathetic. Just four percent of users between 55 and 65 are using mobile banking as their weapon of choice. Granted, the numbers aren’t exactly stellar in the younger sets—26 percent of customers 18-25 turn to mobile—but they’re significantly larger than the older set.

This leads banks to a significant problem; by trying to optimize mobile banking for the largest body of users, the banks in turn must directly freeze out clients who may well have been there longer than the target market has been alive.

It follows from this that mobile banking must be a different experience depending on who you ask, and that’s brought SiteSpect into the matter. Since SiteSpect offers services like mobile optimization and A/B site testing, it can move to bring a less universal but more overall appealing experience for the end user.

This is perhaps the biggest point of all. Maybe the big mistake that mobile banking—and potentially even mobile payments—has been making is developing in a one-size-fits-all environment. One size almost never fits all, at the end of the day, so perhaps the key to drawing new users in comes from a more tailored site experience. We’ve already seen such things work already—anyone else remember the Jitterbug line of phones?—so perhaps the “Silver Edition” of mobile banking apps is just the ticket.

There’s a lot to say about this; that it’s ageist to believe that a senior-friendly mobile banking strategy is a good plan, that one size really should fit all in an app, that sometimes needs must outweigh strategy, and plenty more. But the idea may be gaining ground, led by demographics and A/B testing capability.