financial mobile index 2012 foresee

7/30/2019 Financial Mobile Index 2012 Foresee

1/15

2012 ForeSee

FORESEE MOBILE

SATISFACTION INDEX

FINANCIAL SERVICES EDITION

Commentary and Analysis by:

Larry Freed and Eric Feinberg

Research by:Rhonda Berg and Julie Anderson


2/15

FORESEE MOBILE SATISFACTION INDEX: FINANCIAL SERVICES EDITION (2012)

Apple Rating

* Nielsen, July 2012 ** Forrester, August 2012

*** ForeSee Mobile Satisfaction Index 2012

Google Rating

$

MOBILE FINANCIAL SERVICES AT A GLANCE

The mobile experience plays a critical role in todays nancial services world, which is inherentlymulti-channel and multi-device, and usage trends suggest that mobile is the future.

MOBILE FINANCIAL SERVICES: OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT AND GROWTH

MEASURE THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE TO GAUGE FUTURE SUCCESS

THE FUTURE OF MOBILE IN THE BANKING INDUSTRY

2/3of new mobilebuyers are buying smartphones*

CUSTOMERS ARE

MORE SATISFIED

WITH TRADITIONAL

SITES THAN

MOBILE SITES.

of U.S. Bank Account Holders will bebanking with a mobile device by 2017**

Mobile nancial services sites and appsunderperform mobile retail sites and apps***

Tracking appdownloadsand ratingsdoes notprovide

actionableinformation***

more likely torecommend the app

Measuring satisfactionpredicts future success***

SAT SCORE

77 VS.

FINANCIAL SERVICES RETAIL

SAT SCORE

79

3.5

4.3

3.0

4.3

SAT

79SAT

7676%

more likely touse it again66%

more likely to preferthe brand overall

72%

Mobile banking users willdouble in the next 5 years**

Wells Fargo

CUSTOMER

SATISFACTION

79


3/15


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The mobile experience plays a critical role in todays nancial services world, which is inherently multi-channel

and multi-device, and usage trends suggest that mobile is the uture. According to Neilsen, two thirds o new

mobile buyers are buying smartphones, and they already constitute more than hal o all cell phones in use

today. These powerul devices will urther drive the adoption o mobile nancial services. Forrester predicts

that the number o U.S. mobile banking users will double in the next ve years and reach 108 million by

2017, which translates to 46% o bank-account holders in the United States.

Twenty years o research shows that when measured correctly, a satisying customer experience is predictive

o loyalty, recommendations, sales, and brand preerence. Among our own clients, we see an increased

interest in understanding the role that mobile plays in overall business strategy. For these reasons, in our

second Mobile Satisaction Index, we turn our attention to the nancial services industry. The ollowing

report provides customer satisaction scores or the mobile experience provided by top nancial

institutions, including:

> Banks: American Express Bank, Wells Fargo, Chase, U.S. Bank, Bank o America, CitiBank,

and credit unions overall;

> Credit Card Companies: American Express, Discover, Capital One, Citibank, MasterCard, Visa; and

> Brokerage: Charles Schwab, Fidelity, E*TRADE, Scottrade, TD Ameritrade.

Critical ndings emerged rom the research:

> There is little dierentiation between the mobile experiences o fnancial services companies.

Scores or each o the 17 individual nancial services companies we measured are on page 6, along

with aggregate scores or each category.
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/two-thirds-of-new-mobile-buyers-now-opting-for-smartphones/http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/two-thirds-of-new-mobile-buyers-now-opting-for-smartphones/http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/two-thirds-of-new-mobile-buyers-now-opting-for-smartphones/http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/two-thirds-of-new-mobile-buyers-now-opting-for-smartphones/http://blogs.forrester.com/tiffani_montez/12-08-15-move_over_online_mobile_is_poised_to_hit_mainstreamhttp://blogs.forrester.com/tiffani_montez/12-08-15-move_over_online_mobile_is_poised_to_hit_mainstreamhttp://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/two-thirds-of-new-mobile-buyers-now-opting-for-smartphones/http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/two-thirds-of-new-mobile-buyers-now-opting-for-smartphones/http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/two-thirds-of-new-mobile-buyers-now-opting-for-smartphones/http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/two-thirds-of-new-mobile-buyers-now-opting-for-smartphones/


4/15


> Mobile banking still underperorms online banking. Customers still preer traditional online

banking to mobile online banking, but the experience needs to be consistent across channels. Read

more on page 7.

> Mobile fnancial services underperorm m-retail. In a similar study conducted in September,

ForeSee ound that average satisaction with the largest retail m.mobile sites and apps was 79, while

average satisaction or nancial services m.mobile sites and apps is 77.

> Mobile apps rule. Customer satisaction is signicantly higher with apps than with mobile sites

(m.sites), highlighting the important role that apps can play in a successul mobile strategy or a

nancial services company. It behooves any nancial services company to not only create an app, but

to encourage customers to download and use it because our research suggests that apps provide a

more satisying experience than m.sites. Read more on page 8.

> Satisaction with mobile banking predicts uture success; app store ratings and downloads do

not. A highly satised visitor to a nancial services mobile site or app reports being 76% more likely

to recommend the mobile site or app, 66% more likely to use it again, and 72% more likely to preer

the brand overall based on the experience he or she had in the mobile channel. Executives who

measure success o mobile apps by tracking downloads or star ratings in app stores are not getting

actionable inormation. Read more on page 9.

> Mobile banking can get better. For many companies, improving the kind o inormation a mobile

site or app provides should be a top priority or improvement (over and above even unctionality and

perormance o the mobile site or app). But there is no one-size-ts-all approach.

INTRODUCTION: SATISFACTION MATTERS (MORE) IN MOBILE

Satisaction matters just as much or mobile, and perhaps even more in some cases, as it does in any other

channel because it represents the uture o customer engagement. Mobile devices empower consumers

in ways that PCs cannot, by putting the power o the Internet into their pocket or purse. While traditional

Internet access through PCs and laptops will likely never go away, consumers are increasingly going mobile


5/15


rst. It is thereore an absolute necessity or nancial services companies to understand how their customers

are using mobile devices and to create websites and apps optimized or mobile devices. Failure to do so is

a lost opportunity to secure customer loyalty, return visits, positive word-o-mouth recommendations, and

revenue. This is especially true in this industry where we see very little dierentiation in the kinds o mobile

experiences companies are creating or customers.

On one hand, a good mobile experience can serve to reinorce other company touch points and bolster

customers satisaction with a nancial services company as a whole. On the other, it can also seriously

undermine a companys brand i the mobile interaction is executed poorly.

Measuring customer satisaction with the mobile platorm is essential or the same reasons it is

important to measure satisaction with more established touch points like contact centers, branches,

and websitesbecause satisaction is the best orward-looking indicator o uture success. It is especially

important given the poor alternatives companies have in place now. Too many nancial services companies

are measuring the success o a mobile experience based on how many stars their app has in the app store

or how many downloads have occurred. This kind o opt-in eedback has a greater tendency to refect the

squeaky wheels and is not representative o the silent majority o customers who have valuable opinions to

share. More importantly, such eedback is not actionable and gives companies no inormation on what can

or should be done to improve the experience.

In this study, the ForeSee Mobile Satisaction Index: Financial Services Edition (see side bar on page 6) takes

a close look at 17 leading nancial services companies through the lens o customer satisaction to see how

they are in the mobile arena.

Even though the mobile revolution is still in its early stages, the companies in this study seem to be doing a

very good job o meeting and exceeding customer expectations o a mobile retail experience. But there is

always room or improvement, even or companies at the top o the heap. As the mobile industry matures,

customer expectations will rise. Companies must continue to innovate and improve to maintain high

satisaction levels.


6/15


THE SCORES

There is very little dierentiation between the

satisaction scores or the mobile experiences

or the leading companies in each o these

categories. American Express takes the top

named spot in both categories in which it is

included, and Charles Schwab and Fidelity

top the brokerage list. All scores are on a

100-point scale.

Customer Satisaction with Mobile Experiences: Financial Services

Aggregate: All Financial Services Mobile Experiences 77

Mobile Banks and Credit Unions: Aggregate 78

Any Credit Union 80

American Express (Bank) 79

Wells Fargo 79

Chase (Bank) 78

US Bank 78

Bank of America (Bank) 76

Citibank (Bank) 76

Mobile Credit Cards: Aggregate 76

American Express (Credit Card) 79

Discover 79

Capital One (Credit Card) 76

Citibank (Credit Card) 75

Mastercard 75

Visa 73

Mobile Brokerage: Aggregate 77

Charles Schwab 79

Fidelity 78

E*TRADE 77

Scottrade 77

TD Ameritrade 76

Note: All satisfaction scores are reported on a 100-point scale.


7/15


Banking: In the consumer banking category, credit unions tend to provide the best mobile experiences. There

is only a three-point variation between the measured banks in this category, rom a 76 or Citibank to a 79 or

American Express Bank. It is important to remember that these are the largest banks in the country.

Credit Cards: There is a slightly larger range o scores in the credit card category, rom 73 or Visa to a 79 or

American Express credit cards.

Mobile Brokerage: The mobile brokerage category also has a very narrow spread o only three points, rom

TD Ameritrade at 76 to Charles Schwab at 79.

These scores provide a benchmark or other companies in these categories, whether measured in this

study or not.

WEB VS. MOBILE

Websites appear and unction airly uniormly across standard PCs and laptops. But among mobile devices,

there are dozens o screen sizes, operating systems, hardware specications, and loading speeds. This makes

it dicult or nancial services companies trying to provide a uniorm standard experience to their customers

across platorms.

ForeSee measures satisaction across multiple channels. Last year, we measured web satisaction or many o

these companies as part o an annual study about online banking. For every bank ForeSee measured, both

online and or mobile, the web experience outperorms the mobile experience in customer satisaction by as

much as eight points. Customers still strongly preer the web experience to the mobile one or every major

bank we studied.


8/15


FINANCIAL SERVICES VS. RETAIL

In September, ForeSee measured satisaction with retail mobile sites and apps. The report is available on

ForeSees website. Average satisaction was airly high across the 20 measured retailers mobile experiences,

with an aggregate mobile satisaction score o 79 and retailer-specic scores ranging rom 76-84. For the

nancial services companies included in this report, average satisaction was 77, with individual scores ranging

rom 73 to 80. Customers are slightly less satised with nancial services m.mobile sites and apps than they are

with retail m.mobile sites and apps.

Moreover, almost hal o the measured retailers scored 80 or above or their mobile experiences, which is

traditionally considered the benchmark or excellence. Only one o the scores in the nancial services mobile

study reached 80: the average score or all measured credit unions.

APPS VS. SITES

Where mobile websites are either ull websites on a smaller screen or websites tailored to mobile devices, apps

have the advantage o being created or specic operating systems and devices. This advantage is evident in

the scores below, which compare satisaction between apps and m.sites. In aggregate, customers nd nancial

services apps to be more satisying than m.sites.

Customers Are More Satisfed With Mobile Apps

Average MobileSatisaction

Satisactionwith Apps

Satisactionwith M.Sites

Financial Services Aggregate 77 79 76

Banks 78 80 76

Credit Cards 76 78 76

Brokerage 77 79 76

O those who responded to this survey, 57% were m.mobile site users and 43% were mobile app users.

Satisaction with sites (76) trailed satisaction with apps (79) by three points.
http://www.foresee.com/http://www.foresee.com/http://www.foresee.com/http://www.foresee.com/


9/15


Why do app users choose to use the apps? According to the study, 40% o respondents reported apps were

easier to use than mobile sites, and 31% said apps were aster. It should also be noted that apps are designed

specically or existing customers, because there is no compelling reason or a noncustomer to have the app.

Research also shows that mobile customers o nancial services are going beyond simple everyday activities

such as checking account balances or locating ATMs to making bill payments, transerring money between

accounts, or even depositing unds.

Providing a solid app experience or customers (loyal and new) deepens a companys relationship with

them. When a nancial services company can provide a customized, superior app experience, it can engage

customers urther, embed them deeper into the brand experience, and make them more loyal as the result o

higher satisaction. However, nancial services companies must not orget prospective customers in the mobile

equation and their m.sites should appeal to and serve the needs o both customers and prospects.

Sample sizes were not large enough to release individual company-level m.site and app scores, but or banks,

customers rate Chase and Bank o Americas apps the highest. American Express has the most highly-rated

credit card app, and Charles Schwab has the most highly-rated investment app o those we measured.

WHY MEASURE SATISFACTION?

High customer satisaction, when measured correctly, predicts the outcomes that measure success. Satisaction

is the most important customer metric companies can track and is a key driver o behaviors that businesses

care most about: likelihood to use more services, recommendations, and loyalty, among others.

In this index, we compared less-satised users o nancial services mobile sites and apps (with satisaction

scores 69 or less) to highly satised users (with satisaction scores o 80 or higher). Based on likelihood scores,

satised mobile users say they are 80% more likely to use mobile as their primary resource (beore using other

channels), 76% more likely to recommend the mobile channel, 66% more likely to use the mobile channel

again, and 72% more likely to preer the brand overall based on their experience in the mobile channel.


10/15


Apple Rating Google Rating Satisfaction

5

4.5

4

3.5

3

2.5

2

1.5

WellsFargo

Chase(Bank)

USBank

BankofAmerica(Bank)

Citibank(Bank)

AmericanExpress(CreditCard)

Discover

CapitalOne(CreditCard)

Citibank(CreditCard)

CharlesSchwab

Fidelity

E*TRADE

Scottrade

TDAmeritrade

90

80

70

60

50

79 78

76777778

79

7576

7979

767678

Likely Future Behaviors or Mobile Visitors to the Top Financial Services Mobile Sites and Apps

Likely Future Behaviors

Average Scores,Respondents ScoringMobile Satisaction

80+ (Highly Satisfed)

Average Scores,Respondents Scoring

Mobile Satisaction 69

or lower (Dissatisfed)

% dierencebetween Highly

Satisfed &

Dissatisfed

Brand Preference 86 50 72%

Use Mobile as a Primary Resource 81 45 80%

Recommend the Mobile Channel 90 51 76%

Use the Mobile Channel Again 93 56 66%

These calculations show that satisaction should be a key perormance indicator or any nancial services

company making an investment in mobile. Ater all, the other ways that executives currently use to track

mobile success lack the same predictive or actionable qualities. What do app store star ratings tell you? Not

much. Furthermore, that eedback is more useul or customers than it is or companies, and it provides no

direction or insight as to how a company might improve the customer experience. The eedback provided by

tracking how many stars an app gets in an app store is questionable at bestusually only the most satised

and the least satised provide eedback, leaving the silent majority unrepresented. The ollowing chart

demonstrates how misleading stars and download counts can be when it comes to truly understanding the

mobile customer experience.


11/15


How does ForeSee know that satisaction as a metric is any more actionable than Google ratings or Apple

ratings? Because the methodology ForeSee uses to measure satisaction in these studies as well as or our

clients has more than 20 years o academic research behind it, linking it to critical uture behaviors and

nancial success. Moreover, the way ForeSee measures and calculates satisaction provides important insights

into how to improve the experience, while simple ratings do not.

HOW TO IMPROVE MOBILE SATISFACTION

How can nancial services companies increase satisaction? The ForeSee methodology scientically measures

several key drivers, or elements, o mobile satisaction. The ForeSee model results shows how users eel

about these perormance areas and also how much infuence each element has on their overall satisaction.

Improving the high-impact elements in the eyes o visitors leads to quantiable increases in satisaction. The

elements that have the most impact on overall satisaction (and thereore on uture behaviors, both online and

ofine) dier rom company to company.

This study measures three general elements o a retail mobile experience:

> Functionality: The useulness and variety o eatures, such as branch locator, directed search, etc.

> Site Inormation: The thoroughness o inormation on the mobile site or app and how well it

answers your questions.

> Site Perormance: How quickly pages load on a mobile device and the ability to load without

getting error messages.

For the purposes o this study, these elements are measured in broad strokes because we use a panel to

measure visitors who may have had their mobile experience up to a ew days or weeks ago. We are able

to determine the impact o a wider range o more detailed elements or our clients because consumers are

surveyed immediately ater a mobile experience.


12/15


ForeSee technology quanties which elements have the greatest impact on overall satisaction, which

may or may not be the lower-scoring elements. Companies are likely to improve satisaction the most by

ocusing improvements on the elements that have the greatest impact on satisaction, rather than ocusing

on element perormace scores alone.

For 14 o the 17 sites we measured, site inormation was the top priority or improvement. This nding

indicates that nancial services institutions may not have a great read on what customers use the mobile

sites and apps or. For example, though conventional wisdom says that people use mobile sites and apps on

the go, our research indicates that 65% o survey respondents accessed the nancial services mobile site or

app rom their home, 12% accessed it rom work, and only 18% accessed it while out and about. The data

suggests that mobile users are oten more stationary than previously assumed and perhaps have more need

or detailed inormation than previously thought.

Meanwhile, our companies registered site/app perormance as a top priority and two registered unctionality

as a top priority (some sites had more than one top priority). In short, each company needs to understand the

expectations o its customers and how those match up to the reality o the mobile experience it is providing.

There is no one-size-ts-all solution or improving a nancial services mobile experience. By understanding the

impact o specic aspects o a mobile experience on their audiences satisaction, nancial services companies

can save costly investments in upgrades that will not result in desired uture behaviors and instead ocus their

eorts on the changes that are likely to matter most.

OTHER OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT

Why are customers using mobile and does the m.site or app meet their range o needs? Visitors who

are looking to research products and services (a tremendous sales opportunity or nancial services companies)

have an average satisaction score o 73, compared to an average o 77 across all users, 78 or those coming

to pay bills/make payment/transer unds, and 79 or those coming to view their accounts. This score dierence

highlights an opportunity or nancial services companies to better meet the needs o current and potential

customers using mobile or research purposes.


13/15


Customers vs. prospects: Noncustomers have an average satisaction score o 72 compared to 79 or

customers, indicating that there is an opportunity to win new business on mobile sites/apps. Financial services

companies may be assuming only existing customers are using their mobile sites and apps. The mobile

experience in nancial services is not only or existing customers; in act, nearly one-th o survey respondents

(18%) were not customers o the nancial institution whose mobile experience they were using.

First-time visitors vs. repeat visitors: Among survey respondents, a very large 43% report being rst-time

users to the mobile site or app, while 57% were repeat visitors. First-time visitors have a satisaction score

o 75our points below those who were returning users (79). While not a big surprise that returning visitors

score higher than rst-time visitors (ater all, they had to be satised in order to return, so customer satisaction

is usually higher than prospect satisaction), it is important to note that the opportunity to improve the

rst-time visitor experience does exists and should be explored, especially since everyone has to be a rst-time

visitor once.

Are mobile users really mobile? App users, in contrast to m.site users, are proving to be true mobile users,

meaning they are more likely to use the app while out and about and display higher satisaction and uture

behaviors than those on the go with a mobile website. Twenty-three percent o app users are using that app

out and about (not at home, work, or school), while 14% o m.site users are out and about.

CONCLUSION

ForeSees scientic technology reveals that to increase customers loyalty and brand preerence, nancial

services companies need to increase overall satisaction. To do this, companies need to be aware o how

changing specic elements o key touch points will impact their customers experienceseither positively

or negatively. Only with the most precise measurement can they prioritize enhancements to key touch point

experiences, such as mobile, and make business decisions that can generate the greatest return on their

investment. This is an invaluable insight in this new technological era.

Theres no question that mobile is moving at lightning speed right now. Companies shouldnt stand idle

and watch the opportunity go by. I they measure mobile (and measure it the right way), and also identiy


14/15


the purpose o the visit, the customers likely next step, the location and device, and develop a strategy or

improvement based on this inormation, it is possible to keep pace with this growing and changing technology

that is impacting the customer experience in ways they may never have anticipated.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

As President and CEO o ForeSee, Larry Freed is an expert on the multi-channel customer experience and

authors dozens o research papers and reports on the subject every year. Larry speaks extensively on the topic

at private- and public-sector industry events and is the author o the book Managing Forward: How to Move

from Measuring the Past to Managing the Future.

As Senior Director o Mobile, Eric Feinberg is responsible or working with product, delivery, sales, and

marketing teams to ensure that ForeSee brings innovation and operational excellence to its mobile oerings.

Eric brings 15 years o customer-ocused experience to the team, and is currently on the board o directors or

the Digital Analytics Association (DAA), ormerly the Web Analytics Association.

ABOUT THE RESEARCH TEAM

Rhonda Berg, Research Manager at ForeSee, led the research team that worked on this study as well as the

2011 ForeSee E-Retail Satisaction Index (U.S. Holiday Edition). Rhonda manages many research initiatives,

such as the annual Top 100 and Top 40 Retail Satisaction Indexes (both U.S. and UK) and the quarterly

E-Government Satisaction and Transparency Indexes. She also serves as an internal consultant regarding

statistics, methodology, and survey design. Rhonda has been a research proessional or more than 20 years

in a number o industries and holds advanced degrees in business and sociology.

Julie Anderson, Research Analyst at ForeSee, has over 13 years o consulting and research experience in

public and private organizations with a ocus on large-scale data analytics. She graduated rom Columbia

University with a Masters o Public Health in 1999. Through her work as a Satisaction Research Analyst at

ForeSee, she has extensive experience in survey development, voice-o-customer analytics, and the American

Customer Satisaction Index (ACSI).


15/15


ABOUT FORESEE

As a pioneer in customer experience analytics, ForeSee continuously measures satisaction and delivers

powerul insights on where to prioritize improvements or maximum impact. ForeSee applies its trusted

technology across channels and customer touch points, including websites, call centers, brick-and-mortar

locations, mobile experiences, and social media interactions. Because ForeSees proven methodology measures

satisaction in a manner that is predictive o customer loyalty, purchase behavior, uture nancial success, and

even stock prices, executives and managers can drive uture success by condently prioritizing the eorts that

they know will achieve business goals.

Working across the public and private sectors, with deep expertise in a range o business and consumer

industries, ForeSee combines the best in customer satisaction measurement, proven predictive analytics,

actionable usability analysis, and rich observational data to work with large and small organizations around the

world. The result o measuring success through the customers eyes is better outcomes or businesses and a

better experience or consumers.

ForeSee is a privately held company headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Visit us at www.oresee.com or

customer experience solutions and original research.
http://www.foresee.com/http://www.foresee.com/

financial mobile index 2012 foresee

Documents