Digitally Disrupting The Finance Industry

eople are obsessed with money. In 2015, people are also obsessed

with their smartphones and tablets. It is natural that apps that help

people bank, manage their money, make payments and find financial

information would be popular in the apps stores. Thousands of apps help

people keep track of their money. But which finance-related apps are the

best?

The average app quality score of the nearly 6,500 finance apps in Google Play and Apple App Store, as rated by their U.S. customers.

P1

ARC REPORT • NOV. 2015

HOW CONSUMERS RATE THEIR FINANCE APPSMeasuring mobile customer experiences from nearly three million app store reviews.

By Ben Gray

64/100

ARC from Applause studied the finance industry to determine which

brands are on the leading edge of the digital revolution. In our inaugural

report in the broader finance space, ARC analyzed how U.S. customers rate

the app quality of 45 brands with the most popular apps—including banks,

expenses, payments, personal finance and taxes (see Figure 1). What did

we discover? Banks tend to have poor app scores, while expense managers

are a cut above.

10 Popular Brands Earn High Quality Marks

ARC from Applause authored this report to help finance brands

understand how U.S. customers perceive their flagship Android and

iOS app quality. ARC considered 358 of the most popular finance apps

for inclusion before narrowing our focus to 45 of the most popular

brands, based on volume of app store feedback (see Figure 2). After

crunching nearly 3 million app store ratings and reviews, our inaugural

Applause Finance App Quality Index is comprised of the apps with more

than 5,000 reviews.

100908070605040300 10 20

Expense managers

Personal finance

Taxes

Payments

Banks

7973706145

POOR FAIR GOOD EXCELLENT WINNING

FIGURE 1: APPLAUSE FINANCE APP QUALITY INDEX – INDUSTRIES

AVERAGESCORE

SOURCE: APPLAUSE ANALYTICS, NOVEMBER 2015 AVG. SCORE INDUSTRY MIN/MAX

figure 1

2

100908070605040300 10 20

Spending Tracker

Credit Karma

Goodbudget Budget Planner

Redfin

Capital One Wallet

MyTaxRefund BY TURBOTAX

TaxCaster BY TURBOTAX

MileIQ

Mint Bills & Money

BillGuard

Zillow Real Estate

Square Cash

Concur

Trulia Real Estate

Mint

Citizens Bank Mobile Banking

Venmo

Trulia Rentals

Zillow Rentals

Chase Mobile

Discover Mobile

Navy Federal Credit Union

Barclays Mobile Banking

Western Union Money Transfer

PayPal

Barclaycard

Acorns

Amex Mobile

IRS2Go

Capital One Mobile

SunTrust Mobile App

CommBank

U.S. Bank

Android Pay

Fidelity Investments

Bank of America

TD Bank (US)

Wells Fargo Mobile

Virtual Wallet BY PNC BANK

Regions Mobile

Ally Mobile Banking

HSBC Mobile Banking

Citi Mobile

PNC Mobile Banking

Money Network Mobile App

3,001

91,961

5,872

7,517

5,379

20,669

2,904

2,347

22,617

5,865

49,740

1,632

12,946

27,855

23,435

5,284

5,646

13,380

3,710

28,406

5,226

9,207

23,240

8,724

43,288

8,213

4,543

3,967

5,008

16,749

8,349

9,316

15,414

26,304

4,587

28,831

3,842

22,015

4,316

3,596

3,538

5,297

6,813

9,380

6,115

2,711

54,074

1,587

8,399

3,297

17,492

2,516

3,118

40,965

4,973

53,381

5,706

18,458

22,837

71,507

5,451

4,335

3,339

2,871

51,281

9,954

3,015

N/A

2,118

26,131

662

2,308

2,538

647

24,392

4,365

26

5,248

N/A

1,579

13,205

1,322

8,798

1,376

2,119

1,571

582

4,637

2,220

479

86.5

84

83

80

80

79.5

78.5

77

77

76.5

74

73.5

73

72

71

66.5

65.5

65

63.5

62.5

62.5

62

60

59.5

59.5

58.5

57.5

55

52.5

52

51.5

47

45.5

44

43.5

38.5

38.5

37

36

33.5

32.5

29

28.5

27

25

-0.5

-4

-1

-2

6

-2

-2

1

-1

2

1

2

0

-3.5

-1

-5

-3.5

-6

2.5

4

-3

-1.5

11

5.5

2.5

0.5

2

0.5

1.5

-3.5

23

2

-3

-4

4.5

0.5

-4

-3

0.5

-1

-2.5

-4

0

0

-5

POOR FAIR GOOD EXCELLENT WINNING

FIGURE 2: APPLAUSE FINANCE APP QUALITY INDEX

AVG. +/-

SOURCE: APPLAUSE ANALYTICS, NOVEMBER 2015

ANDROIDREVIEWS

IOSREVIEWS

AVG. SCORE ANDROID IOS

figure 2

3

Apps That Have Room To Improve

Reviews of finance apps span the entire customer journey, from

researching financial needs to discovering brands, getting quotes

and applying for loans and mortgages, finding branch locations and

receiving alerts. When customers feel well served or underserved, they

have a channel in app stores through which to share experiences—

good and bad (see Figure 3).

Just ten apps earned above average app quality scores of 66 or greater

based on more than 10,000 reviews:

■ Credit Karma (84) [Android | iOS]

■ Redfin (80) [Android | iOS]

■ MyTaxRefund by TurboTax (79.5) [Android | iOS]

■ Mint Bills & Money (77) [Android | iOS]

■ BillGuard (76.5) [Android | iOS]

■ Zillow Real Estate (74) [Android | iOS]

■ Concur (73) [Android | iOS]

■ Trulia (72) [Android | iOS]

■ Mint (71) [Android | iOS]

■ Citizens Bank Mobile Banking (66.5) [Android | iOS].

What is the greatest commonality? The top ten apps do not share much

in terms of category, coming from banks, personal finance and taxes.

What the apps do share are passionate customers who sing the praises

of their experiences because they make it easier to check account

balances, manage expenses, do your taxes and more.

4

SOURCE: APPLAUSE ANALYTICS, NOVEMBER 2015

FIGURE 3: APPLAUSE FINANCE APP QUALITY INDEX – BANKS

Citizens Bank Mobile BankingChase Mobile

Discover MobileNavy Federal Credit Union

Barclays Mobile BankingBarclaycard

Amex MobileCapital One Mobile

SunTrust Mobile AppCommBank

U.S. BankFidelity Investments

Bank of AmericaTD Bank (US)

Wells Fargo MobileRegions Mobile

Ally Mobile BankingHSBC Mobile Banking

Citi MobilePNC Mobile Banking

Money Network Mobile App

66.562.562.56260

58.55552

51.547

45.543.538.538.537

33.532.529

28.52725

-54-3-1.511

0.50.5-3.5232-34.50.5-4-3-1

-2.5-400-5

5,28428,4065,2269,207

23,2408,2133,96716,7498,3499,31615,4144,58728,8313,84222,0153,5963,5385,2976,8139,3806,115

5,45151,2819,9543,015N/A662

2,53824,3924,365

265,2481,579

13,2051,3228,7982,1191,571582

4,6372,220479

FIGURE 3: APPLAUSE FINANCE APP QUALITY INDEX – EXPENSE MANAGERS

Spending TrackerMint Bills & Money

Concur

86.57773

2,71140,96518,458

SOURCE: APPLAUSE ANALYTICS, NOVEMBER 2015

-0.5-10

-0.5-10

3,00122,61712,946

figure 3

FIGURE 3: APPLAUSE FINANCE APP QUALITY INDEX - PAYMENTS

Capital One WalletSquare Cash

VenmoWestern Union Money Transfer

PayPalAndroid Pay

Virtual Wallet by PNC Bank

8073.565.559.559.54436

3,2975,7064,3352,11826,131N/A1,376

SOURCE: APPLAUSE ANALYTICS, NOVEMBER 2015

62

-3.55.52.5-40.5

5,3791,6325,6468,724

43,28826,3044,316

5

U.S. customers rated the strengths and weaknesses of the nearly

6,500 finance apps in Google Play and Apple App Store and identified

elegance, stability, security and satisfaction as the four primary areas

of concern. Five banks and six apps received more than 5,000 reviews

and were rated by their customers with below average app quality:

■ Money Network Mobile App (25) [Android | iOS]

■ PNC Mobile Banking (27) [Android | iOS]

■ Citi Mobile (28.5) [Android | iOS]

■ HSBC Mobile Banking (29) [Android | iOS]

■ Ally Mobile Banking (32.5) [Android | iOS]

■ Regions Mobile (33.5) [Android | iOS]

■ Virtual Wallet by PNC Bank (36) [Android | iOS].

FIGURE 3: APPLAUSE FINANCE APP QUALITY INDEX - PERSONAL FINANCE

Credit KarmaGoodbudget Budget Planner

RedfinMileIQ

BillGuardZillow Real EstateTrulia Real Estate

MintTrulia RentalsZillow Rentals

Acorns

84838077

76.574737165

63.557.5

54,0741,5878,3393,1184,97353,38122,83771,5073,3392,8712,308

SOURCE: APPLAUSE ANALYTICS, NOVEMBER 2015

-4-1-2121

-3.5-1-62.52

91,9615,8727,5172,3475,865

49,74027,85523,43513,3803,7104,543

FIGURE 3: APPLAUSE FINANCE APP QUALITY INDEX - TAXES

MyTaxRefund by TurboTaxTaxCaster by TurboTax

IRS2Go

79.578.552.5

17,4922,516647

SOURCE: APPLAUSE ANALYTICS, NOVEMBER 2015

-2-21.5

20,6692,9045,008

6

These apps missed the mark to optimize their experiences for mobile

moments. Short-term testing efforts (e.g., usability audits with experts

and customers, automated functional testing and security testing) will

flag and fix immediate issues but evaluating your mobile maturity,

adapting to more agile development processes and building a world

class customer experience program can further close any potential

disconnects between customers and their digital experiences.

But these brands need not despair. Citibank, for example, is already seeing

positive returns with v7 of its Citi Mobile iOS app that offers a completely

redesigned UI and navigation, as well as Apple Watch support and Touch ID

access. Citi realizes its customers’ expectations are growing every day and

a brand’s mobile experience has to grow as well—like Citi’s web experience

that was recently cited by Forrester Research for having the highest-rated

U.S. online banking functionality benchmark.

The Best- And Worst-Rated Finance Apps

Some finance apps emerged from the crowd with amazing reviews,

such as Spending Tracker and Credit Karma for Android and Square

Cash and TaxCaster by TurboTax for iOS (see Figure 4). Others stood

out for all the wrong reasons. Five of the six highest-rated apps were on

iOS, while the four lowest-rated apps were split evenly across Android

and iOS.

7

figure 4

FIGURE 4: HIGHEST- AND LOWEST-RATED FINANCE APPS WITH 5,000+ REVIEWS

Banks

Expense managers

Payments

Personal finance

Taxes

Regions Mobile

None

Virtual Wallet by PNC Bank

Zillow Rentals

IRS2Go

SOURCE: APPLAUSE ANALYTICS, NOVEMBER 2015

HIGHEST-RATED LOWEST-RATED

Discover Mobile

Spending Tracker

Square Cash

Credit Karma

TaxCaster by TurboTax

Some Brands Had Large Satisfaction Swings

ARC analyzed how the flagship app quality scores have evolved over the

past year—from November 2014 to November 2015. Thirteen brands

experienced user sentiment swings of four points or greater, with two

experiencing volatile shifts of 10 or greater. One good example is how

SunTrust fixed a login issue and introduced mobile check deposit to

its iOS app that resulted in its score

more than doubling from 22 to 54

and counting.

With the good, comes the bad. Most

of the apps with declining user

sentiment scores were vulnerable

to buggy releases, an inability to

achieve feature parity with faster

competition and rising consumer

expectations. ‘Tis life in the apps

economy.

23

11

6

5.5

4.5

4

-4

-4

-4

-4

-5

-5

-6

SunTrust Mobile App

Barclays Mobile Banking

Capital One Wallet

Western Union Money Transfer

Fidelity Investments

Chase Mobile

Credit Karma

Android Pay

TD Bank (US)

HSBC Mobile Banking

Citizens Bank Mobile Banking

Money Network Mobile App

Trulia Rentals

SOURCE: APPLAUSE ANALYTICS, NOVEMBER 2015

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Complimentary Onsite Workshops

Applause is making this report’s author available for complimentary

onsite workshops that will enhance understanding of touchpoints

across your customer journey, determine how your company can get

to market faster with a rich digital presence and share insight into the

best practices that industry-leading brands have embraced to win.

Interested? Contact bgray@applause.com today.

About ARC

ARC from Applause is a research group dedicated to providing insights

on the apps economy. ARC leverages data from a variety of sources,

including proprietary Applause data, to provide a 360º view of app

quality. ARC combines this with analysis into reports to help brands

and developers understand what’s happening in the apps economy.

Learn more at http://arc.applause.com.

About Applause Analytics

Combing through half a billion star ratings and user reviews submitted

across more than 30 million apps in the Android and iOS app stores,

Applause Analytics closes the gap between mobile developers and their

customers, generating actionable insights and quantifiable metrics

based on what users are actually saying about their app experiences.

Learn more at www.applause.com/analytics.9