Satisfaction with banking apps has stalled, few people use advanced features
The digital transformation of the financial services industry has been progressing over many years, but while many reports suggest customers are demanding more, are they becoming bored?
With an app for everything these days, recent Canadian users of banking and credit card provider apps and websites appear complacent about the digital channel experience, according to two new reports from J.D. Power.
Satisfaction ratings have stalled for banking app users, while credit card app users report declining satisfaction. And usage of advanced features such as budgeting, alerts, and virtual assistants is confined to small percentages of users.
Financial planning features offered on apps and websites have seen increased usage in the United States, but Canadian are generally not opting to use the features. Meanwhile, the use of virtual assistants is low but more widely adopted by Millennials and Gen Zs.
“Across both bank and credit card digital offerings, we’re seeing a situation in which customers have been slow to adopt the newer tools and resources that were meant to improve their digital experience,” said Jennifer White, senior director of banking and payments intelligence at J.D. Power. “While customers are routinely accessing digital channels for routine tasks, like making payments, checking balances or tracking transactions, use of more advanced features is lagging. As a result, customer satisfaction is stagnating.”
The best performers
Scores are not universal of course and credit card apps have a wider range of scores, reflecting high competition, while banking apps have some stand-out performers who are excelling in specific functions.
Among banking apps and online banking, RBC Royal Bank is the highest rated with satisfaction scores of 644 (app) and 619 (online banking), with CIBC second in both regard with scores of 634 and 616 respectively.
Among credit card users, American Express is top-rated at 657 for its mobile app, followed by Tangerine Bank (638), and TD Canada Trust (613). For online credit card satisfaction, National Bank is top (668), followed by Tangerine Bank (647), and CIBC (631).
All scores are out of 1000.
Read more: What do I need to know about Tangerine Bank?
