Credit: MrFly | Dreamstime.com
Australian consumers are increasingly keen to conduct financial transactions in just a few swipes of their smartphones. Roy Morgan data shows that approximately 8.3 million Australians were regularly using mobile banking in 2017, which is an increase of 71.8 percent since 2013. Other reports indicate that finance apps are being downloaded more than all other apps combined in APAC (excluding games).
No doubt banks are realising the cost benefits of the mobile banking revolution with new and updated mobile apps by Australian banks popping up regularly. For instance, the Commonwealth Bank recently announced the launch of Ceba, a new chatbot that can perform 200 banking tasks, including bill payments.
With the use of apps becoming more prevalent across key sectors, such as retail banking, it’s time for businesses to re-evaluate their app strategy. However, with the increased use of artificial intelligence (AI) in digital banking and the subsequent overall growth in app use, banks will also be under pressure to ensure optimal app performance.
Adding to the performance pressures is the realisation that customers will no longer tolerate long loading times or "glitch-y" apps. Every second counts, and consumers will become alienated by poor app experiences that don’t meet their expectations. A recent Telsyte report found that just under one-third of Australian customers have ended a relationship with a brand due to poor service.
Customer experience is at the core of digital transformation and customers are becoming increasingly intolerant of brand experiences that don’t align with their needs or expectations.
However as evidenced below, many businesses are still failing users in four fundamental user experience building blocks for a digital service.
Performance
Performance quality is still lagging behind user expectations – or at the very least, it’s not progressing at the same speed. Recent global AppDynamics research, which included 100 Australian respondents, found that 80 percent of app users have experienced performance issues like crashes, errors and slowdowns in the past year. Moreover, when the number of choices goes up for consumers, the chances of establishing and keeping brand loyalty becomes more challenging.
Credit: Andrei Ivanov | Dreamstime.com Customers hold a particularly high bar for businesses within the banking and insurance industry, with 63 percent of users of these apps indicating that flawless performance is critical. The key to retaining customers is to prioritise application performance. This means investing in an enterprise application performance management solution that is able to safeguard the performance of mission-critical apps and user experience in production.
Outcomes
In a digital business, making each customer interaction with the digital storefront successful should be at the core of the business objectives. However, many business fail to see the bigger picture when it comes to app development. It is important to focus on analytics and big data strategies to adopt solutions that not only analyse technical performance, but also correlate business performance. This helps ensure that digital services and associated applications always drive business outcomes of revenue, customer experience and loyalty.
Convenience
Over half of consumers rely on digital services like online banking and shopping to relieve the stress of their daily lives. Moreover, the rise of applications in many industries, including retail, financial tech, and professional services, has increased consumer productivity and convenience in both their personal and professional lives. In fact, 43 percent of app users now believe that digital services have improved their productivity or helped them achieve more at work. At the same time, 50 percent of app users suggest that better app performance or responsiveness would improve their productivity and add convenience to their lives. Hence, it’s vital that digital enterprises take action to meet user expectations.
Emotion
Applications are no longer seen as luxuries that are nice to have. For many, they’re a necessity. As with a car that doesn’t start, the emotional impact and disappointment of unmet performance expectations are very real. Upon experiencing issues, 58 percent of app users describe themselves as frustrated, while nearly one-third feel stressed. Though consumer dependence comes with business opportunities, it also comes with heightened risks of irreparably damaged customer relationships.
Credit: Dolphfyn | Dreamstime.com With this increased consumer dependence on technology and applications comes exciting opportunities for businesses, such as financial institutions. However, it also comes with increased pressure to deliver on the demand for performance and ease-of-use. Hence, it’s more important than ever for companies to ensure that they have a thorough app strategy that focuses on delivering optimal performance and business outcomes to guarantee customer loyalty.
