Gen Y More Likely to Open New Accounts in Branches

by. Rob Rubin

Financial marketers often assume Gen-Y is the most likely segment to open checking accounts online. Turns out that’s not true, and here’s why.

When a community bank recently decided to deploy an online account opening solution, their VP of marketing said their primary rationale was that this method was what younger consumers preferred. This is a reasonable assumption, because young consumers are indeed more digitally-centric than older segments of the population. But…

There’s an adage about online buying behavior: Consumers are only comfortable purchasing products or services online that they completely understand. And the reality is that many younger consumers shopping online for banking products have little- to no experience with banking products. A survey among checking account shoppers on FindABetterBank found that those under 30 were 30% more likely to say they didn’t have a checking account. It is this lack of experience that pushes many Gen-Y consumers into branches to open accounts. Checking account shoppers ages 30 to 39 are actually the group most likely to open accounts online. They want to save time, understand the products and are digitally-savvy enough to do it.

continue reading »