We worked with a leading telecommunications company and financial services provider who had launched a mobile bank account. This new account was easy–to–use and could be accessed through any mobile phone. After two years of operation, only a minority of accounts were held by women, and many of them were inactive. 

The reasons for the low active usage rates were varied, but initial research indicated two primary challenges: 

1) Sticky defaults – Customers primarily used the mobile banking product as a vehicle for buying call credits  (i.e., airtime)– as opposed to seeing it as a mechanism for accumulating savings 

2) Social Signals – Customers rarely observe many of their peers using it