Product barriers and user pain points
The psychological barrier of a “serious interface”
On a subconscious level, a bank is perceived as a place of strict financial control and obligations. When a user opens the app to buy a movie ticket for the weekend and immediately sees a reminder about a loan payment or their overall account balance, the atmosphere of anticipating a holiday is instantly destroyed.
The fear of “hidden subscriptions” and forced auto-renewal
When buying tickets or testing new entertainment services in a bank, clients are terrified of accidentally subscribing to regular hidden payments (for example, ticket insurance or streaming auto-renewal), which will then be impossible or extremely difficult to disable in the depths of the app’s settings.
The problem of ticket cancellation and refunds
If a concert or movie screening is canceled, the user faces bureaucratic hell: the bank sends them to resolve issues with the final ticket operator, and the operator sends them back to the bank. The lack of automatic and instant refunds directly in the app when an event is canceled permanently kills the desire to buy tickets through a superapp.
Why it matters
Entertainment and leisure services are a crucial tool for building an emotional connection with the bank’s brand. Banks that can overcome the image of a “dry financial institution” and offer users a light, safe, and inspiring interface for planning their weekends will gain loyalty that cannot be beaten by ordinary cashback.
FAQ
Why are users afraid to subscribe to entertainment services within banking apps?
The main trigger of distrust is the opacity of subscription management. Users fear that the bank will deduct money without warning, and the “cancel subscription” button will be hidden deep in the settings or require a call to the call center.
How can banks increase trust in their ticket services?
It is necessary to fully automate and take over the refund process in case of event cancellations or rescheduling. The client should receive the funds back on their card instantly, without the need to write applications to third-party ticket operators.
What should the ideal lifestyle service within a banking ecosystem look like?
The ideal service is a personal free-time assistant. It offers a single dashboard to control all external subscriptions (Yandex Plus, Netflix, YouTube) with the ability to disable them in one click, and can delicately recommend events without overloading the user with ads and financial notifications during their leisure time.
Original research source: Rocket Tech: How Kazakhstanis use entertainment and leisure services in banking ecosystems