A new study from Visa and Fundamo, the mobile money platform Visa acquired last year, reveals that the majority of consumers in six developing countries are already aware of mobile money services. In addition, nearly 90% of consumers expressed an interest in making payments or sending funds from their mobile phone in the future.

The Visa Mobile Money study covered Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Nigeria and Pakistan, contacting nearly 2,500 people in 15 cities.

Average awareness of mobile money services and capabilities across the six countries was 56%. Ghana topped the list with 93% awareness, followed by Pakistan at 89%. The main reasons for adopting mobile financial services were protecting funds from theft and sending funds to other people. 80% of respondents said ‘safety of not having to carry around a lot of cash’ was the main benefit of mobile money, with 63% choosing ‘speed of getting money to family members living far away’ as the second most important benefit.

Barriers to adoption included ease of use (64%), lack of trust in mobile money providers and agents (55%) and lack of interoperability with other mobile money services (28%).

Results from the Visa survey also suggested that minor changes to marketing messages could have a significant suggest impact on consumer adoption.

Gavin Krugel, Head of Emerging Market Customer Strategy and Market Activation for Visa Inc, said “One key learning from this study could be summarized as ‘it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it. This single insight has massive implications for the vernacular used in mobile money menu structures, the education of mobile money agents and consumers, and creation of mass market advertising.”