Third annual mobile deposit report finds significant ranking movement among the largest financial institutions

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Oct. 10, 2018—Mitek (NASDAQ: MITK, www.miteksystems.com) today released the results of the 2018 Mobile Deposit Benchmark Report conducted by fintech and digital commerce research firm Futurion, The report  looked at how 20 US retail financial institutions (FIs) ranked based on the quality of customer experience in app design and customer-friendly policies. Results revealed that FIs investing in mobile deposit by improving the UX design of their app and raising deposit limits are the ones that are leading the way in digital channel migration.

Those leading the pack for best mobile deposit user experience this year are:

  • Capital One (#1 in 2017)
  • Wells Fargo (#2 in 2017)
  • US Bank (#6 in 2017)
  • BBVA Compass (#3 in 2017)
  • Suntrust (#11 in 2017)

Consumer adoption of digital banking continues to rise. In fact, BBVA Compass recently reported a 30 percent year-over-year increase in mobile active users while Wells Fargo counts 28.1 million total active digital users, 21.2 million of which use mobile banking. On top of that, by 2020 millennials in the U.S. are expected to spend $1.4 trillion annually according to Accenture, making mobile banking support even more imperative. Because of the rapid adoption of mobile financial services among U.S. consumers, mobile deposit is a must-have digital banking capability, that entices customers to do their banking through lower-cost digital channels and supports FIs efforts in their digital transformation.

“The change of rankings in this year’s report highlights the positive impact of a superior user experience,” said Jim Van Dyke, CEO, Futurion. “The bar is rising for mobile deposit excellence, as it should be, as more people rely on mobile deposit for routine transaction. FIs that evolve their methodologies and requirements are the ones that will ultimately succeed in attracting the most lucrative digital customers in today’s competitive environment.”

The top three reasons FIs changed rankings are:

  • Increase in deposit limits: Overall deposit limits are now 16 percent higher than they were in 2017. This is the single most important area in driving increased adoption, because if a user is blocked from depositing a check, the only alternative is to travel to a branch or ATM.
    • BBVA Compass is a clear leader in this area and now sets personalized check deposit limits as high as $45,000 because of their highly inclusive risk algorithm
    • Personalized deposit limits are the next frontier – with nine offering this feature versus 11 who do not
  • Customer centric user interface (UI) A seamless and easy-to navigate UI is a key component of superior customer experience. Special attention needs to be given to improving instructions, how-to guides and self-help.
    • SunTrust moved up 6 places to 5th position by improving its in-app design which is clean and simple and clearly displays limits, help and tips.
  • Recommend paper check hold times: Long hold times for checks diminish customer confidence and convenience and limit channel-migration. The shorter the hold time the greater the consumer confidence.
    • Both Bank of America and Capital One are leaders in advising customers to retain paper checks for just a couple of days after a successful deposit, in contrast with other FIs who recommend customers save checks for as long as 90 days

“Mobile deposit technology has tremendous ROI in helping FIs lower operational costs, increase profit margins and attract new customers,” said Michael Diamond, general manager of payments at Mitek. “Because Mobile Deposit® is the foundation of a successful digital banking business, customer experience could not be more important.  FIs that are committed to developing the best in class digital channel need to focus on their consumers’ experience and incorporate mobile deposit services like auto-capture and real-time updates that remove barriers to adoption and improve usage.”

To download the full report, view a complete ranking of the financial institutions evaluated and read detailed recommendations for how financial institutions can improve their mobile deposit user experience.

Methodology

This report benchmarks customer experience for 20 large U.S. retail multi-channel FIs (up from 15 in 2017), using an expanded methodology. All data were independently analyzed and reported by Futurion, with data collection and other areas of active involvement from Comrade Agency and CI&T.

Live deposit accounts were accessed for each FI during August and September of 2018, with all ratings scores set by Comrade’s user experience designer team. In select cases (primarily for a few smaller regional banks), access to existing live accounts was gained by working with a research partner, who facilitated communication and collection of screen captures.

From the live accounts at all 20 banks, we collected and analyzed UX data across six user experience or heuristic categories, comprising a total of 24 individual categories. FIs were scored based on user experience measures pioneered by Jakob Nielsen, with modifications to fit the mobile deposit process. Two risk-related policy categories were also rated, based on either information found in the app, on the FI’s site, or provided by customer service agents.

To develop the total ranking for each FI’s overall mobile deposit customer experience, each FI’s average standing within each of the six UX and two risk-related policy areas was summed, and then compared to that of all other FIs.

About Mitek

Mitek (NASDAQ: MITK) is a global leader in mobile capture and digital identity verification solutions built on the latest advancements in AI and machine learning. Mitek’s identity verification solutions enable an enterprise to verify a user’s identity during a digital transaction, which assists financial institutions, payments companies and other businesses operating in highly regulated markets in mitigating financial risk and meeting regulatory requirements while increasing revenue from digital channels. Mitek also reduces the friction in the users’ experience with advanced data prefill and automation of the onboarding process. Mitek’s innovative solutions are embedded into the apps of more than 6,100 organizations and used by more than 80 million consumers for mobile check deposit, new account opening and more. Learn more at www.miteksystems.com.

Follow Mitek on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/mitek-systems-inc
Follow Mitek on Twitter: @miteksystems
Connect with Mitek on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MitekSystems
See Mitek on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/miteksystems
Read Mitek’s latest blog post: http://www.miteksystems.com/blog

Mitek Contact:

Ann Reichert
Senior Director of Marketing
pr@miteksystems.com 

Marissa Livingston
LEWIS for Mitek
MitekUS@teamlewis.com