U.S. Bank Mobile App receives user experience recognition from Forrester

Independent research and advisory firm Forrester the latest to acknowledge the U.S. Bank Mobile App.

Closing the year on a high note, the U.S. Bank Mobile App has been recognized once again.

In the Forrester Digital Experience Review™: US Mobile Banking Apps, Q4 2021 report, the independent research firm scored U.S. Bank among the highest for user experience among mobile banking apps.

Forrester evaluates and scores the mobile apps of seven banks across five user experience (UX) fundamentals.

This latest recognition comes just one quarter after being ranked No. 1 overall in Keynova Group's Q3 2021 Mobile Banker Scorecard, following a string of top accolades for mobile check deposit, digital mortgage tools, and customer service, along with more than a million five-star reviews in the app stores.

"The U.S. Bank Mobile App is how our customers interact with us most often to fulfill their banking needs," said Dominic Venturo, chief digital officer at U.S. Bank. "Which is why we set out to offer them nothing less than the best experience with a human + digital approach. We believe this recognition is further validation of what we hear from our customers: It is simple to use, intuitive, and smart - with many tools to help them quickly and seamlessly bank when, where and how they want."

The reasons for the ranking

The Forrester report noted that "U.S. Bank earned its place as a UX leader by putting a laser focus on UX improvements in its app over the past year."

It specifically called out how "the content within U.S. Bank's app is both useful and clear, and it provides effective error messaging throughout the scenarios we evaluated. The app has strong color contrast and follows best practices for content readability, a reflection of the bank's focus on digital accessibility. U.S. Bank's in-app virtual assistant, meanwhile, helps customers find relevant content and features within the app and clearly sets expectations about how the customer can use it as a search mechanism."

Forrester combines its research with findings from unmoderated usability testing with 100 US banking customers. It quoted a U.S. Bank customer saying: "I like that it shows me the three most recent transactions and then a clear button to see more. It is a very clean look that I like. It is easy to read. I like that it shows my balance up at the top, in big font, so it is easy to see at a glance."

"The secret sauce in creating an amazing product is discerning, almost obsessive, focus on even the smallest details of the experience," said Lance Thornswood, head of design at U.S. Bank. "A seamless, intuitive experience is table stakes, but a truly amazing experience should feel prescient - like the product knew what you wanted to do, even before you did. Our design team at U.S. Bank is relentlessly focused on delighting customers with product experiences that truly differentiate us from the competition in this way."

Empowering customers

U.S. Bank launched more than 140 new features across the mobile app in 2021, adding new experiences such as cobrowse with video and virtual appointments, as well as expanding the capabilities of existing ones like Smart Assistant, which has answered more than 6 million questions from customers. Our Goals, Planning and Insights tools within the mobile app are helping customers stay on track with their financial goals - for instance, those who use the Savings feature are saving an average of $173 a month. And earlier this year we became the first bank to offer the patented Pay Yourself First savings feature, which uses artificial intelligence to help customers identify opportunities to save to achieve their goals.

"We continue to regularly add new functionality to the mobile app, all of it designed using best-in-class user experience principles," said Ankit Bhatt, chief digital officer for the consumer segment at U.S. Bank. "We're equipping our customers with the digital tools to live their best financial lives, pairing that alongside the expertise of our bankers - which is a truly powerful combination."

Best-in-class examples

The Forrester report identified several aspects of the U.S. Bank Mobile App among its "best-in-class examples" of mobile banking best practices, including:

• Best Practice: Help customers find - and make sense of - their transactions

"Once a customer finds a transaction, best-in-class apps help them understand it better by including useful info: U.S. Bank's app highlights amounts and merchant names with iconography and clear visual layouts - and unlike other banks, U.S. Bank uses zero bank jargon or long strings of nonsensical alphanumerical codes. The customer can also "drill down" to see information such as exact purchase time, the merchant website, and the purchase location."

• Best Practice: Provide search or an in-app assistant for information, navigation, and exploration
  

"U.S. Bank's relatively new in-app "smart" agent, meanwhile, answers most customer questions clearly and fully and immediately brings the user to the relevant functionality or content within the app itself."

• Best Practice: Provide budgeting tools and insights based on a customer's past and current behavior

"U.S. Bank also prepopulates the customer's budget using past spending and goes further by placing the budget on the app's home screen and telling the customer how much they have left to spend in the month for a given category."

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