Success Story · Digital Banking

How to overcome the barriers to using digital banking services?

We designed a 360 project for a South American bank: we investigated why customers still preferred the physical branch, and redesigned their digital environments with behavioral science.

Client
Leading corporate bank · South American country
Funded by
IDB Invest
Services
Behavioral Research · Behavioral Design · Experimental Validation
Sector
Banking and financial services
The challenge

Customers still preferred the physical branch

Despite its efforts to improve digital banking, the bank found that a large percentage of its customers still preferred going to physical branches for their financial transactions.

The bank set out to understand the barriers and enablers behind this financial behavior in order to promote a smoother, more efficient transition to digital banking. It needed to move from intuition to concrete behavioral evidence about what held back adoption and what drove it.

What we did

A 360 project: research, design, and preparing validation

We combined Behavioral Research, Behavioral Design, and an experimental validation plan to drive adoption of the bank's digital services, from behavior analysis to redesigning the user journey, the app, and the website.

1

Behavioral Research

Literature review, user journey mapping, UX audit, in-depth interviews with stakeholders and users, and market and opinion surveys to identify the specific barriers to digital banking.

2

Behavioral Design

We designed interventions to increase awareness of and confidence in digital tools: informational campaigns and a redesign of the user journey, the app interface, and the website.

3

Experimental validation plan

We created an experimentation roadmap so the bank could later measure the effectiveness of each recommendation.

Results

What we found and redesigned

We identified the real causes of the resistance: unfamiliarity with digital tools, lack of optimization in online and mobile banking, comfort with in-person service, and concerns about online security.
We redesigned the website and app using behavioral science principles, and rethought account opening and digital credential setup with remote procedures and automation by default.
We brought behavioral science into the branch: communication campaigns, physical flyers, and promotional and tutorial videos for online banking.
The insight

Resistance to digital change didn't have a single cause. It stemmed from a combination of factors throughout the entire user experience. That's why we intervened at every touchpoint: the website, in-branch service, account opening, digital credential setup, online banking, and mobile banking.

For decision-makers

Lessons for designing solutions

One of the reasons customers prefer traditional payment methods for financial transactions is the lack of optimization in the bank's digital services. To drive adoption, it's essential to reduce usage friction and improve the overall user experience at every touchpoint.

That's why, drawing on behavioral science, we redesigned the digital environments to increase their usefulness and ease of use, and to convey security and confidence when using them.

Have a behavioral challenge to measure?

Let's design the experiment that gives you certainty before you decide.