7 Pillars of Successful Mobile Banking App Development

In recent years, the range and cost of banking services have ceased to be the key criterion for choosing a particular bank. Service quality and usability come out on top now, and a mobile banking app is an important tool for reaching this objective.

Developing a proprietary mobile app allows a bank to improve its service quality for existing customers, as well as to attract new ones. This is a serious and difficult task, but this step is necessary nowadays.

Based on the niche features and our experience in financial products development, we have highlighted several of the most important points to pay attention to when developing mobile apps for the banking sector.

By considering them in your work, you will be able to release a successful and competitive product.

Start with the Bare Essentials

Redundant functionality prevents your app from winning user loyalty because it confuses a person when they use your app. In addition, developers eventually waste efforts on implementing unclaimed functions instead of improving features people really need.

The demand for specific banking functions is well shown in the Federal Reserve report:

[by thefinancialbrand.com]

To identify priority areas, it is also important to use the company’s internal data, focus group surveys and other data sources.

Mind User Experience

Test your product for end-user perception, interface design quality, and user experience. Customer satisfaction is crucial for your app.

Perform usability tests to make sure all elements operate correctly. If the app is already released, it is worth conducting a UX interview with real customers representing the target audience. This approach will allow you to find out possible inconveniences in the app’s usability.

[by Max Panchyk]

You can also resort to heatmaps, A/B testing, and other analytic and testing tools to understand how your app is used.

Stability and Performance

Each mobile banking app operates with huge amounts of data. If it does not cope with data processing the way it should, users will not duly appreciate your app.

Test the system under various types of load. This way, you will analyze its stability and response to user actions, as well as find out what has to be improved. There are four main ways to check app performance:

• Load Testing, which determines how your app behaves under a certain load.
• Stress testing, which determines the maximum load level.
• Soak testing, which determines your app’s ability to work under a constant expected load.
• Spike testing, which determines how your app behaves in case the load suddenly and significantly increases or decreases.

Personalization

Personalization becomes the most important mechanism in relations between a bank and its customers, including potential ones. Analyzing consumer financial behavior patterns, financial institutions can develop special personalized offers.

Theoretically, the process turns out to be beneficial for both parties: clients satisfy their demands and a bank receives a positive economic effect from this interaction. The better the customer is satisfied, the more profitable the business becomes.

In addition, you can allow users to enable or disable most of the functions or interface elements to let them customize the application according to their needs.

Transaction and Personal Data Security

Bank account confidentiality and related user data privacy is the number one priority for financial apps. Potential vulnerabilities exploited by attackers can cause both financial damage and significant reputational loss for banking institutions.

You can increase your app security by taking the following measures:

• Encrypt data transmitted and stored on a device.
• Use one-time passwords to confirm operations performed.
• Install a two-factor SMS authentication system.
• Use QR codes to carry out transactions.
• Use passwords to access your app and a device itself.
• Lock the app automatically if a mobile device is lost or damaged.

We have dedicated one of our blog articles to describing the best mobile app security practices, and we recommend you read that as well.

Verification and Testing

Pre-release testing is an important step for any software product, but for banking apps, it is absolutely crucial. Such apps must maintain simultaneous functionality of a variety of functions, data exchange, and synchronization, as well as operate reliably, ensuring the highest level of security.

For this very reason, you can never cut corners on performance and quality testing. The money saved will not be worth it.

Feedback

Even if you thought everything over very carefully, some people may still get confused and fail to find the necessary function while interacting with your app. Other customers prefer to keep all communication online and visit the branch bank only when it is absolutely necessary.

It is important to provide such categories of customers with the opportunity to get quick support and communication with the helpdesk directly through your mobile app – for example, by using a built-in chat.

Mobile Apps as a New Horizon of Possibilities

Mobile apps are a convenient alternative to web-based internet banking software for people who prefer to solve their personal and business issues using their smartphones.

Moreover, you have to remember that, by using a mobile app, bank specialists get access to unique metrics that are not available when contacting customers through other communication channels. Use this feature to build loyalty and find new ways to grow your business and meet your customers’ needs.

If you need a reliable partner to develop a product or implement other technical issues, feel free to contact us at any time.