Ask around where one expects to find the best user experience, and most people will point to tech-driven industries, from UBER to Tesla and the like. Yet, since 2014, something of a revolution is occurring in the banking industry as far as their awareness of the user experience. In 2014, Capital One bought the highly respected American UX agency Adaptive Path. This acquisition lead the way to a new era of banking, built on excellent user experience and a stronger-than-ever relationship with their customers, thus setting the new standard for the industry.

“[…]there is a high correlation between customer experience and consumers’ loyalty to a company.”

Of course, this shift was a long time coming. In 2004, Adaptive Path had helped Bank of America improve the usability of their registration process and increase their registration rate by 45%. Many such examples are available; it took some time before banks embraced UX. At first, like in other industries, they were weary of the effort UX requires. What is striking though, is that banks, who cannot be accused of being foolhardy — surely they know how to assess investments — have seen the strong positive impact of investing in UX.

What seemed like an American occurrence, has a definite impact on the Canadian and Québec banking scene, with local banks sprouting Client Experience groups and managers. We could only hope that other major industries would move their standard customer experience up. In 2014, Forrester estimated that wireless carriers, airlines, insurers, and retailers had not yet developed their full potential in terms of the experience they offer their customers. According to the same study, there is a “high correlation between customer experience and consumers’ loyalty to a company”. This directly translates into sales and recommendations.
Are your customers raving about you?

¹ Adaptive Path (2004), Leveraging Business Value: How ROI Changes User Experience http://adaptivepath.org/uploads/documents/apr-005_businessvalue.pdf Case study about Bank of America, p.15)

² http://solutions.forrester.com/Global/FileLib/Forr_Perspective_/Forrester-Perspective-CX-2.pdf