Bank and Credit Card Apps and Websites Struggle to Find Ways to Stand Out as User Experience Becomes Increasingly Homogenized, J.D. Power Finds

Financial Management Tools and Virtual Assistants Represent New Frontier in Digital Experience

The good news: the nation’s banks and credit card providers have done a great job establishing best practices for a seamless, efficient digital user experience on their mobile apps and websites. The bad news: with limited differentiation between brands, it’s become challenging to distinguish and drive meaningful digital customer relationships. According to a series of recent studies of bank and credit card mobile app and online users, released today by J.D. Power, the one area in which banks and credit card providers can still drive meaningful, unique digital customer experiences is through personalized financial management tools and the use of digital assistants.

The studies—J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Banking Mobile App Satisfaction Study;^SM J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Online Banking Satisfaction Study;^SM J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Credit Card Mobile App Satisfaction Study;^SM and J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Online Credit Card Satisfaction Study^SM—track overall customer satisfaction with banking and credit card providers’ digital offerings.

“As mobile apps and websites increasingly become customers’ primary point of repeat interaction with their banks and credit card providers, it’s important that they offer a seamless, easy-to-use experience, but it is also important that they confer a level of unique brand identity and personalization,” said Jennifer White, senior director of banking and payments intelligence at J.D. Power. “The area in which banks and credit card providers have the largest opportunity to deliver that personalized connection to customers is through highly targeted personal financial management tools and the use of virtual assistants that help guide customers through key functions.”

Following are some key findings of the 2024 studies:

• Room for growth in personal financial management: While the gap in overall customer satisfaction between top- and bottom-ranked bank and credit card apps and websites has narrowed considerably, the one area in which there is still a great deal of performance variability is in personal financial management tools. Use of credit score monitoring, spending analysis categorization and budgeting tools have a significant effect on customer satisfaction—but execution and use varies by provider.
• Virtual assistants gain traction with younger customers: While overall use of virtual assistants is still relatively low across both credit card and banking customers, it has grown steadily during the past three years, particularly among younger customers. Most common functions executed through virtual assistants include checking account balances, making payments, finding transactions and transferring money.
• P2P payments and transfers increase in adoption: Bank efforts to enhance the person-to-person payments and transfers process on their websites and mobile apps have been paying off in the form of steadily increased usage. Nearly one-third (31%) of U.S. national bank customers are now using person-to-person payments and transfers on their bank’s mobile app, up from 29% in 2023 and 25% in 2022.

Study Rankings

Capital One ranks highest in banking mobile app satisfaction among national banks, with a score of 678 (on a 1,000-point scale). Bank of America (662) ranks second and Chase (656) ranks third.

TD Bank ranks highest in online banking satisfaction among national banks, with a score of 672. Capital One (671) ranks second and Wells Fargo (668) ranks third.

American Express and Bank of America rank highest in a tie in credit card mobile app satisfaction, each with a score of 675. Discover (673) ranks third.

American Express ranks highest in online credit card satisfaction, with a score of 671. Discover (668) ranks second and Wells Fargo (664) ranks third.

M&T Bank ranks highest in banking mobile app satisfaction among regional banks, with a score of 636. Citizens Bank (634), Fifth Third Bank (634) and KeyBank (634) each rank second in a tie.

Regions Bank ranks highest in online banking satisfaction among regional banks, with a score of 643. Huntington (642) ranks second and Fifth Third Bank (638) ranks third.

See the rank chart for each study at http://www.jdpower.com/pr-id/2024051.

The U.S. Banking Mobile App Satisfaction, U.S. Online Banking Satisfaction, U.S. Credit Card Mobile App Satisfaction and U.S. Online Credit Card Satisfaction studies measure overall satisfaction with banking and credit card digital channels based on four factors: navigation; speed; visual appeal; and information/content. The 2024 studies are based on responses from 17,843 retail bank and credit card customers nationwide and were fielded in February-March 2024.

To learn more about these studies, visit https://www.jdpower.com/business/resource/us-banking-and-us-credit-card-mobile-app-satisfaction-studies.

About J.D. Power

J.D. Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services, and data and analytics. A pioneer in the use of big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic modeling capabilities to understand consumer behavior, J.D. Power has been delivering incisive industry intelligence on customer interactions with brands and products for more than 55 years. The world's leading businesses across major industries rely on J.D. Power to guide their customer-facing strategies.

J.D. Power has offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. To learn more about the company's business offerings, visit JDPower.com/business. The J.D. Power auto-shopping tool can be found at JDPower.com.

About J.D. Power and Advertising/Promotional Rules: www.jdpower.com/business/about-us/press-release-info

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