New research from Adaptive Lab that surveyed the functionalityof mobile banking apps developed by five of the UK’s top banks has beencriticized after only receiving mediocre scores. The research looked at both the functionalityand the user experience of mobile apps produced by Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds,NatWest and Santander.
The research found that none of the banking apps on displayscored more than 75% on either functionality or usability. According to AdaptiveLabs, functionality of the app was defined as how many banking tasks people cando with the apps and the usability is how fast, easy and pleasant the app is touse and to understand. According to the final results, the lowest scoring apprated just 32% overall, breaking down into 43% for functionality and 25%usability.
Commenting on the results Adaptive Lab service design andproduct manager Kat Matfield said, “Although there are aspects of the apps thatwere reviewed that are visually attractive and user-friendly, most of thesebanking apps are to a certain extent limited in feature-sets and in providing apositive user experience. If consumers are going to be able to manage andmonitor their finances entirely from their smartphones, banks will have to makemore functionality available on their apps and focus on improving the userexperience.”
With consumers increasingly using digital channels to dotheir online and mobile banking the fact that many of the leading banks areonly receiving mediocre scores is not great. While moving forward, one canexpect that the mobile banking applications launched by the UK leading bankswill improve in the meantime; consumers do not get to enjoy the same levels ofservice as their counterparts in other countries.
Overview by Tristan Hugo-Webb, Associate Editor, Global Payments for Mercator Advisory Group
Read full story at Finextra