Some banks are still using products designed 10 years ago, while some Fintechs do redesigns every year. If you are unsure when to redesign your digital bank’s app, test your situation using our checklist and explore the 7 steps to take toward a successful redesign.

Rate the level of each aspect on a 10-point scale where:

1 – this does not happen at all in our company

10 – we have it, and it is very noticeable

1. A Lot of Customer Complaints or They Don’t Use The Product’s App

What percentage of your customers use your mobile app? According to statistics, 90% of customers already use mobile banking. If your customers prefer a desktop solution or branch visit, it’s not because of their age or mentality; it’s a wake-up call. It means that your mobile app does not meet their expectations, and is not easy to use.

Check how many complaints you receive, and how many users contact your technical support. If your contact center is overloaded with questions about how the app works, and the wait time is increasing, then a redesign of your app should be considered as soon as possible. If there is insufficient information to define clear improvement criteria, you can conduct a customer survey. Regular customer surveys are a great way to keep your products competitive.

2. The App’s Rate is Lower Than Four Stars

What’s the easiest way to understand what users think about your app? Certainly, ratings and reviews in the App Store and Google Play. This valuable data source should be gathered and reviewed after uploading the app. If the score of your application is lower than 4 stars, it’s worth thinking about the reasons why and using it in your favor by implementing a redesign and offering your users an improved FI solution.

What are the most common complaints and users’ pain points reviewed on your app page? Make a list of critical issues and include them in your redesign plan. Verify this data with additional research. Even if these shortcomings seem minor, you should discover why this is important for your users. Small details can become a powerful source of growth.

3. The App Doesn’t Match Modern UI Guidelines

How does your financial app compare to popular apps from other industries? New versions of operating systems are released annually. They change the standards of interaction with devices and impact new design trends. Top apps set new standards for user experiences affecting digital consumers’ expectations.

Does your financial app take into account the UI guidelines of mobile OS and current design trends? This strongly determines the user’s perception of the product and, accordingly, the brand as modern or outdated. And, by the way, don’t be afraid to overstep the stereotypes and get inspired by competitor solutions to make yours even better, so, by the time of launch, your app will look fresh and get noticed for its great quality and innovative user experience.

4. The App Doesn’t Provide a Completely Digital Experience

If your bank customers still have to visit branches despite their readiness to use a mobile app, maybe it is because the services they need are simply not accessible digitally. Are all the services you provide available on your mobile banking app?

To reduce the load on branches and shift employees’ focus to solving important business growth tasks, many FIs integrate a fully digital service into their apps and provide a complete digital banking experience. This reduces costs and improves the efficiency of modern financial organizations.

5. Competitors Look Similar or Even Better

What do your customers and employees think of your competitors? Look at their digital products. How do they differ from your products? How does your product look against theirs? Does it stand out? Is it more user-friendly? Or, on the contrary, do your competitors offer more modern, stylish and convenient solutions that attract your customers and make your employees envious?

A fair analysis of your competitors can provide great ideas for improving your user experience. Today, more and more people are choosing a financial service not from commercials but based on the appeal and usability of a mobile app. Therefore, hype triggered by a new digital product can be more effective in attracting customers than a huge ad campaign that leads to an outdated online banking dashboard.

6. The App Doesn’t Fit the Brand’s Personality

What is your brand’s personality, and how does your product communicate it in the digital environment? A brand’s authenticity and personality are some of the most important elements for building a long-term competitive advantage. People aren’t just looking for a function to manage money; they need a service they can trust with their money.

If a lot of money and effort has been invested in building your brand’s reputation and gaining customer trust, why not leverage that in your product? Make sure the customers feel a connection to your brand by using your product. Does your product speak the brand’s visual language, reveal the brand identity and align with brand values, or does it look foreign and unrelated to your brand identity?

7. The App Doesn’t Reflect the Digital Strategy

I’m sure your business strategy takes into account the latest changes in the market, the emergence of new technologies, increased competition and changing consumer behavior. Most, if not all, of these changes in the financial industry are affected by the rapid development of digital technology. So, the big question is, how is your Digital Strategy being implemented?

Ultimately, the Digital Strategy is implemented through digital products. How responsive is your app to the latest version of your Digital Strategy? Does it help you to achieve your goals and provide the desired digital development and market advantage, or does it need a revamp?

8. The Products’ Digital Ecosystem is Fragmented

How connected are all your products and all possible channels of service and communication? Look at the Apple ecosystem. Apple products are not just visually united; they complement one other at the level of user interaction, creating a new level of value: the end-to-end user experience. Implementing this powerful concept creates a positive long-term relationship with the customer.

What about your service ecosystem from a UX perspective? Is it consistent or fragmented? Can a user start an interaction in the app and continue it on the desktop, or take credit any way they want? Do all your products have the same style and work on the same principles, or are the brand logo and colors the only things that unite them? Is the level of digitalization of your back office consistent with client solutions? In some banks, an electronic request from a mobile app is still printed out on paper and then sitting in a pile on the clerk’s desk.

9. The App Doesn’t Fulfill the Purpose of the Business

The business purpose determines the support and attitude of customers and employees toward the business. The absence of a human-centered purpose leads to disunity and dissatisfaction among the team, intrigue, internal chaos and desynchronization. It happens when there is no clear answer why the team is there, where the company is going, what is the meaning of this business, why they have customers and what role digital products play in all this.

What is the purpose of your business, what value do you bring to your customers, and how do your products help with that? Are your employees motivated to support that mission through continual improvement of the customer experience and providing maximum value to customers? Do your digital products inspire your employees, and do they enjoy the business and what they do?

10. The Company’s Market Share Has Decreased

According to your marketing department’s statistics, has your customer base declined, or has the growth rate slowed? One possible reason is that there are competing digital products on the market that your customers are switching to, and this pressure will only grow.

Of course, digital competition brings its own adjustments to the distribution of market shares, but you can use this to your advantage. Digital transformation, new service standards, integration of innovative technologies and product redesign could improve the digital customer experience to increase market share.

The Results

The ranking for all these criteria is:

70 to 100 points – you urgently need to consider redesigning your application. And it seems that you should look for professional help to fine-tune the process of customer-centered design, development and digital service improvement.

40 to 70 points – you probably do not yet feel the impact of a critical UX mobile app on your business, but you should start gathering data to improve the digital service and user experience. You have time to get it right. Try not to procrastinate, and use it to secure a competitive advantage.

0 to 40 points – everything is going great, and your product is apparently one of the market leaders. You can use this checklist to transform your most critical points into growth opportunities by making small improvements that maximize the potential of your product.

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• Source: https://www.finextra.com/blogposting/23300/10-questions-that-will-reveal-whether-your-financial-app-needs-a-redesign?utm_medium=rssfinextra&utm_source=finextrablogs