Mobile Banking Faces "Chasm" After Early Adopters

Crossing_the_Chasm, Geoffrey Moore's book about the technology diffusion process, makes the point that there is a chasm between the early adopters of the product (the technology enthusiasts and visionaries) and the early majority (the pragmatists) whose adoption is key for any new technology to take hold in the mass market.

Essentially, Moore argues that technology adopters have very different values, requiring a shift of marketing emphasis at each stage of additional adoption.

Crossing the Chasm is closely related to the technology adoption lifecycle where five main segments in turn must be won over: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards.

That same process is at work in the mobile banking business as well. Fiserv argues that many banks and credit unions are on a mobile  adoption path that attracts the early adopters within  a year of offering the service, but the trajectory  stagnates to include just a small additional percentage  of adopters over the next two years.

That’s the “chasm” Moore talks about. Early adopters have embraced mobile banking because it is cool. The next wave of adopters actually will not see that as an advantage, and will resist.

To break through the “glass ceiling” of 20 percent  mobile banking adoption, Fiserv argues,
financial institutions must convince customers outside the pool of early adopters  that mobile banking will provide both convenience and benefits that cannot be experienced through other channels.


In other words, consumers must decide if mobile banking is: 1) useful, 2) accessible, 3) secure, 4) familiar and 5) easy to use. 


How consumers answer these questions will impact the adoption outcome.