analysis report digital experiences in banking 2019 · user experience of the top 20 u.s. banks in...

Digital Experiencesin Banking2019

A N A LYS I S R E P O RT

About UsExtractable is the digital strategy and experience design partner for financial services firms committed to delivering exceptional customer experience. We plan, design, build, and optimize digital channels to drive increased brand awareness, acquisition, and share of wallet while reducing support costs and churn. Our experience working with over 100 banks, credit unions, investment management firms, retirement services providers, brokerages, and transaction servicers gives us rare insight into the challenges you face and how to solve for them, while generating positive ROI.

Table of Contents

01 Introduction 3

02 Trends and Insights 4

03 Results and Findings 7 Our Approach 8

User Experience 10

Analytics and SEO 12

Visual Design and Branding 14

Key Functionality 16

Content 18

Digital Marketing 20

04 Future of Digital Banking 23 Digitally. Intelligently. Forward. 23

Conclusion 24

E X T R A C T A B L E | 1

1 The order of the list varies from what Forbes published originally. Our ranking skipped over banking institutions that did not have a retail banking experience. Forbes ranking criteria: “We ranked the banks based on 10 metrics related to growth, profitability, capital adequacy and asset quality. Metrics include return on average tangible equity, return on average assets, net interest margin, efficiency ratio and net charge-offs as a percent of total loans. Forbes also factored in nonperforming assets as a percent of assets, CET1 ratio, risk-based capital ratio and reserves as a percent of nonperforming assets. The final component is operating revenue growth.” —Forbes (January 10, 2018), “Full List: Ranking America’s 100 Largest Banks 2018.”

Extractable takes a deep dive into the first 20 “Forbes 2018 Top 100 Best Banks in America”1 to analyze digital experiences across the industry. Find out what we learned.

1 Home BancShares $ 14 B

2 Western Alliance Bancorp $ 20 B

3 Bank OZK $ 21 B

4 First Merchants $ 9 B

5 East West Bancorp $ 36 B

6 Community Bank System $ 11 B

7 Prosperity Bancshares $ 22 B

8 FCB Financial Holdings $ 10 B

9 First Hawaiian $ 21 B

10 Glacier Bancorp $ 10 B

11 Columbia Banking System $ 10 B

12 Cathay General Bancorp $ 16 B

13 Cullen/Frost Bankers $ 31 B

14 South State Bank $ 11 B

15 First Republic Bank $ 84 B

16 Bank of Hawaii $ 17 B

17 WesBanco $ 10 B

18 International Bancshares $ 12 B

19 Independent Bank Group $ 9 B

20 Hope Bancorp $ 14 B

FORBES 2018

BEST BANKSIN AMERICA

2


Introduction01

SUMMARY

As banking trends toward digital, our report acts as a complement to the Forbes Top 100 Best Banks report. Our assessment provides an in-depth analysis of the digital performance of the top 20 highest-ranking banks. There is ample room for improvement in the digital space — even amongst the best in banking.

In an era of digital self-service, 50 percent of the top 20 banks don’t offer an option to open an account online, and several lack a mobile-optimized site. Fortunately, this experience gap creates an exciting new opportunity for financial institutions looking to stand out in the crowd.

We are on the cusp of a second inflection point in modern banking. The first wave was marked by fintech disruption, in the form of customer-centric experiences for a narrow set of financial services. The second inflection point comes as the financial needs of a generation of digital natives mature. Those same fintech disruptors are now forced to add depth and breadth to their offering, focus on customer retention, and manage an expanded product line. Fortunately, incumbent banks are already in a position to meet the complex financial needs of this generation — but can they deliver their services digitally?

INSIDE THIS REPORT

We compiled a snapshot of key industry trends, and also conducted our own heuristic review of the user experience of the top 20 U.S. banks in these areas:

• User Experience

• Analytics and SEO

• Key Features and Functionality

• Visual Design and Branding

• Content

• Digital Marketing

If you’d like to learn more about the methodology we used, the detailed results of your bank (if you’re one of the top 20), or chat about a specific score, please reach out to us at 415.426.3636 or email us at [email protected] to start the conversation.

Across every industry, the digital space continues to shape customer expectations for service delivery. Our obsession with digital experiences in banking prompted our annual assessment of the digital maturity of financial services. Our goal is for innovators at every level of banking to find it to be an informative resource as they endeavor to shape their own digital strategies.

Trends and Insights

02

94%

T R E N D S A N D I N S I G H T S

1 Source: Financial Brand

2 Source: Econsultancy, in partnership with Adobe, Dec 2017


94% of banks surveyed in the recent Digital Banking Report say that they can currently only deliver basic levels or no personalization at all.

32%32% of financial services executives surveyed confirmed exploring AI technologies such as predictive analytics, and recommendation engines.1

93%93% of companies report having more success in converting prospects into customers when they personalize their marketing.2

Despite possessing significant customer data, several banks have yet to unlock a meaningful level of personalization.

T R E N D S A N D I N S I G H T S

6

1 Source: https://www.ey.com/gl/en/industries/financial-services/banking---capital-markets/ey-trust-without-it-youre-just-another-bank

2 Source: 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer Financial Services Edition https://www.edelman.com/sites/g/files/aatuss191/files/2018-10/Edelman_Trust_Barometer_Financial_Services_2018.pdf

3 Source: 2018 FIS PACE Findings

Security, privacy and transparency are growing concerns among consumers amid ongoing data breaches.

59%59% of consumers worry about the amount of personal information that private and public sector organizations have about them.1

Top 5Top 5 factors increasing trust in financial services companies:2

1. Easily understood terms and conditions 2. Reliable fraud protection 3. Easily found product/service info 4. Business convenience 5. Access to real people

25%25% of consumers believe that their banking provider “ensures their transactions are safe and secure” and “protects the privacy of their personal information.”

However, one in four U.S. consumers said they would switch banking providers if/when they experience fraud.3

Results and Findings

03

Our ApproachRATING SYSTEM

Inspired by the “Forbes 2018 Best Banks in America” list1, we set out to determine which of these banks had the best digital experiences. We reviewed the public marketing websites of the top 20 from that list—omitting any that did not offer a retail banking experience.

METHODOLOGY

In December 2018, Extractable specialists in UX, Design, and Analytics conducted a high-level review of each bank’s marketing site. We scored them according to best practices in the categories listed below. These scores include both quantitative and qualitative criteria, and reflect our analysis of the sites during a specific snapshot in time.2 In reviewing the sites, we aimed to be honest, fair, and consistent.

WHAT WE REVIEWED

See the individual sections for details on the criteria for each category.

• User Experience

• Analytics and SEO

• Key Features and Functionality

• Visual Design and Branding

• Content

• Digital Marketing

Most Innovative

ExceptionalGoodFairPoorNothing to Evaluate

543210

A rating of 3 is considered good: the site is meeting basic standards for best practices. 4s are extremely rare and reserved for sites that exceed expectations. 5s are reserved for outstanding innovators. None of the sites we evaluated reached that level.

R E S U L T S

8

1 Forbes ranking criteria: “We ranked the banks based on 10 metrics related to growth, profitability, capital adequacy and asset quality. Metrics include return on average tangible equity, return on average assets, net interest margin, efficiency ratio and net charge-offs as a percent of total loans. Forbes also factored in nonperforming assets as a percent of assets, CET1 ratio, risk-based capital ratio and reserves as a percent of nonperforming assets. The final component is operating revenue growth.” —Forbes (January 10, 2018), “Full List: Ranking America’s 100 Largest Banks 2018.”

2 Other opinions may vary, and we understand that organizations continuously update their sites, and may have already evolved since our evaluation.

South StateBank 2.721First RepublicBank 2.482Cullen/FrostBankers 2.433First Merchants 2.324Hope Bancorp 2.245


Digital Experience Winners

The following banks achieved the highest average scores across categories, earning their place as digital experience leaders. Overall, they demonstrate a strong commitment to providing their customers with the experience, features, and aesthetic they deserve. While the banks we evaluated were chosen from Forbes’ 2018 Best 100 Banks in America, “best” does not always translate to the best digital experience.

R E S U L T S

Top 20 Average 1.90

6 Columbia Banking System 2.18 7 Bank of Hawaii 2.18 8 Community Bank System 2.04 9 Bank OZK 1.98 10 East West Bancorp 1.85 11 Glacier Bancorp 1.85 12 First Hawaiian 1.83 13 WestBanco 1.83

14 HomeBanc Shares 1.75 15 Cathay General Bancorp 1.75 16 Western Alliance Bancorp 1.62 17 Independendent Bank Group 1.61 18 FCB Financial Holdings 1.39 19 Prosperity Banshares .95 20 International Bancshares .90

User ExperienceRANKING

South State Bank

First Republic Bank

Bank OZK

Hope Bancorp

Glacier Bancorp

3.00

2.86

2.63

2.57

2.43

12

3

45

R E S U L T S

1 0

The user experience (UX) of the banking sites we reviewed ran the gamut; from modern mobile-first designs, to dated, non-responsive sites. We evaluated each site on the following criteria:

• Responsive

• Site architecture

• Navigation

• Friction

• Scannability

• Layout and organization

• Calls to action / Customer journey

• Micro-interactions (bonus point)

Top 20 Average 2.14

E X T R A C T A B L E | 1 1

RESPONSIVE DESIGN

Four of the top banks we reviewed still have static pages. A surprising fact, given the necessity of responsive design for today’s businesses. Static pages influence everything from how Google ranks you in search results to how younger prospects view the credibility of your brand.

Three of the top 20 banks redesigned their sites since our last report, and one of those converted from static. This is an encouraging sign, and we hope the rest will soon follow. Better yet, embrace Design Thinking and become market innovators instead of laggers.

The primary purpose of most bank’s marketing sites is… marketing!

Many banks fail to provide a clear path to opening an account—50% of the bank sites we reviewed lacked Online Account Origination. Even if the only option is to visit a branch, a visitor to a product page should intuitively know the next step. Ideally, that next step should be to apply online.

THE OAO JOURNEYTHE THIRD-PARTY PROBLEM

Speedbumps. Microsites. Third-party integrations. Mobile and OLB platforms. Banks rely on a constellation of third-party vendors for core functions. A fragmented digital strategy results in a fragmented and frustrating experience for users.

There wasn’t a single bank we reviewed that felt like a completely cohesive experience. “You are now leaving our site…” messages (AKA speedbumps) are a necessary evil, but often there was no warning when the user arrived on a blog or wealth management microsite with its own domain, navigation, and design. OAO forms were some of the worst offenders: too many non-responsive pages with inconsistent branding from the main site. Banks that can reduce this fragmentation and seamlessly integrate their partners into their designs should see lower bounce rates and higher satisfaction.

U S E R E X P E R I E N C E

Analytics & SEORANKING

All banks apply a combination of Google Analytics, ad tracking, retargeting tracking and more to gain a complete understanding of user behavior.

This will not only guide improvements to the experience, but also be the foundation for custom micro-segmentation.

We evaluated each site on the following criteria:

• Onsite search

• Domain authority

• Page load times

• Personalization

• Geo targeting

• Keyphrase targeting

• WCAG accessibility

Hope Bancorp

Galcier Bancorp

Bank of Hawaii

Community Bank System

FCB Financial Holdings

3.96

3.82

3.50

3.48

3.38

1

2

3

45

1 2

R E S U L T S

Top 20 Average 2.85

1.2 s

2.5 s1.9 s

4.2 sThe Top 2 of homepages took 1.2 s or faster to load

Average load time of bank homepages on mobile

10 of the best banks have a load time of >2.5 s

The slowest performer took over 4 s to load


LIGHTENING THE LOAD LET DATA DRIVE DOMAIN DRAIN

Simply-put, slow loading pages turn customers off. Those few seconds of load time are crucial. According to Google, the bounce rate increases 93% when a page load time grows from 1 to 5 seconds.

Fast loading sites are also better optimized for search, leading to a higher placement on search engine result pages. There are a multitude of ways to increase page load speed; from conducting compression audits, to minimizing HTTP requests. The takeaway is that increasing your page load speed is integral to improving your customer experience.

Visitor tracking continues to be a vital resource in banking. Knowl-edge on your customer base drives decision making. Currently, Google Analytics dominates in tracking. Adobe and IBM Analytics (Unica/Core-Metrics) followed closely behind.

Social marketing is another useful tool on the rise. Several banks uti-lize Facebook pixel tracking, and x use remarketing tags (i.e. Google Remarketing). We found several ad tags across the 20 banks analyzed. DoubleClick and Floodlight were the most popular networks.

Only 4 banks have acquired a Domain Authority ranking above 50. These scores are low when compared to SEO powerhouses such as Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Chase —which all have a domain authority higher than 75. Domain authority is a powerful signal in determining placement on search engine result pages. The search relevancy algorithims at Google might have changed, but domain authority remains a big help. Organic search visitors complete applications such as deposit account at a rate 20% greater than through other traffic channels, such as paid and social marketing.

A N A L Y T I C S A N D S E O

Source: Pingdom, Google PageSpeed

* Domain Authority is a SEO scoring method developed by MOZ.

20

ADOBEANALYTICS

FACEBOOKANALYTICS

GOOGLEANALYTICS

11

4 5OTHER

Visual Design & BrandingRANKING

As expected from the best banks, the visual design quality was overall high.

However, there is still room for improvement, especially when it comes to a consistent design system across digital channels and beyond. The ubiquitous use of stock imagery has led to a “sea of sameness” in financial communications.


• Brand

• Consistency

• Relevance

• Design system

• Marketing

• Typography

• Color palette

• Illustration / Infographic

• Iconography

• Imagery

• Interactivity

• Animation / Video

First Republic Bank

First Merchants

Bank OZK

South State Bank

Cullen/Frost Bankers

3.70

3.08

3.00

2.83

2.75

1

2

3

45

1 4

R E S U L T S

Top 20 Average 1.89


DON’T SETTLE FOR STOCK

Across various industries, an essential effort in humanizing the digital space comes in the form of well-utilized photography. Selecting the right photographs for your bank’s site is a vital part of the creative process.

The careful selection of stock photography is essential in a design process. Today’s consumers want diversity in age, sex, race, and relationships. Along with subject material, it’s crucial to identify the appropriate resolution for featured photography imagery.

Traditionally, photography for websites needed to be at least 72 DPI. However, the ubiquity of retina display screens for smartphones, tablets, computers, and 4k televisions has rendered 72 DPI obsolete. Higher-resolution images carry heftier price tags, but the prominence of stock photography sites like Stocksy have allowed for budget-friendly photography without sacrificing resolution.

V I S U A L D E S I G N A N D B R A N D I N G

MICRO MOMENTS OF DELIGHT

ADA COMPLIANCE

What is ADA Compliance?

Standards for Accessible Design state that all electronic and information technology must be accessible to people with disabilities.

Color, font size, and clickable links should be designed with all consumers in mind. Being mindful about creating accessible design — whether it’s a new logo, website or marketing material — is paramount.

Only 4 out of 20 banks used mi-cro-interactions in their design, and even that usage tended to re-flect only a few spots of subtle an-imation that feel like afterthoughts rather than part of a cohesive de-sign system.

Micro-interactions use subtle animation effects that communicate status or provide instant feedback about a user action. They create moments of surprise and delight while simultaneously conveying useful information about the experience.

Key FunctionalityRANKING

Banking customers today have high expectations for the tools they use online.

We see more and more banks offering digital payment services to compete with emerging FinTechs like Venmo for wallet share. For this evaluation, we focused on what we believe to be the most important features for users on both desktop and mobile.


• Online Account Origination

• Mobile check deposit

• Live chat

• Find a branch / ATM

• Search

• Calculators

• Peer-to-peer payments

• Product comparison

South State Bank

Glacier Bancorp

Community Bank System

First Hawaiian

Home BancShares

2.50

2.33

2.10

2.10

2.10

1

2

3

45

1 6

R E S U L T S

Top 20 Average 1.66


CARD MANAGEMENT PERSONAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

PEER-TO-PEER

As dependence on electronic payments and digital wallets increases, people are more sophisticated about managing their credit and debit cards online. 10% of the banks in our review allow customers to enable and disable their credit and/or debit cards from the mobile app. One bank surveyed offered a full suite of credit management tools, such as setting spending limits and location-based alerts.

From Mint to Excel, nearly all Americans tell us that they use tools to manage their money.

25% of the banks offered some form of PFM tools within online banking, though only 15% (2 few-er) made these tools available on the mobile app.

65% of the banks we surveyed offer peer-to-peer payment op-tions, reflecting the increasing popularity of this feature.

In addition, 65% of the banks also offer some form of digital wal-let, with the most common being Apple Pay (65%), Samsung Pay (55%) and Google Pay (30%).

K E Y F U N C T I O N A L I T Y

To Cheech

$20SEND

From Chong

$20CONFIRM

ContentRANKING

One of the primary reasons users visit any website is to engage with its content. This is an opportunity for banks to really shine and engage customers, or suffer from a lack of distinction.


• Home page content quality and key tasks represented

• Product pages content quality, integration and cross-promotion

• Original financial education content

• Content hub

• Content density

• Content freshness

• Content variety

• Supporting content

• Blog

South State Bank

Columbia Banking System

First Republic Bank


First Merchants

3.00

2.91

2.90

2.60

2.30

1

2

3

45

1 8

R E S U L T S

Top 20 Average 1.59


CONTENT IS KING

Seven out of the ten highest scoring banks still missed out on an integrated content hub.

A content hub acts like a magnet for media on your site. A content hub can be thought of as a branded resource center for your customers. The value of a well-stocked content hub is not only in creating engagement and leads, it provides your customer with genuine insight and establishes your bank as an authoritative voice in the industry. Publishing useful content benefits both the bank and the customer.

C O N T E N T

TELL YOUR STORY

The biggest differentiation when it comes to home pages is integrating your brand content.

Find a way to tell the story of your bank that relates to your customer, showing the value and meaning you can bring to their lives. A majority of banks surveyed promote their products front and center, followed by their rates, news, and lastly a blog with original content. Integrating product pages and original content lets potential customers know how you’re different, and why it matters. Be it financial education, or local news: a blog is your bank’s way to communicate your personal story and interact with your community.

Digital MarketingRANKING

Most banks are lagging behind in personalization—which should no longer be considered an emerging feature or trend, but an essential part of any digital marketing strategy.

This report focuses on the public marketing sites for major U.S. banks. Therefore, we took a look at how well they addressed their target audiences. Many sites were structured by their key audiences: personal, business, and wealth management—but did little to cross-market related products.

Although we found little evidence of personalization on the sites we reviewed, it’s possible the banks surveyed are engaging in personalization within their online banking platforms.


• Effective cross-sell/up-sell of products and services

• Key customer segments are addressed

• Evidence of personalization

• Social media used to drive campaigns

• Special offers

Columbia Banking System

South State Bank

First Merchants

Bank of Hawaii


2.252.00

2.00

2.00

1 .80

1

2

3

45

2 0

R E S U L T S

Top 20 Average 1.24


CHANNEL SURFING WITH SOCIAL MEDIAZOMBIE CAROUSELS

The biggest change since last year was the news that Google+ would be shutting down due to the exposure of user data.

It never had a large adoption rate among the banks we surveyed, and now it’s disappeared completely from site footers and social share tools. However, Google Plus serves as a cautionary tale that organizations that rely heavily on third-party services have additional security and privacy risks to consider.

Despite research that shows carousels kill user engagement, carousels are the zombie module that refuses to die. 8 out of 20 (40%) of banks in our study use a carousel on their homepage marquee.

Carousels, also known as slide shows, continue to be popular with marketing teams because they can fit multiple messages within a fixed vertical space. With homepage real estate at a premium, they’re better at solving internal turf wars than user needs. Research from the Nielsen/Norman group and others has demonstrated that carousels get low engagement, which drops off progressively with each additional slide. Ironically, if something is important enough to put in a homepage carousel, then it’s too important to hide in one.

D I G I T A L M A R K E T I N G

Future of Digital Banking

04


Digitally. Intelligently. Forward.

CRAIG MCLAUGHLIN CEO, EXTRACTABLE

Craig McLaughlin is the Co-Founder, President, and CEO of Extractable, an award-winning digital consultancy dedicated to helping financial service organizations achieve lasting success. His expertise in Digital Banking and Digital Business Strategy has earned him a reputation as an innovative leader in Silicon Valley’s ever-evolving FinTech space. Craig holds a BSBA from San Diego State University and an M.S. in Information Systems & Web Technology from Hawaii Pacific University.

With all the inherent benefits of digital—scale, speed, accuracy, automation, and reach—it’s clear that organizations that apply digital strategies will accelerate their growth plans. A comprehensive digital strategy addresses three functional layers of the organization: the business layer via improved insight, the execution layer in the form of operational effectiveness, and the delivery layer via the customer experience.

Tech cycles continue to drive the pace of innovation. New technical capabilities being marketed today rapidly set the customer’s expectations of tomorrow. Financial institutions have been playing catch-up to challenger banks for several years now. When incumbent banks are merely capable of executing their digital strategies at a pace that simply reaches parity to startup challengers; it becomes clear that some wisdom would be a valuable asset. To paraphrase an oft-overused quote by hockey giant, Wayne Gretzky, it’s time that banks develop a sophisticated level of customer intelligence that enables them to “play where the puck is going to be, rather than play where the puck already is”. This is where this wisdom comes to bear.

Without better customer intelligence, legacy organizations can’t deliver better experiences in a timely manner. In terms of customer satisfaction, NPS and VOC are only part of the picture. These trailing indicators are explicit statements of satisfaction — not necessarily an accurate assessment.

A more holistic approach seeks to complement what customers say with what they do. It’s likely that organizations are tracking some level of customer behavior across digital channels, but it’s less likely that they’ve got the capacity or know-how to do anything meaningful with that data. Truly valuable insight comes when the business can predict issues and therby shortcut the NPS-correction curve. This is where machine learning comes into play. AI is no longer fantasy. The tools already exist for non-data scientists to deploy predictive models of customer satisfaction via a drag-and-drop interface.

Organizations that monitor multiple indicators, such as social sentiment, channel behaviors, contact center reports, VOC surveys, as well as NPS will be well positioned to leverage AI for the delivery of service excellence at scale.

“Real-time digital customer engagement will continue to be a key focus for financial

organizations in 2019.”

F U T U R E

Conclusion

Call us 415.426.3636

Email us [email protected]

Download the digital version https://www.extractable.com/deb19

Predicting what the future of banking will look like may be impossible, but there’s no doubt it will be digital. The only safe bet is to invest in developing a fluid organization — able to react quickly and intelligently to technological, economic, and cultural change. Evaluate your digital strategy to ensure it gives you continuous insight, operational effectiveness, and allows you to deliver value to your customers in any way they engage with you. If you have any questions about this report, or would like to discuss how we might work together, please reach out to us.

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Best Digital Experiences in Banking 2019

analysis report digital experiences in banking 2019 · user experience of the top 20 u.s. banks in...

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