Fighting churn? Add mobile to your digital stack.
Fintech platforms continue to face a common challenge: user retention. Free-tier users often disengage quickly, fail to convert, or stop using the app entirely. While subscription models help, the retention challenge remains.
A growing number of digital banks and fintechs are exploring an unexpected but effective solution: Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs). By bundling mobile services with financial apps, fintechs are unlocking new engagement opportunities that go beyond traditional banking.
Why Fintechs Struggle with Retention
Despite offering convenient digital experiences, many fintech apps struggle to stay relevant in users’ daily lives. The problem isn’t functionality. It’s frequency.
- Banking is typically a weekly task
- Messaging, browsing, and data use are daily behaviors
This usage gap is critical. If your app only supports weekly interactions, you risk becoming forgettable.
How MVNOs Drive Daily Engagement
MVNOs allow fintechs to offer mobile plans under their own brand. These plans can be directly tied to:
- Wallet top-ups
- Loyalty tiers or reward programs
- Premium account subscriptions
- Travel-specific roaming bundles
By embedding telco services into the user journey, fintechs extend their presence from occasional financial transactions to daily mobile activity.
“According to GSMA, over 70% of digital users engage with mobile services daily. Fintechs that tap into this behavior can significantly improve retention.”
Bundled Mobile Services: A Retention Strategy, Not Just Revenue
This approach is not just about monetization. It is a retention strategy.
Examples include:
- Offering a free SIM to premium account holders
- Creating usage-based rewards (e.g., free data for referrals)
- Bundling mobile plans into travel banking packages
These offerings make the fintech app more valuable, frequent, and essential. These are three pillars of long-term user retention.
Learn More
Fintechs are under increasing pressure to convert free-tier users and reduce churn. Mobile bundling through MVNOs offers a scalable and cost-effective way to enhance app engagement and extend user lifecycles.
As the lines between telecom and finance continue to blur, MVNO integration may be fintech’s most overlooked retention lever.
Read the MVNO Market Snapshot to learn how digital banks are using telco bundling to improve customer engagement.
