Mobile banking needs to be attractive and user-centric

The banking industry players know the importance of being on mobile. Many of them have developed apps and sites to help them dominate the mobile banking space.

Mobile banking has completely changed the financial landscape. People can now deposit or withdraw during non-banking days and hours. Transactions are faster now without the aid of a bank representative.

According to a Federal Reserve study, banks and financial institutions have successfully coped with the speed of smartphone adoption. Last year, over 50 percent of bank account holders has embraced mobile banking, which is no surprise. It is faster and more efficient compared with physically going to the bank.

Mobile banking allowed many transactions to be made without physically going to the bank. (Source)

Eleven percent of these non-mobile banking users admitted that they are interested in going mobile. They also said they would soon get their bank’s mobile app.

The frequency of mobile banking usage, as well as the range of activities performed through mobile banking, has also increased dramatically over the past years. In 2014 alone, there was a record of an average of 400 percent increase per month . The rate at which banks are adopting mobile versions also points towards the importance of listening to what their clients need from a 24/7 mobile bank counter.

Mobile banking design

The saddening part is that many mobile banking apps or sites are barely easy to navigate. A few are aesthetically stunning, and are too neat. In fact, one that’s excessively professional to an extent that they’re no longer fun.

According to mobile web marketing company Monsoon, most banks pay little attention to their customers’ online banking experience. Mobile apps for banks, as CEO Sandeep Sood would summarize it, are all about “clunky (user experience) UX, confusing (user interface) UI, difficult logins, unattractive graphics and an overload of information frustrate many customers, and keep others away.”

What financial institutions fail to recognize is that mobile banking is not only about having a decent presence online. The trick is to simply hire a competent designer who knows how to translate user experience to effectual design and functional interface.

User-centric responsiveness

For global web design and development firm IT Craft, mobile responsiveness is not a design philosophy that caters only to specific industries. In fact, banks should be the first ones to incorporate a user-centric mobile design to their online presence as they deal with their customers’ personal money and assets.

According to Search Engine Watch, almost sixty percent of users trust their gadgets when it comes to accessing personal data. Hence, apart from seamless navigation and eye-pleasing design, bank applications must also adhere to design principles that aim to enhance privacy and security.

Banks also have to partner with web designers who have a deep understanding not only of aesthetics but also of SEO and online advertising, especially now that Google, the leading search engine company today, has started to restructure its algorithm using and toward mobile search principle.

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