What is the future of additional services (VAS) and how to tailor them to the client.

Banks implement such services in their offer in order to stand out from the competition and conquer the attractiveness of traditional banking services, which form the basis of their offer. Since the range of available services is very wide, on the market you can find both interesting solutions and completely unsuccessful ideas.

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Rise of the Vas

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The operation of traditional banking services and products has been transferred from branches to online and mobile banking for many years. Online banking has become so common that sometimes these activities have ceased to bring enough value to users. Therefore, banks began to look for new areas to increase the satisfaction of their customers. In addition to developing financial products, banking increasingly began to offer services that have little to do with banking, but they can work interestingly with her. For example, buying tickets to the cinema or theater, paying a parking fee, etc.

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Deloitte experts have identified 6 categories of VAs that work well in banking:

• Trading offers (shopping platforms and discounts)
• Loyalty (rewarding loyal customers)
• Stand-alone insurance (protection of life and property)
• Consulting (tax, cybersecurity)
• Digital administration (eGOV)
• Support services (car rental)
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So, as you can see, the range of possibilities is quite wide.

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Banks also have a certain advantage in offering VASs, which puts them in a better position than, for example, mobile operators. In the case of clients of several largest banks in Poland, it was noted that they use a mobile application to settle cases in offices, using authentication systems connected to the bank. The predominant factor in this case is the trust of customers in the bank when it comes to protecting personal data, which can represent a great competitive advantage.

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How it is done in the world

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Among the leading banks in the world, you can easily find examples of the use of VAS, which are beneficial for both the client and the business.

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One of the leaders in the provision of added services is British Banka Monzo. In this bank, customers can use services such as:

• changing the supplier of electricity, cable television, mobile services to the cheapest on the market,
• support in choosing the insurer of the apartment,
• support in choosing a mortgage lender.

In the Scandinavian countries or Singapore we can find banks where VAS'y are already an integral part of the offer. Banks such as Danske Bank, DNB and Nordea have in their offer:

• advice and assistance in the reprocessing of official cases,
• guidance and advice in career development,
• sale of real estate.
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A well-known example where Vas'y are offered on a large scale is also Hungarian bank OTP, having its own Simple application. We will find more than 40 Vases in it, such as:

• purchase of tickets to the cinema,
• event locator,
• ordering food,
• purchase of tickets to the theater and events,
• and, more specialized, for example, the purchase of transport vignettes.
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Simple App It is used by more than 700,000 people. This is almost twice as many users as in the traditional banking application OTPi. In addition, the Simple application is available to both OTP and non-bank customers, so the range of services can be further expanded.

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Poland and the World

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Compared to the offers of foreign banks, banks in Poland still have a lot to catch up and offer their customers. However, you can already find valuable examples that are worth observing now and in the future.

In the offer bank SHIRT applications can be found MyServices, Navidom — it is an offer containing additional payment options and assistance in the purchase of real estate. The bank supports customers in the right choice of housing, providing a list of steps, documents needed when choosing it. Then, step by step, he presents information on the mortgage for the purchase of real estate. This information is supplemented by all additional costs that arise at the subsequent stages of buying an apartment.

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SGB Cooperative Banks offer a unique way to manage subscriptions. The SGB Group is the first in Poland to provide the service subscription management in the banking application. Subscription module developed by VISA and used in SGB Mobile has gained recognition among foreign banks, including the ANZ banking group from New Zealand. Thanks to the service, customers have the opportunity to control in the banking application, among others, where their card details have been saved, as well as receive information about recurring payments paid with the card. The main advantage of this solution is the simplicity and the possibility of concluding in one place all the recurring automatic transactions executed from the account. Subscription handling is intuitive. Just slide the slider next to the service in question to block the possibility of automatic payment. However, the customer must remember that the use of this function does not mean giving up the service, although in the event of non-payment, the service in question, sooner or later, is likely to cut the client off from it itself.

Revolut is a good example of a financial product that, in our opinion, offers an additional service very well correlated with the basic value proposition and the offer. Revolut users use the app mainly while traveling to make payments in foreign currency. In addition, Revolut offers, among other things, travel insurance, the payment of which can be paid not only in packages, but also separately for each day. In addition, premium users have free access to the so-called lounges at airports, VIP service, discounts on flights and many shopping promotions. In the case of Revolut, a good understanding of the segment and its context created an interesting offer.

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Millenium and its application Goodie offers to return part of the money spent on purchases in online stores. The service includes almost 800 well-known online stores, where customers receive so-called cashback. Similarly, the offer works mBank, that is, MocaZje, which offers customers a refund of part of the money for their purchases.

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However, thanks to the application Santander mobile you can order flowers with home delivery. However, this service raises a lot of controversy and several erroneous assumptions can be pointed out about it. For example, the offer is not strictly tied to payments, it does not solve the basic daily ills of the client. But such a value proposition can work in the context and given time in which the user is. Maybe everyday users would not use such a service, but we can imagine the popularity of this offer on Valentine's Day or Mother's Day.

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Interesting information is the fact that Mastercard is working on the development of the tool VAS Introduce, which is a collection of Vas. This tool facilitates the safe implementation of additional services to the banking world, while removing the obligation of banks to constantly cooperate with different providers.

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Poles want VASs

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As it turns out, more and more Poles are open to Vas'y. According to data presented by Deloitte, regarding services of this type, in banks more than 50% of Poles are reluctant to open additional accounts to use the services of typical Internet services. Smartphone users use an average of 10 applications that can easily be turned into one (as the SGB example shows). They often look for solutions that will help them gather everything in one place. Such a place, naturally, could become a banking application.

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Poles see in banking offers a place for, among others:

• medical services,
• areas of e-commerce,
• security in the network,
• or access to online courses.
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Unfortunately, VAS'y in Polish banking offers are still single and not always profitable options. However, experts say that investing in Vas'y can translate into many benefits for banks. The combination of their good image, the trust that their clients have in them and with experience in the financial industry, gives them great competitive advantage.

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The power of qualitative research in the selection of VAs

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The success of choosing a service is knowing well the segment to which banks will direct the offer. For this purpose, it is good to talk to representatives of the segments to which we want to offer something extra. A good example is the development of Revolut, which today develops from a travel payment application into a bank offering many additional segments related to money management.

The best preparation for choosing an audience segment is in the first place the so-called desk research, i.e. searching for trends and reports in the area of interest. Next, it is necessary to map (e.g. with the “jobs to be done” methodology) what the needs of a given segment may be, which are not yet satisfied and what solutions can be offered in this area. On the basis of this research, for example through an in-depth interview, you can propose selected offers and talk about them, e.g. in the form of a 'buy a feature' survey.

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Vas'y, what's next?

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What could be the future of VAS and what will eventually make the user want to pay for subscriptions, access to medicine and electricity through a banking or telcom entity? There are a few key rules that are worth considering.

• Banks must provide services that orbit around the wallet (e.g. subscriptions), just as telcoms operate in the area of communication technology.
• The main value that additional services should bring is the provision of convenience in use, adjustment. Then you save time, and in the end it has to be tied up financially (simply the service offer has to be cheaper).
• Services or products should be tailored not only to a given segment but also to the context in which the customer's persona is located. For this, contextual personalization is important, which will take place in the background, based on advanced data analytics and the situation in which the customer has found himself.
• Partnership relations should be developed with the providers of a number of services included in the offered VAs.
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What's next?

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Banks already have an advantage in offering VAs. Users trust banking institutions and will be more willing to share their data with a bank than with other institutions (e.g. mobile operator). On the other hand, observations of foreign examples indicate that properly prepared and proven VAS tools allow banks to earn money on risk assessment and money trading, combining non-bank products with banking.

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An additional advantage of banks is the huge analytical capabilities, based on quantitative data and customer operations. So it seems that it is much easier for them to catch repetitive trends and changes. Naturally, they have moved part of their business to the online world, so they have access to a whole range of additional services and offers, capable of attracting customers. Simply put: wherever a customer spends money, the bank has a chance to help him or guide him in the decision of choice or to facilitate with additional tools to reach his destination. And this is the main idea of added value that is VAS.