By Frank J. Diekmann
The Millennial Aisle in the Conventional Wisdom Dept. over at Knowitall’s Department Store is a crowded place. And that’s ironic, since they only stock a couple of assumptions, primarily about branch usage and payment preferences.
There probably isn’t a single group that non-Millennial CEOs and C suite execs will tell you they know better than Millennials. It’s plug and play with the stereotypes: entitled, easily distracted and, above all, they want everything in a mobile device (including payments), and prefer to never, ever see you.
That’s all true, except when it’s not.
The Surprise Branch BFFs
Case in point: A new study from Raddon that found consumers still want to do business at the branch also found that a certain group of consumers is right there among the branch BFFs? Yes, it’s the you-know-who’s.
According to the study, 61% of all consumers that will open any type of deposit and investment plan to visit a financial institution’s branch office to open an account, and that consumers who plan to open any type of deposit product, especially Millennials, are more likely to open an account via a face-to-face interaction than other consumers, Raddon reported.
Still, the same study found that more than a third (38%) plan to open one or more accounts online using a computer. Fifty-eight percent of consumers who expect to open any type of investment account in the next 12 months – mostly existing investment product users – said they will likely use a computer to open an account. Half of consumers report they plan to open one or more investment accounts by visiting a branch, the report shows.
The study found Millennials have greater deposit and investment product demand than older generations. Gen X is more likely to open any type of deposit product, particularly a checking account, as a savings account and/or an IRA.
You can find the full report here.
Who's Not Giving the Love to EMV?
And here’s another twist: Millennials are the only demographic that prefers old-fashioned mag stripe over EMV.
But this isn’t one of those hipster Millennial throwbacks, such as listening to music on record players or drinking PBR.
A new report from NerdWallet shows that 43% of Americans favor chip over mag stripe due to the increased security. But breaking the data down by demographics reveals that only 31% of Millennials prefer EMV, while 36% prefer mag stripe.
The reason, according to NerdWallet’s analysis, is the extra time it takes to process an EMV transaction. As I heard one person observe recently, waiting in line and seeing the person in front of us pull out an EMV card feels the same as when you see someone pull out the dreaded checkbook. Get ready to wait.
“Even though it is an improvement in security, it takes just a little bit longer to check out, and that is obviously a point of frustration with Millennials,” noted NerdWallet.
NerdWallet’s Sean McQuay observed that “With mag stripe you swipe, take a few seconds to put your card back in your wallet, maybe look at the magazine rack . . . But with EMV your card is stuck in the terminal and it’s a very awkward social interaction. You are sort of stuck looking at the cashier—you can’t really look away as your card is in the terminal. You feel as if you are tied to the machine, which makes the transaction seem much longer.”
For the full story on those findings, go here.
Frank J. Diekmann is Cooperator-in-Chief at CUToday.info and can be reached at Frank@CUToday.info or found on Twitter at @FrankCUToday.