We live in a financial surrounding and many of our day to day activities constantly revolve around our bank balance. When trying to transfer money to a friend in need, paying mobile bills online or buying a jacket online, we cannot skip interacting with the banking app.
(Banking app usage)
A recent Roy Morgan survey of Australia found that in an average 4 week period, 59% or 11.2 million Australians over age 14, used online banking, while 26% of banking customers, or 5 million Australians, used mobile banking or bank apps.
Even then, banking apps are facing a lot of challenges in terms of its UX - lack of customer engagement, low trust and hence customer frustration.
Banks have gone a long way to solve such issues. A personal favorite banking website in terms of it’s UX is - Simple. To get over the challenges in banking apps, some basic pointers are -
- Frequently used options a click away
Transferring funds, checking balance and viewing transfer history…. These and a few more are the frequently used functionalities when a common man uses his bank online. But somehow these are not the immediate options you would find when you login. Information on the app should be based on the most frequent actions a user takes on a website rather the services that banks want to sell.
(most frequent actions of user vs what bank wants to sell)
- Clean designed apps
Bold and clean designs draws the attention and make browsing easy for users. Clean design makes a statement. A clean app would give the bank a chance to tell the users what they are all about. No doubt about the fact that banks have various options to portray, but a clustered view of the app would only discourage the user from moving any further.
(Design a clean app)
- Maintain the trust
When it comes to money, everyone wants to make sure your transactions are safe. Banks have surely marched a long way to ensure that users do not have to rush to the bank for every small thing. Banks should make sure that the user is satisfied about the information moving in an encrypted fashion (SSL Certificate) . Having an icon of a padlock next to the login and sign in fields conveys safety and security. Users automatically develop that unsaid trust in their banks.
(padlock symbol to win trust)
- Immediate options for panic situations
Last time I realized that my debit card is lost, I almost chocked on my coffee! These are situations which require immediate action. Considering this fact, bank apps should have a ready-at-hand navigation for panic situations. It should be as simple as ever and should take as minimum steps as possible to block the card and apply for a new one. You cannot afford to check user’s patience at such situations! 😛
(Help users in their panic situations)
With these pointers in mind, you can delight your online customers with simple and usable UX design. Do let us know about your secret tips and tricks at monika[@]canvasflip.com