An appetite for the instant

In the second part of our trend mini-series, we take a look a what the growing desire for instant gratification means for financial services.

Now, in the third age of computing, the cloud is allowing processes to take place seamlessly, with users now free to interact with data and information as desired. We know that everything is searchable, streamable and accessible.

Moreover, we expect to get information instantaneously or at the very least receive real-time updates. And when that happens, we tend to trust that service far more.This ‘now’ mentality is a driving a new commercial model, with monthly subscriptions being replaced with real-time access, eg a movie stream or a live football match.

And we’re happy to pay there and then through micro-payments. This appetite for the instant has already had a profound impact on the financial services industry.

Payment has become seamless and instant, with services such as PayM allowing users to be identified and pay their contacts through their mobile phone number. And Trussle, powered by AI, is transforming mortgages by making previously onerous user tasks invisible and providing straight-through access to broking.

As a key user expectation, expect to see instant, frictionless flow continue to pervade other financial services.

Implications for Financial Service brands:

• Users want the world to flow. They expect services to be frictionless and invisible. Brands will need to be clear about the value they add.
• Users will shape the reality they want. They will run their lives with multiple small flows of information and data that allow them to be most efficient – and to change their decisions instantly.
• Companies that are not able to provide their customers with information in real-time will start to become less trusted and will ultimately lose market share.
  
  

This blog is taken from our whitepaper on trends in financial services, marketing, PR and tech, ‘2018 and beyond’.