How top financial organizations boost ROI

Gone are the days when the only option to deposit checks was to bring the paper slip in person to a branch. Now, customers can sign into their account with a fingerprint or Face ID and deposit their funds by taking a picture. Or, one can forgo the check and use a money transfer app instead. But of course, modern inventions have brought on modern problems. From high drop-off rates to low adoption or retention, while new tech features and products are designed with convenience in mind, not everyone may find them user-friendly. 

While one financial organization may be chasing innovation, another is slower to adopt new trends. But there’s one thing some of the top financial services have in common—they collect user feedback. In fact, in a previous UserTesting study surveying 200 CEOs, 90% understand the need to make better use of empathy to interpret customer information and drive customer-facing processes. Below, learn about the obstacles top financial organizations have faced and how usability testing has helped overcome them. The power of human insight has ultimately improved their customer experience ROI and helped them reach their bottom line faster.

How ATB Financial boosted testing frequency by 200%

Canadian financial services provider ATB Financial provides services to Alberta’s residents and businesses. To better serve their customers, they began working on a digital platform to simplify banking. The organization’s UX team leaned on UserTesting to test the product, understand customer pain points, and pinpoint solutions—just within hours or days. The UserTesting platform became essential to multiple product launches, and ATB Financial runs studies almost weekly. Thanks to the platform, the UX team has seen a 200% increase in their testing frequency compared to in-person testing. And it’s not just the UX team that enjoys watching user insights; the rest of the organization became viewers in efforts to become more customer-centric.  

How T. Rowe Price fixed a high customer drop-off rate 

T. Rowe Price is an investment management firm that serves global customers to help them achieve their long-term financial goals. Upon launching a new process for creating an online investment account, they found a 37% drop-off rate on the first step after visitors opened the webpage—placing customer loyalty and the business at risk.

Turning to the UserTesting platform for its quick turnaround time, the teams launched unmoderated tests to pinpoint the root cause of the drop-off rate. The user feedback was clear—users wanted more information about the investment account before providing personal information. Almost instantly after addressing the user recommendations, the 37% drop-off rate was closed, proving that UserTesting and unmoderated testing were the right choice for solving this pain point. 

How Tesco Bank practiced customer-centricity to mitigate risk 

UK retail bank Tesco Bank serves more than five million customers across various banking, insurance, and money services, aiming to help their consumers better manage their money. Their team recognized the importance of customer empathy for mitigating risk, especially during the discovery phase of projects. In one of their many studies, the Customer Design team leveraged the UserTesting platform to test and compare in-store ads for credit cards—and listened to user feedback to settle internal debates and pick the best option.  

How Finastra boosted conversion rates and confidence 

Global fintech organization Finastra is building an open platform with a goal of greater collaboration and innovation in the finserv space. However, they needed insight into how different age groups engaged with their products. Understanding the value of user feedback, their UX team was especially impressed with the Human Insight Platform’s speed and the ability to receive results in hours or less. Everyone from developers to the C-suite enjoys watching the highlight reels, which help build credibility. Ultimately, weaving user testing into their workflow has brought increased conversion and speed of product development. 

How Wise grew from a research team of one and developed greater empathy 

UK-based global organization Wise is working towards a way to move and manage money globally, aiding a community of over 10 million customers and businesses. With a historical focus on engineering and analytics, the organization finally prioritized customer feedback to improve its app and website. Using UserTesting to convince the organization of qualitative research’s importance, the research team democratized the research function, and the team grew substantially. Now, Wise conducts remote tests weekly and live studies monthly—with one study resulting in a 400% increase in online page views. 

How Post Office UK democratized their research 

Retail organization Post Office UK offers products and banking services to the public through its network of post office branches. Realizing that teams had lost touch with their customers, from who they were to why they used their products, the research team demonstrated the value of qualitative insights and how they differed from analytics. The team ran studies on their offerings, from mail service to savings and loans, and came out better understanding customer sentiments along the way. 

Looking ahead 

In a space as sensitive and essential as financial services, there’s no room for assumptions on behalf of your customers. Wherever pain points exist, so does a trove of user feedback. Whether your goal is fixing drop-off rates, mitigating risk, or increasing conversion, investing in human insight ensures all of these and more. The payoff bridges projects and organizational culture, as your teams will experience better customer-centricity and democratized research that’ll have a long-term impact. Now that’s one hefty return on investment.