The clear correlation between low interests rates and declining interest in direct banks among potential switchers raises a big question… Just how important are physical locations to bank shoppers? At what point are they willing to trade-off nearby physical branches for remote channels? To partly address this issue, we fielded a survey to bank shoppers on FindABetterBank to understand how important physical branches are in their decision-making process).
We found that more than half of respondents consider branches to be a primary decision factor:
- 29% can’t imagine a time in the future when they would be comfortable doing all their banking virutally
- 53% wouldn’t consider an institution without a branch nearby
- 51% say branches are an important factor
- 50% feel they have transactions that can’t be completed online or at an ATM
Looking out over a long horizon of 10 or 15 years, consumers will surely feel differently about the role of physical branches. But for now, don’t close all your branches just yet.