Developing and providing long-term solutions that create the desired impact require a complete understanding the people at whom the solutions are targeted. Traditionally, Financial Service Provider (FSP) segmentation is conducted by grouping segments of the population by gender, age, profession, location and education; this model, however, does not accommodate for how the combination of grouping factors determines the people’s needs, preferences and patterns of behaviour.
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Bottom of the Pyramid personas; the poorest and most underserved socio-economic group make up majority of the financially-excluded, and as with most efforts at reaching and appealing to a target group, designing effective interventions requires an in-depth understanding their unique characteristics who they are; how they act; and why they act the way they do.
The Sustainable and Inclusive Digital Financial Services Initiative (SIDFS) of the Lagos Business School (LBS) recently undertook a study into the behavioural and attitudinal traits of the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) population. This study (developed in collaboration with Dalberg, with the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), sub-divides the general Nigerian population into 6 unique personas, including: the vulnerable believers; resilient savers; dependent individualists; skeptical cultivators; digital youth and confident optimists.
The impending launch of Payment Service Bank licenses will introduce new industries into the financial services market, and this study emphasises the need for these organisations to take the time to filter their databases according to the most critical characteristics (gender, locations, and professions); in addition to spending a significant amount of time gaining an understanding of this audience’s affinity, attitudes, familiarity and behaviours related to financial services and FSPs. What is particularly clear is that these BoP personas require a significant amount of trust-building for all communication efforts to be effective.
Leveraging existing brand familiarity, especially with skeptical cultivators, will engender trust amongst these audiences and enhance the likelihood of including them in the financial system.
If FSPs keep adopting one-size-fits-all approaches and creating products from the standpoint of what they think consumers need as opposed to what consumers actually need, they are likely to misidentify their needs. With the dependent individualists, for example, who have a lower-than-average trust in banks, efforts need to be focused on forming and building relationships as opposed to developing products. This continuous focus on investing in products and channels that miss the mark are more likely to slow down the process of financial inclusion in the country. Most importantly, understanding these individuals, and taking actions that showcase that understanding is likely to breed trust. According to CGAP, BoP customers will not automatically trust financial service providers; this disposition will only be a direct outcome of a successful design and an embedded customer-centric approach.
- Usoro Usoro
Lagos
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