Scotiabank significantly upped its game in 2016 to top Forrester Research’s digital sales functionality rankings of Canada’s five biggest banks just ahead of long time leader RBC. Robin Arnfield talks to Forrester’s Alyson Clarke, Principal Analyst, eBusiness and Channel Strategy
Forrester Research’s 2016 Digital Sales Functionality Benchmark gave Scotiabank an overall score of 82 out of 100, due to a series of improvements that moved the bank up from fifth place in 2015. RBC Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) came second with 81, followed by CIBC with 77, BMO Bank of Montreal (BMO) with 68, and TD Canada Trust (TD) with 60.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Purchase journey
“For the benchmark, we look at the whole online and mobile purchase journey including customer on-boarding,” says Clarke, the study’s lead author. “Our criterion is to look at banks’ websites and mobile apps through the eyes of someone wanting to get a chequeing account.”
Forrester Research divides the purchase journey into four phases: discover; explore; buy; and on-boarding.
“Obviously, there is a different purchase journey depending on whether you are a new prospect or an existing customer,” says Clarke. “Whereas a new-to-bank applicant has to complete all the relevant questions, an existing customer should be able to log in via online or mobile banking and have all the questions pre-filled. I see a lot of variance here with Canadian banks.
While the banks have invested in technology enabling customers to apply via mobile phone, some of them forget that the rest of the purchase journey can also happen on mobile devices, and that the journey will differ depending on whether you are a new or existing customer.”
How well do you really know your competitors?
Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.
Thank you!
Your download email will arrive shortly
Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample
We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form
By GlobalData“In the Discover and Explore phases when applicants are working out what their needs are and what products the bank has, they’re looking for product information and comparison tables. If you are a prospect using a smartphone or tablet, you won’t want to download the bank’s app, you will look at their mobile site. But, if you have a credit card with the bank and want to open a chequeing account, you will probably download the bank’s app first. So we want to see information about the product and services, comparison tables and personalised recommendations both on the PC and mobile sites for prospects and in the mobile and tablet apps for existing customers.”
Only CIBC and Scotiabank offer rich product information to existing customers via mobile apps and tablet apps. “The other three banks only provided the information on their mobile sites,” says Clarke. “CIBC and Scotiabank have clearly thought about their existing customers who are going to the app first, not the mobile site.”
Scotiabank
“The interesting story is Scotiabank,” says Clarke. “They moved from last place in 2015 with 49 out of 100, which we saw as just meeting customers’ needs – not a great overall score at all – to 82. Scotiabank beat RBC by just one point, but RBC had been the leader in 2013 through 2015.”
Scotiabank’s investment in digital sales has clearly paid off, Clarke says. “This is because Scotiabank focused on the sales journey, account-opening and other areas where they were very weak,” she says. “In 2015, Scotiabank got 21 out of 100 in the buy phase, and this year they got 70. In on-boarding they got 30 in 2015, and this year they got 95 out of 100.”
“RBC has been very strong year after year,” says Clarke. “They haven’t made massive changes in the last few years, and have mainly made some changes to keep up with where they are at. Like Scotiabank, CIBC did an overhaul, which is why it came third this year. We are seeing the banks that do overhauls move up the rankings.
CIBC and Scotiabank used the new method of faster innovation using design thinking and continual iterations to redesign their digital sales experience. Both banks are making constant little improvements to the sales experience instead of just releasing a new app or site, and leaving it alone for a few years before relaunching it.”
Signatures
Until July 2016, Canadian banks had to get a wet signature from customers when opening accounts. “Even though you could apply digitally, the account wouldn’t be opened until the bank got a wet signature from you,” says Clarke. “In June 2016, new legislation was introduced which allowed customers to open accounts with electronic signatures through the provision of personal information such as driver’s licenses. RBC was the only bank prior to this date allowing electronic signatures. In 2015, RBC started allowing customers to sign account applications on their mobile phone, making the phone a signature pad. The other banks stuck to paper signatures.”
Although Canadian banks knew six months in advance that the rules were going to change, only Scotiabank implemented digital signatures for new account-opening, says Clarke. “Scotiabank used its digital factory to digitise the account-opening process,” she says.
“The old Scotiabank online and mobile application process took 10 minutes to complete online and 15 days for the account to be activated and opened at the back end. The new application takes five minutes and the account is opened in real time. Scotiabank, which had been very weak in the buy phase, really improved the on-screen account-opening process. A key reason why Scotiabank got such a high score was because they digitized account-opening at the back end so they can open accounts in real time.”
Scotiabank had also been weak in the on-boarding phase, which involves welcoming new customers and helping them understand the product or service they have bought. “They made significant improvements in their on-boarding process and also redesigned their home page, which now includes some life event content,” says Clarke.
“There are multiple ways to navigate the content on Scotiabank’s site. Some people want to go straight to the products and look at credit cards or bank accounts, for example. But, if there are things happening in their life like starting a new business or going on vacation, customers can click on the appropriate life event on the home page. What then happens is that the home page content changes and the relevant life event content is displayed on the home page so the customer can see it more quickly.”
Responsive design
“Another thing that Scotiabank does very well, and which is missing at other banks, is genuine responsive design,” says Clarke. “Typically, most banks have moved, or are moving, to responsive design. The reason they are doing this is because they built great online sites, but then everyone moved to mobile, and their desktop sites didn’t work on mobile.
“The problem is that banks went to a one-size-fits all approach to responsive design. They designed their sites to fit onto mobiles, but their mobile versions then lose a lot of the richness of their tablet or desktop sites. When you look at a site on a PC, it has three columns of information and, on the phone, it just has one column, so it shrinks.”
Scotiabank’s mobile site didn’t lose the depth of content offered on its desktop site, Clarke says. “They implemented responsive design without losing the richness of experience. A lot of other bank websites around the globe lost the breadth of content for their mobile sites, which have product brochures but no videos, educational information or calculators. These banks’ mobile sites lack the ability to educate customers and help them with their needs beyond the content, something which Scotiabank has been doing very well for several years.”
Building relationships
“New customers are looking for a banking relationship, not just to buy products on a one-off basis, so banks need to think of sales in terms of relationships,” says Clarke. “Scotiabank is good at building relationships with its new customers through educational content. On its product pages, there are tips on how to reduce your banking fees, for example.
“Also, Scotiabank has for several years been good at providing tools that compare accounts and make recommendations. These tools give you both the best product fit and the next best product fit, and look great on both mobile and PC because of the way Scotiabank uses responsive design. They also tell you why they’ve made these product recommendations.”
“Scotiabank is strong in mobile all the way through, including product information and comparison tools, and they also provide human assistance in their mobile app. There is a phone icon on Scotiabank’s mobile screen, which customers can click to call an agent. This phone icon is missing on many other banks’ mobile apps and websites, although banks are starting to introduce web chat. When a customer wants to buy a product, they should be able to get help very quickly.”
Mobile banking benchmark
2016 was a good year for Scotiabank in terms of rankings. Not only did Scotiabank’s international operation win an award for best digital strategy at RBI’s Retail Banking Awards in June 2016, but Forrester Research gave Scotiabank and CIBC top position in its 2016 Canadian Mobile Banking Functionality Benchmark in May 2016.
CIBC and Scotiabank tied with a score of 81 out of 100, beating BMO, RBC and TD.
The Forrest Research study found that, while all Canadian banks had improved their mobile banking functionality, “CIBC excels by marketing products, providing research content and offering full product applications, all through its banking app. Scotiabank provides a range of clear, user-friendly account management tools. Both banks help customers reach other channels through branch and ATM finders and phone numbers.”
Forrester Research said CIBC stood out for its product marketing features such as pre-approved offers and pre-filled forms within its app and for supporting a wide range of mobile touchpoints. Scotiabank was commended for its strong account management features as well as its service features such as help and alerts, and clear guidance for customers across its channels.
