Focus on Financial Services

Only 13% of American smartphone users have digital wallets. Providers in this market are largely failing to provide compelling value propositions that get consumers past their concerns about security, convenience and practicality.

Americans still love to hate the banking industry. Almost seven years after the financial crisis, confidence in banks as an institution remains low. The industry has largely been unable to change the public's negative perception.

Gallup recently asked more than 6,000 banking customers the following, "If you had to give up one aspect of your relationship with your bank, the digital or the personal, which one would you give up?"

Banks provide an increasing number of financial services outside of traditional deposits and credit, yet many customers do not take full advantage of these services.

It is an interesting and challenging time to be a regional or community bank. While these banks haven't taken as big of a hit to their reputations that large national banks have in the past five years, many have been unable to slog themselves out of the "mushy middle."

The banking industry looks much different now than it did just 5 1/2 years ago when the Great Recession ended. The consumer's experience and technology are more of a focus now than ever, but many banks still struggle with their most basic operations, leaving these organizations with a long -- and sometimes competing -- list of priorities.

This post is part of Gallup's ongoing series on the shifting landscape for financial institutions. It provides insights into channel optimization, emerging customer behaviors and preferences, product penetration and relationship growth, engaging the most critical affluent and business customers, and reshaping banks' overall value proposition.

This post is part of Gallup's ongoing series on the shifting landscape for financial institutions. It provides insights into channel optimization, emerging customer behaviors and preferences, product penetration and relationship growth, engaging the most critical affluent and business customers, and reshaping banks' overall value proposition.

This post is part of Gallup's ongoing series on the shifting landscape for financial institutions. It provides insights into channel optimization, emerging customer behaviors and preferences, product penetration and relationship growth, engaging the most critical affluent and business customers, and reshaping banks' overall value proposition.

Sales incentives are "easy"-- meet your goal, get your payout. But when you delve into how most banks incentivize on sales, red flags often appear in the nuances of these programs that cause misalignment between the desired behaviors and the desired outcomes.

This post is part of Gallup's ongoing series on the shifting landscape for financial institutions. It provides insights into channel optimization, emerging customer behaviors and preferences, product penetration and relationship growth, engaging the most critical affluent and business customers, and reshaping banks' overall value proposition.

This post is part of Gallup's ongoing series on the shifting landscape for financial institutions. It provides insights into channel optimization, emerging customer behaviors and preferences, product penetration and relationship growth, engaging the most critical affluent and business customers, and reshaping banks' overall value proposition.

This post is part of Gallup's ongoing series on the shifting landscape for financial institutions. It provides insights into channel optimization, emerging customer behaviors and preferences, product penetration and relationship growth, engaging the most critical affluent and business customers, and reshaping banks' overall value proposition.

This post is part of Gallup's ongoing series on the shifting landscape for financial institutions. It provides insights into channel optimization, emerging customer behaviors and preferences, product penetration and relationship growth, engaging the most critical affluent and business customers, and reshaping banks' overall value proposition.

This post is part of Gallup's ongoing series on the shifting landscape for financial institutions. It provides insights into channel optimization, emerging customer behaviors and preferences, product penetration and relationship growth, engaging the most critical affluent and business customers, and reshaping banks' overall value proposition.

To anyone who regularly reads the news (or watches "The Daily Show"), it will come as no surprise that Americans' confidence in banks as an institution is low.

Over the past decade, the lens through which customers view their bank and through which banks view their customers has shifted considerably.

Sales and service are the same thing. There -- I said it. But more often than not, what we hear during morning huddles is more like this: "We still need three home equity applications this week, two more credit cards, and two more checking accounts.

In banking, we often think about customer "transactions" as discrete opportunities to either succeed or fail with the customer. Succeed enough over the course of time, without any substantial "fails," and the customer should reward you with increased business – or at least keep you near the top of their consideration set.