UserTesting studied why the top three largest U.S. banks – Bankof America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo – have experienced agradual decline in the growth of active mobile banking users.

In the process of its analysis, the Mountain View, Calif.-basedUserTesting, which provides on demand customer insights, learnedgreater digital engagement directly affects a financialinstitution's bottom line.

To provide in-depth analysis of what is delighting orfrustrating mobile banking customers, UserTesting published the “BankingMobile Customer Experience Index,” a competitive benchmarking studycomparing the mobile app customer experience of BofA, Chase andWells Fargo. Three hundred customers evaluated the mobile banking apps based on five factors – ease of use, speed,credibility, aesthetics and delight. The results can also helpcredit unions and other financial institutions understand whatdrives mobile banking users.

“Top U.S. banks have seen a gradual decline in growth of activemobile banking customers since 2012,” Janelle Estes, vice presidentof strategic research services at UserTesting, said. “Retail banksare in a unique position to dramatically improve their mobile appCX by zeroing in on the insights their customers provide. As ourstudy revealed, even a minor change to an app's navigation orfunctionality can change a customer's entire perception of thebrand – and benefit the bottom line.”

Key findings from the report included:

• The overall highest-rated banking app was Bank of America,given the speed at which customers could perform typical bankingtasks. Some noted that using the app was much faster and easierthan visiting a brick-and-mortar branch.

• The lowest-rated banking app was WellsFargo, due to customers experiencing extreme difficulty innavigating to their monthly online statements. The frustrationcustomers felt while attempting to complete this task negativelyinfluenced their entire experience.

• Finding and setting up fraud alerts wasthe lowest-scoring task, and the most difficult task for consumerson the mobile apps (with the exception of viewing statements on theWells Fargo app). Customers disliked the lack of clarity aroundwhere to find alerts, and for many, the alerts feature did notwork.

• Aesthetics was the highest-scoringfactor, due to all the financial institutions apps' overall modern,attractive and professional-looking visual branding. Commonadjectives customers used to describe the apps were: “Clean,”“clear” and “consistent.”

• Delight was the lowest-scoring and most elusive factor becausecustomers expected straightforward information about fraud alerts,and therefore their expectations went unfulfilled. All three bankapps showed low scores for delight.