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Slow uptake of Absa's Twitter banking

Simnikiwe Mzekandaba
By Simnikiwe Mzekandaba, IT in government editor
Johannesburg, 23 Aug 2017
Some 2 400 Absa customers use their Twitter account to check account balances and buy airtime.
Some 2 400 Absa customers use their Twitter account to check account balances and buy airtime.

A little over a year after ChatBanking was introduced, Absa says approximately 2 400 customers use the service for banking purposes each month.

This number is miniscule when compared to the bank's nine million customer base, which is made up of business and retail banking users.

Absa introduced ChatBanking last May to allow users to conduct day-to-day banking through their Twitter accounts. At the time, the bank said customers will be able use ChatBanking to check their account balances, buy airtime and obtain a mini-statement.

In an e-mailed response to ITWeb, Barclays Africa acknowledges 2 400 is a relatively low number of users, but says the activity level on the platform is extremely high in comparison with other digital channels.

"We're seeing approximately 40 interactions per user per month. This is higher than the interaction rate for our mobile app, and is considered high for any digital channel."

The statement adds: "The relatively small volume of registered users is primarily due to the fact that we have not actively marketed this channel. Although we applied award-winning technology to get ChatBanking to its current level of functionality, until we have built out features that are unique to chat (and not just a duplication of the functionality currently found on our mobile app) we are not actively promoting this platform."

Despite the slow uptake of ChatBanking, Absa is not deterred from continuing the service that allows customers to do their banking via the social media platform.

According to the bank, the reason for developing ChatBanking was not because it anticipated instant volumes of users and profit, but rather knowing where the world is going ? globally, banking has already moved to chat platforms, and will ultimately move to voice.

"With ChatBanking, we've already made that move, and ensuring that our customers are able to interact with us wherever, whenever and through whichever platform that they prefer," says the statement.

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