A new era of digitalization has begun when a large number of companies begin to use modern technologies in order to remain competitive. In the financial sector, banks that do not offer personalized digital services and do not pay special attention to protecting the data of their customers will lag behind their consumers. More and more users want comfort, simplicity, and security in their banking applications when managing their money. Therefore, if one bank offers a simple and understandable mobile application and the other does not have one at all, then users will prefer the first option.

The Importance of a Banking Application

Therefore, having an intuitively designed mobile banking application is a key success factor for banks in attracting and retaining their customers. But how do you compare banking apps? Should we make comparisons based on available features, or should we analyze the user experience and interface design in conjunction with application usage metrics to understand if it is really successful or not?

Just by focusing on the features offered by the apps, it becomes clear that there is an important difference between the banking apps on the market. Some apps include a wide range of features, while others remain very limited. Are there key features that apps can develop to stand out? When analyzing retail banking applications across countries, those that record higher customer loyalty and high usage rates tend to have the following features:

  • Opening a fully digital account: Easily open debit and credit accounts digitally;
  • Invoices, Subscriptions, and Recurring Memberships: Options to pay, view, and manage invoices, service payments, subscriptions, and recurring memberships from the mobile banking app;
  • Ease of Transactions: Ability to process credit and debit card transactions directly from the app.
  • Virtual cards: use of virtual cards with dynamic CVV;
  • Support agents: there is an opportunity to chat with smart bots that help customers in real-time.

In addition, the most successful applications among users tend to be easy to understand and use. For example, a bank might have a lot of features in a mobile app, but if it’s badly designed, is it really good? Hardly. The best app is the one that fits the specific needs of the customers and doesn’t necessarily have hundreds of features.

Therefore, if you want to create a successful application, then you need to pay special attention to bank app design. This is what serves as a key indicator for users. If the software is easy to use, its design is pleasant, and the main functions are available in it, then users will definitely appreciate such a development.

More about functions

Currently, banks with successful applications are using push notifications as an effective marketing tool to share information with customers. Such notices are less costly than alternatives to sending written communications to customers. In addition, multifunctional applications allow customers to get acquainted with the various products and services offered by the bank and inform them about the various features of the financial product. For example, a bank may have many features associated with its checking account, but if that feature is not available on a mobile app, many, if not most, consumers will not be aware of its availability.

In addition, an important characteristic of banks with successful applications is that they are constantly in dialogue with their customers and are constantly discussing the features they would like to see in their applications. Banks must determine what customers need to add functionality that delivers the most value. For example, in some European markets, banking applications have different interfaces depending on customer segments and their habits (behavior in the application, age, etc.). The older person has larger icons and texts, and his app is focused on savings and retirement accounts. On the other hand, for a younger customer, the app shows information related to stocks that are interested in this segment.

Conclusion

Therefore, during the creation of the application, you need to pay special attention not only to the functions but also to the design. Also, identify your target audience and find out what they like the most. In the future, the banking application industry will only develop. We will definitely see endless updates to banking apps. With the investments that banks are making in their applications, we will be surprised by the future features and capabilities.