Women & Usability of Mobile Financial Services in the Philippines

Research on

Women & Usability of Mobile Financial Services in the Philippines

GRAMEENFOUNDATION.ORG

Research on Women & Usability of Mobile Financial Services in the Philippines

Contents

Introduction……………………...….…..3

Summary of Findings……….………..6
Key Factors..……………….....…..7

Recommendations…...………..…24

For an additional view of our study, please see
our video of participant responses


Grameen Foundation | February 2014

2

Introduction
The goal of this research is to understand how mobile phone technology and its
usability is impacting poor women‟s ability to access and benefit from mobile
financial services. Many players assume that if a poor person owns a mobile
phone, they are able to use it. We believe that this is a faulty assumption, and
believe that usability and “mobile phone literacy” are big issues that prevent poor
women in particular from benefitting from mobile-enabled solutions. This study
expands on the „Women, Mobile Phones and Savings‟ case study Grameen
Foundation completed a year ago in India, which studied a 65-person sample
size.
Our intention is to demonstrate the specific challenges and constraints that

women in particular face while using a mobile delivery channel for financial
services. These findings will be used to influence commercial players (mobile
money operators, banks, technology service providers, agent network managers)
as well as back-end technology and hardware designers to address usability
issues that are preventing poor women from benefitting from mobile financial
services.



3

Introduction
Location
In the Philippines, CKS conducted the research
in rural areas around Nagcarlan
municipality, one of the poorest municipalities
in the Laguna province. CKS tested the
services of BanKO and SMART Money.



4

Introduction
Methods
We conducted qualitative research using a variety of methods:

Contextual Interviews

Facilitated Usability Sessions

Observation

We interviewed 16 people
including current
customers, potential customers
and mobile financial services
agents.

We facilitated discovery and
task-based usability sessions
with 14 current and potential
users on the interfaces including
10 women and 4 men.

We observed 2 mobile service
agent centers.



5

Summary of Findings
1. Most of the women have easy access to mobile phones and use them
for calling and texting frequently. The study found no gender

differences in access or ability to use a mobile phone.
2. The primary barrier to mobile financial services usage is lack of
awareness. Promotions by service providers are not reaching poor
women, resulting in a lack of awareness of available services.

3. Women have extreme trust in the agent. If provided with more
information, women could become independent users of mobile
financial services. One-time assistance is often sufficient for women to
conduct transactions independently.

4. Age of women in the Philippines is correlated with ability to use the
mobile phone. Older women needed more assistance with content and
language and navigation.



6

Key Factors
Our research uncovered the following observations and insights that impact
poor, rural women‟s ability to access and benefit from mobile financial services:
1. Awareness

2. Accessibility

Lack of awareness of independent usage
options and services availability are barriers to
the adoption of mobile financial services
(MFS). Providers do not effectively promote
their services where poor women live.

Women‟s access to mobile phones in the
Philippines differs little from men‟s access.
All women surveyed have easy access to a
mobile phone.

3. Comprehension, Comfort & Confidence

4. Usage

These 3C‟s are major factors in women‟s
usage of mobile phones and MFS. Women are
confident using the mobile phone, although
challenged at times by MFS terminology and
language. They put a high degree of trust into
agents.

Poor women are challenged by navigation
and syntax while using both SMART Money
and BanKO services, but most learn quickly
after one-time assistance.



7

1. Awareness
Lack of awareness of independent usage options and services availability
are barriers to the adoption of mobile financial services (MFS). Providers do
not effectively promote their services where poor women live.



8

1. Awareness
Service Awareness
Marketing and promotion by each service provider
does not effectively reach target audiences.
BanKO:
Women were not aware of BanKO‟s service. The
company does not promote its services in locations
that are easily accessible by women in our study.
Employees make caravans in the town center or
nearby areas, but not where women frequently visit.
Additionally, BanKO promotes through Bosing, a
popular celebrity TV show. But poor women lack easy
access to TV and don‟t see these advertisements.
SMART Money:
Our participants are more aware of SMART Money.
The company has many outlets and the agent
interviewed is located at the center of the bayad, which
is visited by households of all income levels.



9

1. Awareness
Feature Selection
Once women become aware of the available
features, they express willingness to send money
using their mobile phones. They are interested in
features such as balance check, pay bills, cash
withdrawal and buy load. („Buy load‟ means to
purchase credit for talk time and sending SMS.)
Most women express interest in using the buy load
feature because they can load their prepaid accounts
from their home.
All of the women say that they would also like to use
the balance check feature because they can check
their balance before sending and receiving money or

buying load independently.



10

1. Awareness
Cost
The participants do not know that if they transact more
than 6 times a year, they can save money by using
services independently. The agent does not inform
them that if they send money themselves, they only
pay 5 pesos (USD $0.12 ) to send 1,000 pesos (USD
$23.23) instead of paying 25 pesos (USD $0.58) to the
agent for sending or receiving the same amount.
It is important for customers to understand fee
structures so they know their options and can make
decisions accordingly. In some cases, such as when

transacting fewer than 6 times per year, it may be
cheaper to use the agent.



11

1. Awareness
Ease of Signing Up
SMART Money does not require new customers to fill
out paperwork. SMART‟s instruction booklet was easy

for our participants to understand because it is in
Tagalog and uses graphic illustrations.
To use BanKO, women must fill out a form to open an
account. BanKO‟s instruction booklet is also in Tagalog
and easy for the women to understand.

In the study, most women try to read the booklets on
their own and only ask for assistance when needed.
The female literacy rate in the Philippines is
96.1%*, and in our sample literacy did not surface as a
barrier.
* http://census.gov.ph/content/literacy-men-and-womenphilippines-results-2008-functional-literacy-education-and-massmedia



12

2. Accessibility
Women‟s access to mobile phones in the Philippines differs little from men‟s
access. All women surveyed have easy access to a mobile phone.



13

2. Accessibility
Phone Ownership
All the women in our study have easy access to mobile
phones. Their husbands often leave their phones at home
when they go to work and the women use the phones
regularly to call and text.
These findings are not surprising given mobile penetration
rates in the Philippines. Mobile penetration stood at 112%
by the end of 2012. Levels higher than 100% imply that
some people own more than one phone, rather than
implying that everyone owns a phone. Another related
factor is the widespread use of SMS messages: The
country generates the largest SMS volume in the world.*
* http://www.budde.com.au/Research/Philippines-MobileCommunications-Forecasts-and-Broadcasting-Market.html



14

3. Comprehension,
Comfort & Confidence
These 3C‟s are major factors in women‟s usage of mobile phones and MFS.
Women are confident using the mobile phone, although challenged at times
by MFS terminology and language. They put a high degree of trust into
agents.



15

Mobile Literacy
Our participants are all comfortable and confident
using mobile phones. Regardless of age, they make
very few mobile usage errors. Most women say they
are “fairly confident” to “very confident” while using
both SMART Money and BanKO services and find
them easy to understand.



16

Terminology
Even though our participants can read English, the financial and
mobile phone terminology was confusing to them.
For example, using BanKO, the phrase “buy load type amount
between 10-150” was not clear to them. While using the send
money feature, the phrase “Type Outlet Code” was not
understandable to some participants.

With SMART Money, our participants were unfamiliar with certain
terminology. Almost all participants were confused between
“Reload Money” (cash deposit) and “Load Airtime” (buy load)
because the word “load” is commonly used for mobile recharge.
Women made errors related to terminology irrespective of their
literacy levels.



17

Using a Trusted Intermediary
From the observation of agent-customer
interactions, it is evident that most customers of
SMART Money have extreme faith in the agent.
Customers trust the agent to perform transactions on
their behalf.
Some frequent customers ask acquaintances to send
or receive money on their behalf through the agent or
just leave the money with the agent without waiting for
the money transfer to be completed.



18

4. Usage
Poor women are challenged by navigation and syntax while using both
SMART Money and BanKO services, but most learn quickly after one-time
assistance.



19

4. Usage
Navigation
Women are able to navigate the menus and screens
with both providers, but are challenged by some of
the steps required.
When trying to use SMART Money, the service
terminates in 55 seconds. This causes users to need
multiple attempts, as they take time to read and
understand English.
While using BanKO, a few of our participants make
the mistake of pressing the soft key for “Cancel”
instead of “Reply.” Also, a few women press the
space key by mistake while entering the PIN.



20

4. Usage
Network Issues
Many women experienced a session timeout issue
in accessing SMART Money. The service
terminates in 55 seconds, requiring users to start
the process over if they don‟t complete it in time.
On average it took our participants three attempts
to use the service.



21

4. Usage
Syntax
The use of hash (#) in place of decimal
while using the services creates confusion
for our participants. Also, a few women
find the 16-digit outlet code (agent‟s code)
for SMART Money long and difficult to
remember.



22

4. Usage
Assisted Transactions
SMART Money:
Our participants are comfortable navigating through
the screens while using SMART Money, as most of
them are already customers of SMART telecom and
familiar with the interface.
BanKO:
Some women, particularly those in the 36-44 years
age cohort, need one-time assistance when they start
using the service. Younger women are able to
navigate through BanKO on their own but they take
some time to understand the interface.



23

Recommendations
Use Language I Know

Use Words I Understand

Language for both instruction booklets, mobile
directions and interface should be in
Tagalog, as instructions in English are more
challenging and time consuming.

Use mobile and financial terminologies that
your users understand. Be careful of words
used in transactions, such as „load‟, which
can already have a separate meaning to
users.

Tell Me My Options
Agents should inform customers that they can
open an account on their own and make
transactions independently.

Come To Where I Am

Explain the Costs
Customers should be aware that there are
multiple payment options. They can pay a
one-time upfront fee for opening an account
or additional fees each time they transact.

All mobile financial service providers need to
better target their potential and existing
customers if they want to ensure wider uptake
of their services among poor women.



24

Thank you.

Grameen Foundation
Washington , DC

Center for Knowledge Societies
New Delhi, India

GRAMEENFOUNDATION.ORG


Women & Usability of Mobile Financial Services in the Philippines

Empfohlen

Empfohlen

Weitere ähnliche Inhalte

Andere mochten auch

Andere mochten auch (19)

Ähnlich wie Women & Usability of Mobile Financial Services in the Philippines

Ähnlich wie Women & Usability of Mobile Financial Services in the Philippines (20)

Kürzlich hochgeladen

Kürzlich hochgeladen (20)

Women & Usability of Mobile Financial Services in the Philippines