Since the start of the pandemic, the financial world has had to quickly pivot to digital transformation to keep up with changing consumer demand and customer satisfaction. Because of this, online customer experience has become the focal point for many banks and the key to standing out within this competitive financial landscape.
In light of this, Petr Janosik, CEO of Smartlook, here shares his thoughts on how to improve financial UX design
According to a Forrester study, positive customer experience is the top driver for improved organisation, increased revenue and reduced costs for financial firms.
As digital banking continues to evolve into the upcoming year, financial institutions hoping to remain or become competitive will need to focus on improving their user experience via desktop or mobile device to ensure their customers are having a positive experience and are staying in the sales funnel to complete the next action, whether it’s a loan application, set-up an account, schedule a meeting, etc. To help companies get started, below are a few steps financial institutions can take to ensure their customers have a successful experience while using their services.
Track performance of products through conversion rates
In order to understand if customers are having user experience issues, financial institutions will need to identify indicators of such events. One example is through tracking conversion rates since customers who visit online banks will need to navigate multiple different steps and pages to reach their end-goal. Consider the steps in a loan application and the various complex funnels users are put into based on if they are approved, rejected, or if the loan amount decreased, with each step requiring additional documents and other input.
By identifying where users hit roadblocks while going through these processes on a website, and where they are eventually exiting the site altogether, will allow developers to resolve the issue — ultimately improving the entire user experience. These roadblocks can take place anywhere on a digital platform, making it imperative that financial firms are tracking all performances of their products rather than just a few at a time.
Narrow down UX metrics on mobile applications
While digital banking has definitely increased due to consumers preferring to conduct financial services from the comfort of their homes, the use of mobile apps over online sites has now also taken precedence. According to Google, six in ten smartphone users prefer using a finance app over a mobile site to check their investments, while Statistas’ report shows mobile banking apps will likely generate $693 billion by the end of this year and will increase in 2022.
Financial professionals hoping to improve their customers’ experience to keep revenue flowing will need to focus on improving their mobile application design, in addition to their websites. As stated above, tracking loans, conversion rates and registrations to measure the success of a customer’s experience is a great first step, however, narrowing in on more specific metrics — including how many crashes/bugs a person is experiencing, how long they are spending to complete a task and the frequency of completing a task, along with creating an account or adding money to the bank account and completing transactions. — allow banks to understand where on mobile applications customers are facing frustrations and ultimately leaving the app altogether. By honing in on these specifics, financial firms will be able to better resolve the overall user experience on a mobile application, resulting in happier customers and more transactions occurring.
Turn to advanced analytics to personalise experiences
A Capco study found that in 2021, 72% of consumers rate personalisation as highly important within financial services. As more firms start prioritising personalisation within their services to keep up with consumer demand, advanced analytics software will be needed to streamline the process. While Google Analytics does offer reputable data for financial services businesses, it can be limited. Companies who wish to optimise their Google analytics tools should think about bringing in software that captures more of the data needed to personalise their websites and mobile applications. For example, Google analytics can accurately provide teams with the quantitative details they need on-site traffic for a marketing campaign, but in order to get a deeper qualitative and retroactive analysis on why customers are experiencing certain frustrations or leaving a financial application for another, additional software is a valuable investment.
The financial world will continue to undergo a transformation in the years to come as consumer behaviour constantly shifts and expectations of service continue to rise. To meet expectations and stay ahead of the curve, financial teams will need to utilise and understand behaviour analytics to improve their user experiences. Since there are so many different options available and more financial firms opening their doors every day, consumers can easily switch providers at any time, making it more important than ever that businesses are improving their customer’s overall experience.
