This survey is designed to help researchers and practitioners understand Internet users' perspectives on Internet banking, their experiences with Internet banking, and their expectations on Internet banking services. This summary provides a description of the consumer profiles of those who have Internet bank accounts versus those who do not have such accounts, their Internet/computer experience, general banking activities, and the factors affecting the decision to open this type of account.
Summary of Consumer Profile
Of the 1470 Internet users who completed the Internet banking survey, 1172 completed the General Demographics Survey and the Web and Internet Usage Survey as well. This summary makes use of the 1172 respondents who completed all three surveys. Out of 1172, 64 respondents (5.5%) reported that they have an Internet bank account, while 94.5% do not have an Internet bank account.
Age: The range of those respondents with an Internet bank account ranged from age 20 to 69. Of the 64 respondents with accounts, 45.3% were aged 20-29, 17.2% were aged 30-39, 15.6% were aged 40-49, 14.1% were aged 50-59, and 7.8% were aged 60-69.
Gender: 72.1% of the survey respondents were male. Similarly, 71.9% of those with Internet bank accounts were male.
Education: 90.6% of the respondents who had Internet bank accounts had completed a college degree, while 85.1% of the total respondents had completed a college degree.
Income: 24.1% of those with Internet bank accounts reported an annual income of $75,000 or more. 39.7% reported incomes ranging from $40,000 to $75,000. 24.1% reported incomes ranging from $20,000 to $40,000. The remainder (12%) were under $20,000 per year. This distribution was quite similar to the distribution for the entire group of survey respondents.
Internet/Computer Experience
Internet Experience: 4.7% of Internet bank account holders had less than 6 months of experience using the Internet, 12.5% had 6 to 12 months experience, 39.1% had used the Internet for 1 to 3 years, 28.1% for 4 to 6 years, and 15.6% used the Internet for at least 7 years. Therefore, of those with Internet bank accounts, nearly 83% had used the Internet for at least one year. However, of the respondents without Internet bank accounts, 75.8% had used the Internet for at least one year. Similarly, 85.5% of those with Internet bank accounts had used the Worldwide Web for at least a year, while 74.6% of the respondents without Internet bank accounts had used the Web for at least a year.
Purchases via the Worldwide Web: 20.3% of those with Internet bank accounts claim to have purchased some product over the Worldwide Web, while only 2.6% of those without an Internet bank account have made such a purchase.
Filing Taxes via the Worldwide Web: 25% of those with Internet bank accounts claim to have filed their income taxes using the Worldwide Web, while only 11.9% of those without an Internet bank account have used the Web for this purpose.
Usage of Financial Software: 62.5% of those with Internet bank accounts have used off-the-shelf financial management software such as Quicken or MS Money, while 55.4% of those without an Internet bank account have used this type of software products.
General Banking Activities
Visits to Bank Branch: 51.2% of those with Internet bank accounts typically visit a physical bank branch on average less than once per month, in contrast to 31.8% of those without an Internet bank account.
Bank By Phone: Of those respondents with Internet bank accounts 32.3% have used bank by phone features on average less than once per month, while 30.5% use these features one to three times per month. Of those respondents without Internet bank accounts, 52.3% have used bank by phone features on average less than once per month, while 19.9% use these features one to three times per month.
ATM Usage: 95.3% of those with Internet bank accounts use an ATM machine at least once per month. However, only 82.6% of those without Internet bank accounts use ATMs at least once per month.
Important Features of Internet Banking
Reasons Why Those Without Internet Bank Accounts Have Not Opened Internet Bank Accounts (more than one choice is possible): 44.7% said this service is not available through their current bank, 39% said they had not opened an Internet bank account because they were concerned about security of these types of accounts, 28.8% claim they don't see any real value in having an Internet bank account, 25.8% said that Internet banking is too new and would like to see how it works and may consider opening an account at that point in time, and only 9.7% said they had never heard of Internet banking.
Intention to Open Internet Bank Account
29.9% of those without an Internet bank account claim they are "very likely" to open such an account in the next year, while 20.5% said they are "likely" to do so. Therefore, over half of the respondents who did not have an Internet bank account plan to open one within a year.
Features Considered "Very Important" or "Important" to Those Who Have an Internet Bank Account (more than one choice is possible): 94.9%of those with an Internet bank account said convenience of the services were "very important" or "important" in their decision to open their account. 90.6% said the security of the transactions available with this bank were "very important" or "important". Other features which were considered "very important" or "important" included: quick service (79.9%), having a variety of features and services (for example, electronic bill payment or account reconciliation) available (79.7%), being familiar with the bank name and image (67.2%), attractive interest rates and services charges (62.5%), the actual bank location (31.3%), having integrated value-added services from other on-line services and resources (for example, other brokerage account summary statements) (25%), and the size of the bank, in terms of assets (23.7%).
Features that Would Be Considered "Very Important" or "Important" to Those Who Have Not Yet Opened an Internet Bank Account (more than one choice is possible): 90.6% of those who have not opened an Internet bank account said that security of the transactions would be a "very important" or "important" factor which might lead them to open an account. Other features which would be considered "very important" or "important" included: convenience (83.1%), having a variety of features and services (for example, electronic bill payment or account reconciliation) available (77.1%), attractive interest rates and services charges (74.5%), quick service (72%), being familiar with the bank name and image (68.3%), the actual bank location (42.2%), the size of the bank, in terms of assets (39.4%), and having integrated value-added services from other on-line services and resources (for example, other brokerage account summary statements) (30.2%).
Written by Dr. Hyeun-Suk (Sue) Rhee and Dr. Fred Riggins
For more information or to submit comments:
send e-mail to www-survey@cc.gatech.edu.GVU's WWW Surveying Team
Graphics, Visualization, & Usability Center
College of Computing
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA 30332-0280