With so many different options now available for making payments, it takes effort to stand out from the crowd. Russia-based Sberbank has decided to make the process a more visual affair, writes Patrick Brusnahan.
Sberbank has updated its mobile app to bring about some very visual features. Sberbank Online now offers unique cash Postcards, which the bank believes can add a bit of “emotion” when paying relatives and friends.
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The Sberbank Postcards feature has been added to the Dialogues function in Sberbank’s mobile app. Images can have animation or sound, with multiple options including popular fictional characters or 1990s artists.
At the time, head of Sberbank’s digital platform division, Svyatoslav Ostrovsky, said: “At the beginning of the year, we launched Dialogues in Sberbank Online. It is quickly gaining popularity: users can now communicate, send unique stickers with SberCat and transfer money in the chat.
“Now we can give clients something more: the possibility to give emotions to relatives and friends. That’s why we have created unique cash Postcards and carefully included images of Russian culture in the digital environment.”
Emotion
This was a natural progression, according to the Russian bank. Not only was it something it needed to do, but it needed to do it quickly.
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By GlobalDataSpeaking to EPI, a Sberbank spokesperson says: “We spent less than six months putting Postcards together. This service is based on the Dialogues service that we launched in Sberbank Online in February 2018. Dialogues lets you communicate and send money in chat format; Postcards make it possible to do this with even more emotion.”
While adding Postcards to payments may be an attractive-looking option, is it something that would entice everyone? There are still large chunks of the world that do not use emojis, never mind fully animated images. So who is this feature for?
“Our client base includes most of the country’s population,” the spokesperson explains.
“The Sberbank Online application is also widely used. For example, P2P transfers via Sberbank are the most popular way of sending money in Russia. This is why, when we create services, we don’t focus on a specific, narrow audience, but instead make products for everyone.
“This applies to Postcards. When working on their UX [user experience] and content, we attempted to make the service as convenient and universal as possible. That’s why we used well-known characters from Soviet cartoons, 1990s pop stars, fairytale characters and laconic captions for Postcards.
“You can select a Postcard that suits any occasion, and if there isn’t any special reason, you can use one to simply brighten up the recipient’s day.”
Russian mobile banking
Sberbank’s mobile banking platform has achieved mass adoption, with its currently 37 million active users utilising the app for services such as balance checks, payments and transfers on both the iPhone and Android operating systems.
With such a large market, does Sberbank believe its new function will catch on with other players? Absolutely it does.
The spokesperson says: “We believe that this format will catch on. We’re already seeing positive feedback in the few days after launch. Other players of the digital market always latch onto successful formats and integrate them into their services to benefit clients. We think this will happen with Postcards, too.”
Sberbank takes pride in its mobile app and monitors it carefully; this even extends to its rating on app stores.
“It’s one of the major feedback channels for us,” the spokesperson explains.
“We monitor ratings and comments in app stores; we read every comment and act if necessary. For example, we compile a list of top-requested features based on feedback, and these serve as priorities for future releases. Our app is rated 4.8 out of 5 in the Apple App Store, which is an excellent rating, especially among banking apps.”
However, Sberbank does not see this as time to rest on its laurels, with more updates and features for the app incoming.
The spokesperson concludes: “We’ve started and will have launched self-made postcards by the end of the year. The future development of Postcards will depend on the users, their activity and wishes that we will take into account when planning.
“In terms of Sberbank Online in general, we have a lot of changes lined up, which we will talk about closer to the release date.”
