Fintechs expend a great deal of time and money attracting customers to their platforms, via promotional campaigns, improving the user experience, optimising distribution channels etc. But how well-targeted are these efforts? To address this issue, we surveyed 900 consumers and 215 fintechs in 14 emerging markets to find out whether firms efforts were matching consumers’ needs. This note summarises the key results from those surveys and highlights how fintechs could better utilise their resources as they seek to grow their operations.
Platform quality is the major attraction for consumers, and fintechs realise this
The biggest hurdle that needs to be cleared to convince consumers to start using a fintech platform is the user experience; consumers want high-quality and easy-to-use fintech applications. Fintechs do recognise this and are extremely focus on delivering in this area. Other areas where consumer and fintechs views are aligned include service reliability and the importance of promotional campaigns.
Key areas of difference include pricing and speed of delivery, where consumers needs are not being met, and customer onboarding, where fintechs are excessively focused. We look into this issue more deeply below.
Where consumers’ and fintechs’ views differ
Comparing consumers' responses with fintechs', we highlight below some observations that could help fintechs better align their efforts with consumer expectations:
Pricing is of higher importance for consumers than fintechs think; this also confirms our earlier analysis that fintechs have lesser pricing power than they think.
Consumers want quicker execution, but fintechs are not putting enough effort into this area. Blockchain/cryptocurrency is a key example where transaction execution is slower than the end-user wants.
Branding is key for consumers, as it helps to promote trust. As we have highlighted in the past, brand recognition and security are two major areas where fintechs still lag traditional financial institutions.
Fintechs are placing high importance on easing the customer onboarding processes, but consumers appear much less sensitive to this.
Consumers' perspective by market
Looking at consumer responses by market, Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa users want competitive pricing while China, Egypt, India and Pakistan customers are more attracted by the platform convenience. Service reliability is most important for Kenyan fintech consumers and speed of execution is key for Nigerian users.
