If you give a mouse a cookie, he will want a glass of milk. True of mice. True of mobile banking customers, especially as their phone habits change.

“There has been almost a revolution in what people are doing on their mobile phones and how much time they spend on their phones,” Arah Erickson, who heads retail mobile banking at Wells Fargo, tells Bank Innovation.

Why that behavior switch matters to banks is because it influences customer expectations of their financial partners, too. Erickson explains that customers are thinking: “If I can check movie times, I expect to do everything on my phone – including banking.”

“I call it the definition of convenience,” Erickson says. She recalls when Wells first launched mobile banking apps, users began using them as more of an emergency resource, such as when forgetting to pay a bill while traveling. These days, the reliance on the apps for “convenience” has progressed to a much deeper dependency.

“Convenience is when a phone is in the hand, and a PC is across the room,” Erickson says. “Consumers are so used to browsing the internet on the phone that they won’t even walk across the room. The convenience factor is very different today.”

That notion certainly extends beyond the mobile channel. Erickson, for one, says she’s less worried about the communication category as much as she’s concerned about which features customers expect from any device they use. And because of unique device nuances, Erickson stresses how a bank must deliver tailored offerings to each one.

“It’s not enough to move functionality from online to mobile,” Erickson says. “Our goal is not to only be where the customers are, but also to deliver stellar customer experience specific to a device.”

This objective creates opportunities for Wells and banks nationwide to deliver and cultivate innovative products. “The good news is [the space] is dynamic and a fast moving area,” Erickson says. “There are so many opportunities for us to deliver more to our customers and more convenience to our customers.

FAMILY TIES

When deploying new channels and features, Erickson stresses there is a strong need for them to blend together, as customers have differing communication needs. Sometimes a consumer wants to connect with the bank through one channel, have that conversation saved, and continue the talk through another medium, she explains.

“Consumers don’t look at the world as a specific channel,” she says. “That’s how we have to think about it, too: How can the mobile phone be part of the other ways in which you interact with the bank?”

Ultimately, what fresh technology Wells deploys depends on whether it simplifies the customer’s life — “no matter how cool it is,” she says.