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For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals
Why Read This Report
Mobile banking is the most important strategic change in retail banking in more than a decade. Yet too
many banks have taken a haphazard approach to mobile strategy, rolling out apps and features without a
rigorous assessment of where customers’ expectations and business objectives align. The mobile banking
strategy playbook provides insights for all banking eBusiness and channel strategy professionals — from
those just beginning their mobile banking journey to experienced leaders who are looking to optimize
their already successful strategy. Our research identifies the steps that digital banking teams must follow
to plan and then implement a successful mobile banking strategy that complements other channels,
including planning and strategy creation, organization and governance, technology selection, best
practices in execution, measuring success, and continuous improvement.
Building A World-Class Mobile Banking Strategy
Executive Overview: The Mobile Banking Strategy Playbook
by Peter Wannemacher and Benjamin Ensor
with Carrie Johnson, Tiffani Montez, Myriam Da Costa, and Douglas Roberge
March 19, 2013
WHY MOBILE BANKING MATTERS
Mobile banking is the most important strategic opportunity in retail banking in at least a decade.1
Too
many banks have taken a haphazard approach to mobile banking strategy in the rush to meet customers’
rising expectations and keep up with competitors. Digital banking leaders and retail banking board
members need to take a more disciplined approach to mobile banking strategy because mobile banking is
fundamental to the very future of retail banking businesses. Mobile banking will increasingly define the
customer experience for millions of customers because:
■ Mobile Internet use is exploding, driving high customer expectations. With more than 1 billion
smartphones in consumers’ pockets at the beginning of 2013, mobile is driving a second Internet
revolution that’s even more profound than the first one.2
The longer customers spend using mobile
devices, the higher their mobile expectations become. The rate of technological change — and the
digital disruption it causes — is outpacing many banks’ ability to keep up with traditional planning
and development processes.3
■ Mobile banking is displacing online banking. Technologies like apps let customers perform simple
banking tasks more quickly and easily on a mobile or a tablet than on a PC. As a result, banking on
smartphones and tablets is already displacing banking on PCs for routine interactions.4
Growing
numbers of users are mobile-only customers who have either stopped using or significantly reduced
their use of other channels. Over the coming decade, smartphones, tablets, and other portable devices
will become the dashboard through which many customers, both rich and poor, manage their money.
In the US alone, we expect the number of mobile banking users to more than double over the next five
years to reach 108 million by 2017.5
Other countries will see similar growth.

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Building A World-Class Mobile Banking Strategy 2
© 2013, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited March 19, 2013
■ Mobile banking enables smarter contextual interactions. While comparisons with PC-
based online banking are natural, they are dangerous because they disguise the fundamental
differences of ubiquitous, always-on mobile devices and the disruptive impact those devices
will have on retail banking and payments. Mobile is not just another channel. It offers new
opportunities based on context: the sum total of what your customer has told you and is
experiencing at his moment of engagement.6
Digital banking teams will use contextual
information about customers such as location, time of day, recent interactions, and past
behavior to anticipate what customers want, minimizing steps and manual entries for customers.
■ Mobile technologies are poised to disrupt retail banking and payments. Over the next few
years, Forrester believes that a variety of new mobile payment systems will disrupt established
retail payment patterns.7
To compete, banks will need to help customers make a wide variety
of different payments — from payments at in-store points of sale to payments to friends on
Facebook — through their mobile devices.
A Sound Mobile Banking Strategy Will Create A Durable Competitive Advantage
Most banks already offer some mobile banking functionality. The challenge now is to develop and
execute a strategy that creates value for customers and makes a difference to a retail bank’s cost/
income ratio. Mobile banking will affect every aspect of retail banking business models, from
customer acquisition and retention through costs and revenues to long-term brand identity. The
costs of building a world-class mobile banking infrastructure are substantial, but the rewards of
getting it right will be greater still.8
The digital banking leaders who persuade their firms to dedicate
sufficient resources to mobile banking and execute their strategies superbly will:
1. Increase customer acquisition through differentiation. Banks are already using mobile
banking to differentiate their brands, for example by incorporating mobile banking into TV
advertising. In the US, Chase and USAA attracted attention with their early-to-market mobile
remote deposit capture services.9
Mobile banking creates a new opportunity to win customers.
For example, roughly one in eight online Canadians say they would consider switching banks if
“another firm offered better mobile banking services.”10
2. Improve customer service efficiency by diverting interactions from other channels. Many
banks have already achieved and reported substantial cost savings from serving customers
through mobile devices, rather than in more costly branches and contact centers. When we
asked US mobile banking users how mobile banking had changed their use of other channels,
43% said they had made phone calls to their bank’s call center less often since adopting mobile
banking.11
One large Canadian bank reported a 12% drop in in-branch transfers after launching
its mobile app. Many US banks and credit unions have cut the cost of taking deposits by
introducing mobile remote deposit capture.12

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Building A World-Class Mobile Banking Strategy 3
© 2013, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited March 19, 2013
3. Increase retention by staying relevant to digitally savvy customers. Mobile banking will help
banks to stay relevant to customers, particularly the younger and wealthier ones who are most
likely to use mobile banking. By helping customers manage their finances on the go, banks
do what’s best for their customers, not just what’s best for their bottom line — a trait Forrester
calls customer advocacy.13
For example, a customer who receives an SMS alert that lets her
instantly pay a bill and avoid a late fee experiences a positive moment of truth that boosts her
loyalty to her bank. A customer who sets up multiple payees via an app and pays each one while
commuting to work is less likely to switch banks — given the effort required to set up all of his
bills at a new bank.
4. Earn revenue through cross- and upselling. Mobile banking offers traditional revenue
opportunities, such as cross- and upselling products to existing customers, and new revenue
opportunities, such as delivering merchant-funded rewards through mobile digital wallets.
For example, Spain’s Bankinter uses SMS to upsell services to its customers when they make a
transaction with their debit or credit card.
The MOBILE BANKING STRATEGY PLAYBOOK IS A FRAMEWORK fOR SUCCESS
Digital banking leaders face a series of barriers that they must overcome to execute mobile strategies
successfully, including the rapid pace of technology change, determining how to integrate mobile
banking into a wider multichannel strategy, internal organizational challenges, the complexity
of building scalable mobile platforms, and the technical problems presented by diverse mobile
platforms and devices. Forrester’s mobile banking strategy playbook will help you take a disciplined
approach to deliver on this business imperative successfully — from identifying the trends through
defining your strategy to executing and then optimizing your mobile banking offerings. Our mobile
banking strategy research is composed of four distinct phases, each consisting of three parts (see
Figure 1). To deliver a world-class mobile banking strategy, we believe that you should:
1. Discover the importance of mobile banking to the future of retail banking. We expect 108
million customers will be using mobile banking in the US alone by 2017, with another 85
million in seven Western European countries.14
Digital banking leaders need to help their
firms use mobile banking to meet customers’ expectations and respond to the threat of digital
disruption to their banking and payments businesses.15
Our research will help you understand
the current mobile banking landscape, develop a vision for your own firm, and build the
business case to justify further investment.
2. Plan your strategy to deliver a world-class mobile banking experience. Forrester has
developed a maturity model to help you make an honest assessment of your current mobile
maturity and identify gaps in your strategy, governance, and execution. Our research will help
you develop an appropriate strategic plan by assessing your customer’s mobile needs, outlining
your objectives, developing your strategy to achieve those objectives, and identifying the
technologies needed to execute the strategy.16

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Building A World-Class Mobile Banking Strategy 4
© 2013, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited March 19, 2013
3. Act to deliver mobile banking efficiently. Driving change across large and complex
organizations tests even the smartest executives. Developing for mobile is taxing the skills and
resources of many digital teams. Our mobile banking strategy playbook will help you organize
the right team. We describe the best practices that have encouraged customers to use mobile
banking at other banks.17
We also help you evaluate mobile banking platforms.18
4. Optimize to maintain your competitive edge. As mobile technologies evolve and expectations
rise, you will need to increase your mobile sophistication to deliver contextual mobile
experiences that meet your customers’ needs. You must fine-tune your mobile banking services
and continue to innovate to maintain your competitive edge.19
Our research shows digital
banking teams how to develop appropriate metrics to measure mobile banking performance,
provides a detailed benchmark of leading mobile banking offerings, and shows how to optimize
mobile banking to stay ahead of customers’ needs.
Figure 1 The Mobile Banking Strategy Playbook
Source: Forrester Research, Inc.75141
DISCOVER PLAN ACT OPTIMIZE
Assessment
Strategic Plan
Road Map
Organization
Processes
Tools And
Technology
Performance
Management
Benchmarks
Continuous
Improvement
Vision
Landscape
Business Case
Endnotes
1
Mobile banking is the biggest innovation, or cluster of innovations, in retail banking in years, arguably
in a century. In developing economies that lack a dense infrastructure of branches, ATMs, and fixed-line
telecoms, mobile banking is bringing millions of people into the formal banking system for the first time.
In developed economies, the impact is lesser but still profound because we believe mobile banking will
become the primary way many, perhaps most, customers interact with their banks. See the August 13, 2012,
“The State Of Mobile Banking 2012” report.

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Building A World-Class Mobile Banking Strategy 5
© 2013, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited March 19, 2013
2
With more than 1 billion smartphones in consumers’ pockets at the beginning of 2013, mobile is driving
a second Internet revolution that’s even more profound than the first one. Mobile creates new value for
consumers and businesses, alters cost structures, and disrupts ecosystems. See the February 13, 2013, “2013
Mobile Trends For eBusiness Professionals” report.
3
Thanks to digital platforms, your customers live in a world of heightened expectations and abundant
options; they can get more of what they want, in more places, at more times, than ever before. Seizing this
opportunity, digital disruptors threaten to make you irrelevant by delivering a more compelling product
and service experience than you can and at a lower cost, often without even knowing that they’re upending
you. See the October 27, 2011, “The Disruptor’s Handbook” report.
4
Many leading banks have told us that they have already seen the number of mobile banking interactions
(not the number of users) overtake the number of online banking interactions. Although far fewer
customers use mobile banking, customers who use mobile banking interact with their bank much more
often, both because mobile banking encourages interaction and because the most active customers have the
most incentive to adopt mobile banking.
5
After many years of high expectations, mobile banking is finally achieving rapid growth in the developed
markets of North America, Europe, and Australia. Banks have rolled out support broad enough to enable
customers with nearly any mobile device to access basic banking functionality. See the August 13, 2012,
“The State Of Mobile Banking 2012” report.
6
Consumers will adopt and use convenient services and products. In mobile, this translates to services
that offer immediacy and simplicity through a highly contextual experience. The ability to deliver highly
contextual experiences will increase in sophistication with the technologies embedded in mobile phones.
eBusiness and channel strategy professionals must use context to deliver the right information at the right
time to the right place to increase conversions. See the May 1, 2012, “The Future Of Mobile eBusiness Is
Context” report.
7
Mobile digital wallets will combine product discovery (such as coupons and offers) with enhanced product
information (such as bar-code scanning), mobile payments, digital receipts, and loyalty rewards. This marks
the start of a major disruption in retail payments. See the August 2, 2012, “Why The Digital Wallet Wars
Matter” report.
8
Implementing the complex technology to make the most of mobile opportunities requires not just a new
vision of how to interact with customers but also significant cultural and competency changes — as well
as investment in infrastructure, staffing, governance, and organization. See the February 13, 2013, “2013
Mobile Trends For eBusiness Professionals” report.
9
In 2009, USAA pioneered mobile remote deposit of a check by taking a photograph of both sides with a
phone from within USAA’s mobile application. The mobile deposit service has seen large-scale adoption
and has moved deposits away from the more costly mail. See the November 3, 2011, “Case Study: USAA
Makes Mobile Remote Deposit A Core Mobile Offering” report.
10
Source: North American Technographics® Finance And Customer Experience Online Survey, Q4 2011 (Canada).

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Building A World-Class Mobile Banking Strategy 6
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located at www.forrester.com. Information is based on best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change. 75141
11
We asked US online adults who use mobile banking the following question: “Since you started using
mobile banking, have you made phone calls to your bank less often, about as often, or more often?” Of the
respondents, 43% said they had made phone calls less often, while 7% said they made calls more often. Source:
North American Technographics Financial Services Online Benchmark Recontact Survey, Q2 2010 (US).
12
Redstone Federal Credit Union put the right metrics in place to prove the cost-to-serve reductions that
came from moving deposits out of a costly human-assisted channel like the branch to a lower-cost self-
service channel like mobile. The credit union found a big change in branch deposit behavior. See the
February 15, 2013, “Case Study: Redstone Federal Credit Union Right-Channels Deposits To The Mobile
Channel” report.
13
Our research shows that a key driver of deeper customer relationships among financial services consumers
is a trait we call “customer advocacy” — the perception on the part of customers that a firm does what’s best
for them, not just what’s best for the firm’s own bottom line. When customers feel that a financial services
firm acts in their best interest, they are willing to invest more, borrow more, and buy more products from
the firm. See the April 30, 2012, “Customer Advocacy 2012: How Customers Rate US Banks, Investment
Firms, And Insurers” report.
14
We expect 105 million people to be using mobile banking in the US by 2017. Source: Forrester Research
Mobile Banking Forecast, 2012 To 2017 (US).
We expect 85 million people to be using mobile banking in the seven Western European countries of France,
Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the UK by 2017. Source: Forrester Research Mobile
Banking Forecast, 2012 To 2017 (EU-7).
15
A recent report outlines Forrester’s vision of how digital banking teams in developed economies can seize
the opportunities arising from engagement with customers and prospects through mobile touchpoints. See
the November 12, 2012, “The Mobile Banking Imperative” report.
16
Mobile strategies fail when firms approach them as purely technology solutions or marketing initiatives
without clear business objectives and stakeholder support. Having a documented strategic plan that all
stakeholders — marketing, eBusiness and channel strategy, and IT — agree on can make the difference. See
the March 4, 2013, “Getting Mobile Banking Strategy Right” report.
17
Digital banking teams can drive mobile banking use by listening to their customers’ needs, helping
customers achieve their goals, integrating mobile banking into wider multichannel strategy, and lowering
the barriers to adoption with tactics like education and security guarantees. See the January 28, 2013, “Best
Practices In Mobile Banking” report.
18
A recent report outlines the tools and technologies digital banking teams need to execute their mobile banking
strategy. It is designed to provide guidance on how to build and optimize existing mobile technologies to
increase customer value. See the January 2, 2013, “Building Next-Generation Mobile Banking” report.
19
Digital banking teams must change gear from running mobile banking like a pilot to operating as a mature
practice that focuses on optimizing the mobile banking experience and delivering against key performance
indicators. See the September 10, 2012, “Optimize Your Mobile Banking Strategy” report.