New mobile banking survey reveals untapped market among offline banking consumers.

• Position: Marketing News

A recent survey of more than 500 U.S. mobile phone users released suggests that financial institutions should mine the untapped market of offline-banking consumers as a potential target audience for mobile banking and payment services.

The survey, commissioned by VeriSign's Messaging and Mobile Media Division and conducted by Palmer Research, in collaboration with financial services technology provider Fiserv and mobile banking provider M-Com, illustrates that 60 percent of consumers not currently using online banking would be interested in using at least one mobile banking service if it was offered during a typical month. The survey also shows that non-online-banking consumers are heavy users of traditional bank channels: nearly two-thirds reported contacting their financial institution once a week or more through one or more bank channels such as contact centers and interactive voice response systems. These are among the most costly customer service channels.

"Consumer feedback shows that the potential user base for mobile financial services includes not only online banking users, but also consumers that currently rely on the branch or contact center to conduct financial transactions," said Erich Litch, senior vice president and general manager of consumer service for Fiserv.

With this in mind, financial institutions should...