The landscape of financial services is on the cusp of major transformation, driven by the rapid advancement of Gen AI. This technology will be a catalyst for a new era of innovation, improving the customer experience (CX), driving efficiency, and leading to the development of ground breaking new products.
Curious about banking customer perceptions and experiences with current-day implementations of Gen AI, I analyzed over 10,000 digital banking app reviews for the Big-5 banks in Canada.
This is the second installment of a three-part series delving into these insights. For a deeper understanding of the dataset and analysis methodology, check out Part 1.
Analysis: Customer Interest + Feedback
While general interest in Gen AI has been rapidly growing, this enthusiasm isn’t translating to digital banking app reviews. Out of over 10,200 reviews analyzed, direct mentions of AI were found in only 8 instances.
Indirectly, AI was alluded to in another 100 reviews, referencing features like insights, chatbots, and virtual assistants, to list a few.
This discrepancy suggests that while customers frequently engage with AI-driven features, they might either 1) not always recognize these interactions as AI-powered, or 2) they don’t find them valuable enough to warrant mentioning in reviews.
Where AI is mentioned in reviews, sentiment tends to be negative. There are no conclusions to be reached, however, due to the limited number of relevant reviews.
Key Takeaways + Opportunities
While there aren’t abundant user reviews to analyze and glean insight from, inferences can be drawn from the lack of discussion surrounding Gen AI.
Value Over Technology: The Customer’s Perspective
Customers are largely indifferent to the underlying technology of their banking apps; they are primarily interested in how these technologies improve their banking experience. This highlights a significant opportunity for banks to better communicate the benefits of AI-driven features and how they are adding value and advancing the customer experience.
Bridging the Awareness Gap
The virtual non-existent undercurrent of AI in customer feedback suggests an awareness gap, which is an opportunity for banks to educate both current and prospective customers. For existing customers, awareness of a bank’s Gen AI innovation is important to drive digital engagement, increase satisfaction, and build loyalty. For prospective customers, a bank’s digital ecosystem can be a consideration or conversion driver, so awareness is a crucial first step for acquisition.
Unclear Gen AI Leadership
Despite the excitement around Gen AI’s capabilities, it’s evident that we’re just beginning to explore its potential in digital banking. No bank has yet to distinguish itself as the leader in AI. The banks that win this race will be those that are not only innovative, but also deeply integrate Gen AI into the fabric of the customer experience, serving unmet needs and redefining customers’ already high expectations.