Many banks have spent the last few years painting themselves into a corner. As customers look for convenience, banks have worked hard to move them out of the branches and onto their phones. Sounds smart, right? But as personal contact is drained from the equation, banks have let the value of relationships erode, and set themselves up to compete in a commodity market against other, non-bank, online financial service providers. Part of marketing strategy has to be understanding when to unleash the killer app or online tool, and when to push people to the fore.
