U.S. banks and credit card apps are starting to win over the hearts of their customers.
A new study by J.D. Power shows that the overall customer satisfaction score for retail banking mobile apps is 867 on a 1,000 point scale, up 12 points from 2017. The score for credit card mobile apps is 874, an increase of 2 points. Forty-three percent of bank customers used their mobile app in the past three months, according to the study.
The 2018 U.S. Banking App Satisfaction and U.S. Credit Card App Satisfaction studies measured overall satisfaction with mobile banking and credit card applications based on five factors (in order of importance): ease of navigation; appearance; clarity of information; range of services and availability of key information. The studies, fielded in April and May of this year, are based on responses from 6,272 retail bank and credit card customers nationwide.
“As mobile apps rapidly become the primary interaction channel for retail bank and credit card customers, getting the formula right in terms of usability, feature sets and customer engagement has become the key to stronger advocacy and loyalty,” Bob Neuhaus, senior director of financial services at J.D. Power, said in a statement.
Other findings from the study show that the ability to completely understand all app features has the greatest effect on overall satisfaction among banking and credit card app users.
Complete customer understanding of the mobile app is associated with a 116-point improvement in overall satisfaction for banking apps and an 114-point improvement for credit card apps. Despite this significant influence, fewer than 80 percent of customers indicate a complete understanding of all features offered by their banking and credit card apps.
The study also found that the more customers used an app, the more they liked it. Overall customer satisfaction is higher among customers who utilize their apps 12 or more times per month, ranging from 44 to 55 points, when compared with those utilizing their apps three or fewer times per month.
