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Innovations for Poverty Action reviewed findings from a study on SMS campaigns in a number of countries. The IPA study sought to understand how messages to customers delivered through mobile phones could overcome behavioral biases. The results of the field experiment showed that greater customer engagement through tailored SMS messaging (with content, personalization, timing, and duration variations) helped improve financial behavior. Specifically, in Boliva, Peru, Philippines, Kenya, and Colombia the SMS campaigns increased savings by 6 – 100% relative to no messages. Additionally, results in the Philippines showed that messages improved total loan repayment by 7-9% and timeliness of payments by 24%.
to encourage the use of either. They found that even though the infrastructure was strong, unserved populations did not trust the system and therefore did not adopt digital payments and banking services. It is clear that customer engagement is an important element in keeping clients first.
In India, Artoo held a discussion on the opportunities and challenges of lending to SMEs. Participants focused on customer engagement as a key element in overcoming some of the challenges. One participant highlighted the importance of engaging “with the customer more deeply and not just as a one-time lender but as a financial partner or advisor.”
During the Digital Frontiers Institute webinar, Ignacio Mas and Accion’s Kathleen Yaworsky explored people’s financial coping mechanisms and how digital financial services providers can better integrate behavioral insights into their customer engagement strategies. They highlighted the importance of enhanced customer engagement to help create a sense of ownership of digital products for people who are accessing them for the first time.
The Microfinance Opportunities and CFI Fellows Program webinar focused on client engagement as a key element in effective implementation of digital government-to-person (G2P) payments programs. The research of these programs in Colombia and Pakistan emphasized that governments must focus not only on the delivery of payments, but also on effective communication with beneficiaries regarding the payments schedule and functionalities of their accounts.
In Luxembourg, panelists at an event held by Appui au Développement Autonome (view the full video to the right) explored how customer response is needed for successful regulation, looking specifically at the regulatory structure in India. They found that regulation in India helped to spark the growth of digital and banking infrastructure, but did not do much