Study Reveals 5 Banking Tech Types & How to Serve Each

Online personality quizzes that answer questions like “What soup are you?” may just be for fun, but a new survey of 12,000 consumers that matched each participant with one of five approaches to banking technology could teach credit unions how to serve members based on their motivations.

“Motivations in Modern Banking,” a new report from global connected commerce provider Diebold Nixdorf and consumer research company NielsenIQ, profiled five “Tech Types”: Struggling realists, who are motivated by appreciation and safety; established traditionalists, who are motivated by long-standing habits; simplicity seekers, who are motivated by simplicity and self-determination; guarded explorers, who are motivated by human reassurance; and empowered self-starters, who are motivated by hyper-personalization.

Consumers from 11 countries – the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, France, Germany, the U.K., Turkey, Egypt, South Africa and Indonesia – participated in the study, which produced three key insights:

• Each Tech Type has a distinct motivation;
• Each Tech Type displays a vastly different approach to technology; and
• Each Tech Type’s motivations must be internalized to increase customer/member satisfaction and loyalty.

The study also emphasized that segmenting consumers by Tech Type is more beneficial than segmenting them by a commonly-leveraged demographic like age. “Forget about ‘Gen Z’ or other overly simplified grouping patterns. Inward motivation often cannot be identified just from observable behavior or demographic characteristics,” the report said.

It drilled down further into the characteristics of each Tech Type and how organizations can best meet their needs:

Struggling Realists

This type craves financial security, which they know they can’t achieve on their own, and feels detached from and distrustful of their financial institution if they are not made to feel appreciated. They are the second-largest Tech Type, have a relevant presence in developed countries and are the most evenly spread across generations (although the average age of a struggling realist is 42). They also have low overall and banking-related tech-savviness, and only 35% feel confident and knowledgeable when making financial decisions.

Credit unions looking to meet their needs should focus on reassuring them that their money is safe and coaching them to help them understand their financial situation and options, according to the report.

Established Traditionalists

“Thorough but impassionate managers of their finances,” this group avoids change and only adopts technology when it’s widely used and proven to be secure. They are typically affluent, are the only type that named the branch as their top preferred banking channel, and three-quarters of them prefer using a desktop computer or laptop for banking as opposed to a mobile device. The average age of an established traditionalist is 51.

Since they are likely to have their finances settled, their interactions with their financial institution are likely be at a minimum, so institutions should reach out to established traditionalists proactively. Institutions should also focus on relevancy, security and adoption levels when attempting to onboard members of this group to new technology.

Simplicity Seekers

Both the largest and youngest segment with an average age of 35, simplicity seekers manage the majority of their financial needs online and crave a seamless, low-friction digital banking experience. They’re price-sensitive and don’t invest a lot of time researching financial products.

To win them over, credit unions should focus on transparency, ease of use and fulfilling the most common requests in their product and service lineup, the report recommended. They should also invest in digital financial management, referral and cost comparison tools to earn the business of simplicity seekers.

Guarded Explorers

Members of this group value their relationship with their financial institution, tend to be spontaneous and sociable, and prefer banking technology with a human touch, according to the report. They are the second youngest segment with an average age of 37 and open to taking financial advice. Presenting a challenge, they also are the least loyal to their financial institution and most likely to switch providers. “For financial institutions, approaching them the wrong way can easily result in missing unleveraged potential or even losing business to competitors,” the report stated.

To lure them in and keep them around, the report recommended investing in personal relationship-building, humanlike technology such as video tellers, and remote advisors who check in regularly with their guarded explorer clients.

Empowered Self-Starters

This financially- and tech-savvy group expects a high level of knowledge from their financial services provider, is comfortable taking risks and remains loyal to their institution when served well. They’re also highly willing to fork personal data over to their institution in exchange for personalized services and recommendations. The average age of an empowered self-starter is 39.

Credit unions looking to win the business of empowered self-starters should focus on connecting them with readily available experts, and offering data-driven personalization, efficient digital solutions and data protection. Staying abreast of innovation and competition in the financial services industry, and providing new investment opportunities such as virtual currencies, are also keys to success with this group.