Gen Zers, now aged between 12 and 27 years old, include millions of consumers who have been legally able to open a bank account for years. Changes to banking channel use, including mobile’s growth into the most frequently used way consumers manage their bank account (as we’ve covered), haven’t erased legacy channels’ value to acquiring, engaging, and retaining customers. Financial institutions (FIs) must invest wisely in front-office features and functions with the most value to their customers, both in digital channels and in person.

When consumers use a channel for a focused range of tasks, it deserves attention — channels that do everything all the time are probably bloated. To make the right investments in channels, FIs must understand what customers will want, when, and where’s they’ll want to get it. In the context of account opening, it’s about what they’ll buy next — Gen Zers, for example, will need more non-depository products as their financial situation and life stage demand it. The FI where they first opened an account has an opportunity to make that sale, but so does any other bank with attractive products and a competitive account opening journey.

As we’ve written, physical channels and digital channels should complement one another. FIs need an omnichannel strategy that anticipates their customers’ behaviors, expectations, and needs over time and in any context. While a branch may be the preferred channel in general to open an account, it may also be part of an omnichannel journey. It could touch mobile or online banking, the branch, or another channel — between a customer’s research phase to starting an application, submitting an application, and getting it approved. It’s important to be able to pick up this journey from one channel to another.

A branch with the strongest business case likely focuses services on customers’ primary use cases. With mobile’s dominance in day-to-day banking, in many cases branch strategy should emphasize certain types of in-person interactions (like account opening, according to the Q2/Harris Poll data) and continuity with digital channels. A branch that’s attractive and efficient for customers who use digital for day-to-day tasks has long-term value. Bankers should think about how to design branches so that they’re best suited for tasks other channels aren’t well-equipped to solve and calibrated to customer demand.