Virgin to Give Local Banks Run for Their Money but International SMS can Level the Playingfield

Local banks  and financial institutions can prevent upset by Virgin, but only if they act to fuel customer satisfaction, retention.

Credit cards, retail deposit accounts and mortgages, these are the offerings the new Virgin-Citibank alliance hope to offer customers from July 2011. Although these accounts will only be accessible via the internet and Citibank’s existing call centres, uptake is expected to be positive with 500 000 new credit card customers in the medium term. A previous Westpac-Virgin credit card offering resulted in 750 000 accounts.

Can Australian banks and other financial institutions survive the oncoming storm?

It’s a near certainty that the arrival of Virgin will have a noticeable effect. How much of an effect it is, depends on the service offering local banks and institutions provide their customers with. Would customers keep on paying the same monies for a better service, or will they take the Virgin route regardless?

If the aphorism “Prevention is better than cure” is anything to go by, these financial institutions can safeguard their position with the implementation of international SMS to send out crucial, perhaps time-sensitive, information that will ultimately benefit the customer.

Keep in touch: anytime, anywhere

More than ever customers are relying on the businesses they deal with to provide them with contextually relevant information. The same is true for the banking industry; people want to know that their money is safe irrespective of their current location.

SMS text messaging therefore provides the ideal medium of business-to-consumer communication that banks can implement to stay in contact with their customers:

• Ubiquitous technology – Australian mobile penetration has already exceeded 100%. All mobile phones, whether Smartphone or feature phone, can receive SMS messages.

• Brief and to-the-point communication due to 160 character limit of single SMS text message (but messages can be spanned across multiple individual 160 character texts).

• International SMS provides a platform for cost-effective global communication.

In short, to up their game, Australian banks could increasingly provide their customers with relevant information that would make their customers’ lives better.

Get more information on International SMS for banking by downloading  the Banker’s Guide Whitepaper.

Alternatively, see which tools will provide you with reliable text messaging on our international SMS page.

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Tags: Account Notifications, critical alerts, Financial Services, global messaging, international SMS, Messaging in Action, mobile banking, SMS Alerts