I spoke toSarah Clark from Mitek recently at News Building in London. She was in town on the back of a new survey by Mitek that focuses on the mobile habits of the millennial generation, and how it has evolved over time.
We managed to steal a meeting room for 20 minutes to record a podcast, and get an overview of the survey findings.
“We tend to lump millennials together into one uniform demographic, and the millennial age range generally runs from 18 to 34 years old,” said Sarah. “There are distinct subgroups within that set, where younger and mid age range vs the older age range have very different characteristics that I think are especially important and relevant to financial services. For example, and not surprisingly, the millennials on the younger end of the age demographic tend to be focused on paying off student loans and very short-term spending needs, such as paying rent and entertainment. Those aged 29-34 are actively seeking out financial services and products because they’ve shifted their focus to wanting to buy a home, safer travel, and save for retirement.”
We go into more depth regarding the older millennial demographic, whose chief concern is mobile security and ID fraud. This is where banks should, according to Sarah, focus their message. For this age group, despite being technically savvy, it’s not necessarily about having a flashy user experience. It’s about having a safe and trustworthy experience.
While the lumping together of millennial subgroups is something many of us are guilty of, some things remain the same for everybody, particularly when talking about user experience. The Mitek research, for example, found that the younger subgroup values customer service as much as anybody, yet this group is more likely to switch to another provider. What remains important for all of the millennials in the study is a consistency of experience.
I find the results from Mitek’s survey about millennial mobile habits interesting. I use facial recognition on my mobile phone, and while I find it fun and exciting to use new technology, I’m more interested in having my friends test it to see if they can access my account!
Mobile security is a hot topic, and I’m sure the next two years will prove to be a competitive landscape for all kinds of authentication and ID verification technology, such as voice technology, iris scanning, fingerprinting and facial recognition.
It was an interesting conversation, and I hope you enjoy it too. As ever, I love to hear from you, so please leave your comments below, or contact me on Twitter .
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