Why Digital Banking Often Fails to Reduce Offline Volume: Education and Contextual Support Needed to Overcome Offline Inertia

As digital banking capabilities have expanded, consumer adoption of online and mobile channels has continued to climb. Surprisingly, consumer use of traditional banking channels — branch, ATM, call center — has dropped little. Consumers continue to turn to offline channels in high volumes for activities more easily accomplished through digital channels. The reasons for this continued use of traditional channels for digital-capable transactions are varied, from consumer preference for speaking with a person, to the perceived convenience of bundling multiple transactions into a single branch visit, to consumer inertia from always having completed an activity in a particular channel. To encourage further digital migration, banks must provide greater support during digital transactions, including setting clear expectations and highlighting policies and limits prominently.