In the dynamic world of financial services, mobile banking apps are at the forefront of customer interaction and satisfaction. Digital banking apps are not only tools for transaction, they are one of, if not the most important touchpoints in the customer experience and serve as an embodiment of the bank’s brand.
The Power of User Feedback
User reviews are invaluable, reflecting the collective experience of a bank’s digital offerings. In a sector where differentiation is increasingly defined by the digital customer experience, these insights are crucial. They serve as an input for optimization, highlight pain points and unmet needs, and serve as a vital performance metric.
Driven by curiosity and great interest in the financial category, I analyzed just over 10,000 user reviews of Canada’s Big-5 digital banking apps from Google Play, which is every review from January 1, 2023 to the end of January 2024; my objective being to distill insights from raw user feedback to evaluate the experiences customers have with digital banking apps, and how those experiences might be improved.
A Trilogy of Analyses
This analysis is going to unfold over three posts, each with its own area of focus and accompanying visualizations:
Post 1 (this one) – Core Opportunities: This post focuses on analyzing customer sentiment, core user feedback, category opportunities, and strengths and weaknesses of each bank’s digital banking app.
Post 2 – Gen AI + Digital Banking: This post focuses on user perceptions, attitudes, and experiences with current day implementation of Gen AI, and associated opportunities.
Post 3 – Customer Service: This post will focus on digital interactions, primarily customer service and review management, and associated opportunities.
Methodological Disclosure
ChatGPT was used among other analytical tools (Excel and Power Query), to function as a pseudo Natural Language Processor (NLP) for sentiment and text analysis. Like every NLP, accuracy is not 100%, but after manual spot-checking, I believe the accuracy is reliable for the findings provided in this analysis.
The Data – Reviews
Just over 10,200 total reviews were left for Big-5 mobile banking apps through the 13-months from January 1, 2023 to January 31, 2024.
Scotiabank customers review the company’s digital banking app at over 2x the rate than customers of any other of the Big-5.
When looking at monthly reviews by bank there are dramatic spikes in the number of reviews for several banks.
These spikes could have been driven by particularly good or bad updates, or possibly by efforts to incentivize the behaviour.
Interestingly, banks that have dramatic spikes in reviews also have a higher rate of very short and low-effort reviews. For example, almost 75% of Scotiabank app reviews are fewer than 100 characters, whereas for BMO (month-to-month reviews are fairly consistent) that number is less than 50%.
Context – Star Rating
I get it, showing off Star Ratings is unimpressive… but I want to quickly point out the clear opportunity to close the quality gap between Android and iOS devices.
Google Play reviews to being lower than Apple reviews is expected due to the inherent complexities of developing and optimizing for the numerous Android devices, but clearly there’s an opportunity here to provide more consistent experiences.
Sentiment + a Satisfaction Paradox
Even with an average star rating of nearly 3.9 stars, only 41% of reviews demonstrate positive sentiment or better.
The observed satisfaction paradox suggests a gap between customer expectations and their experiences. Perhaps expecting or accustomed to lower standards, customers might award higher ratings for experiences that merely exceed their modest expectations, despite articulating frustrations in their written reviews.
The opportunity is clear – negate the pain points customers have, and better deliver against, and exceed, their expectations. Doing this can become a differentiator and competitive advantage.
Another opportunity are the roughly 7% of customers who express significant negativity (reviews are often charged with emotional language) and those who outright say they are considering switching to a new bank.
Rectifying the issues customers are having is a great retention opportunity, and for competing banks, proving excellence in areas other banks struggle is a great acquisition opportunity.
Categorical Issues + Opportunities
All of the Big-5 digital banking experiences suffer from three primary issues: Reliability, UX / UI, and Service.
Here’s how each bank’s app benchmarks against primary issue areas:
Reliability issues, such as crashes and login problems, dominate user complaints, making this a critical area for technical improvement.
Understanding that some reliability issues might be inevitable on Android devices, the customer experience can be improved in other ways. For example, providing customers with self-help resources to troubleshoot and swiftly resolve their own issues is a valid approach to avoiding some of the negative sentiment seen in reviews. Potential tactics could include self-help articles, a community help forum, or a dedicated tech help chatbot that customers can access without a secure login (given this is an issue many people encounter; more on this to come).
Secondary benefits of employing tactics like these include reduced case volumes for customer service agents, additional tools and resources successfully resolving and closing cases, and increased customer / user intelligence and insights that can be gleaned through self-help resource engagement.
Optimization Opportunities by Bank
This analysis uncovers specific issues and opportunities for optimization unique to each bank, informed by the volume and nature of user feedback.
A few key observations and opportunities:
Transfers
Transfers are one of the most common issues raised for every bank’s app; specifically, a significant number of customers have problems sending and receiving e-transfers.
International transfers were also regularly mentioned, and as a general theme, I think there is significant opportunity to better serve the needs of new Canadians and Canadians with international family and friends.
Customer Service
Discussed previously, issues with customer service are common. Issues that dominate related reviews are slow response times, long hold times, issues going unresolved, limited CS agent knowledge or capability to solve issues, and agent language barriers.
This said, some customer service experiences did receive glowing reviews, but these were much less commonly reported than negative experiences.
Deposits
Mobile cheque deposits are another common area that many people have issues with. Many report being unable to deposit cheques, having the feature cause their device to crash, and having numerous photos fail to be recognized.
Top Strengths + Weaknesses
This analysis compares the top three strengths and top three weaknesses of each bank’s mobile app versus the category average for each issue area. Negative percentages represent the percent fewer issues the bank’s customers express in reviews versus the category. Positive percentages represent the percent more issues that are expressed versus the category.
Issues only mentioned a small number of times were eliminated from this dataset so as to not misrepresent an issue as being overly important.
Interestingly, aspects of the login experience – biometrics, 2FA, and passwords – appear in most bank’s weaknesses. Login might seem unimportant, but it is the literal gatekeeper to the entire digital banking experience. It is the first thing customers do when opening their banking app, and it sets the tone for their entire experience – it should be secure, simple, and work perfectly.
Key Takeaways + Opportunities
Foundational Experiences Show Cracks
Perfect functionality is not a bonus – it’s an expectation. When banking technology falters, customer frustration is immediate and palpable.
Customers of Canada’s Big-5 banks encounter reliability issues, from instability and crashes to login errors. Sluggish UX, challenging navigation, and subpar customer service exacerbate these frustrations. For banks, the path forward is clear: solidify the foundational aspects of their digital experiences. Excellence in these areas is about more than just fixing what’s broken; providing a flawless product will enable banks to differentiate themselves as reliable and user-friendly, and will set the stage innovative new features that redefine customer expectations and further enhance satisfaction and loyalty.
Clear Leadership is Elusive
In the competitive landscape of digital banking, none of the Big-5 hold a clear leadership position.
No single Big-5 bank has yet to claim the definitive top spot in digital banking excellence. Achieving this will require a multifaceted approach: bolstering app reliability, refining the UX and UI, and providing consistent and exceptional service support; expanding feature sets to align with customer needs; and ongoing innovation will redefine customer expectations and solidify a sustainable leadership position.
Bridging Global Banking Gaps
Canada is defined by our multiculturalism, but the digital banking needs of our diverse population don’t seem to be fully met.
Just beyond the surface of top review themes and issues, this analysis highlighted a critical gap – customers of the Big-5 struggle to execute e-transfers involving international senders or recipients. Banks have an opportunity to enhance this, and other, international service offerings. Developing a reputation for comprehensive and reliable global digital banking capabilities, and serving the needs of a diverse clientele, will be a significant growth-driver for successful banks.