Is a mobile-first approach right for Financial Services Paid Media?

Source: Hitwise Retail Banking in 2017
Recommended Resources: Paid Media Toolkit and 10 costly AdWords mistakes

Chart of the Day: Consumers prefer to compare and switch on desktop

The need for businesses of all industries to perfect their mobile experience has never been more important than it is in 2017. Google promoting Accelerated Mobile Pages and their announcement of a Mobile First Index mean that we need to optimise our websites for mobile and desktop to remain relevant in the coming years.

As marketers, it is vitally important that we create a great online experience for our customers and potential customers no matter which device they choose to use. To help deliver the best experiences across the purchasing funnel, you need to have actionable data to guide you in the right direction for each of the marketing channels including Search, Social, Email, Display etc.

This is where recent research from Hitwise will come in useful. It shows the distinction between an industry pushing towards mobile and a consumer still using desktop for the important conversion actions.

Consumer searches including the term 'Compare"

Consumer searches including the term 'Switch"

When consumers are looking to compare or switch bank accounts they are more likely to complete the action on desktop. This makes sense as it is really fiddly on mobile to enter all your personal details, long numbers and 3rd, 5th, and 8th letter of your password as your keyboard takes up half your screen.

Further into this report, Hitwise highlights that when consumers are searching using the term "open", for example, "open a bank account" the split between mobile and desktop is negligible. This could indicate the trend towards mobile is growing and will overtake desktop in the coming years. Second, it shows the differing terms people use on mobile to do the same action. All of which should influence the keywords you bid on and the ad copy you use to entice your target audience.