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Top Marketing Challenges for E/M-Banking (2/5)

Posted on by Parul Tandon

Marketing cannot only be seen as an expense to avoid or incur as little as possible. Through marketing, customers are told about a service and how it addresses their need and gives them a reason to use the service. In case of e/m-banking, while there has been significant investment in marketing and promotions, not many providers (except for a few) have achieved significant scale in customer adoption.

This Note attempts to summarise the key challenges that the e/m-banking service providers face while promoting their services and also covers potential, actionable steps that could address the challenges.

Individual or Institutional BCs: The Banker’s Perspective

Posted on by MSC

This Note provides perspective on how individual and institutional BCs are perceived by banks. The Note examines how banks might choose between the two approaches, by using the decision parameters such as:

(a) Customer Acquisition and Outreach,
(b) Customer Relationship and Retention,
(c) Control: Monitoring and Support, and,
(d) Resources.

It serves as a starting point for discussion and decision-making for banks interested in entering the BC business, and for BCNMs interested in partnering with them.

Individual or Institutional BCs: The Client’s Perspective

Posted on by MSC

This Note is the first of a two-part series, which provides some perspective on how individual business correspondents (BCs) and institutional BCs are perceived by clients and banks.

This Note approaches the question from the client’s perspective. It concludes that institutional BCs have the advantage of delivering better on most of the key parameters: trust and customer relationship; quality of service delivery; consumer protection and cash availability, primarily because the BCNMs are dedicated to, and focused on, the success of the overall system. In the case of individual BCs, clients may find that the local bank branch does not have the motivation or the resources to provide dedicated teams to provide superior service. This is especially true in India where the banks prefer to outsource their priority sector/financial inclusion activities (for both credit and savings).

Microfinance in India – Is Business Correspondent the Way Forward?

Posted on by MSC

This Note explores the shape and direction of the future of microfinance sector in India and proposes a model where MFIs act as agents of banks.

It tries to make a win-win case wherein clients benefit from the wider bouquet of product offerings; MFIs de-risk their operations and banks get intermediaries with closer to the ground presence and a more equitable risk – return ratios.

Marketing E/M-Banking More Deliberately and Strategically (1/5)

Posted on by Parul Tandon

The Note is the first of a series of technical briefs focused on strategic marketing for mobile money, covering the following topics:

Challenges in marketing,Branding,Product marketing, and, Parallel links with successful marketing efforts to the rural poor by other industries.

This Note, in particular, attempts to highlight the need for marketing e/m-banking services and derives its content from several field research initiatives undertaken by MicroSave along with its Action Research Partners (ARPs) in India, Indonesia, Kenya, South Africa, Colombia, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines.The Note also introduces the strategic marketing framework of MicroSave and how it applies to e/m-banking context.

Mobile Money – Questions That Your Clients Will Ask You

Posted on by Parul Tandon

This Note is a summary of some of the key questions that usually surface during customer interactions regarding the use of e/m-banking platforms. The key objective of the Note is to serve as a reference for institutions engaged in e/m-banking for their marketing plan design and promotion strategies. These questions, simple but important, can help institutions fine-tune their product, processes and, most importantly, their communication strategy.