Your Guide To Mobile Banking Application Development
According to a recent Forbes study, 78% of Americans prefer doing their banking through mobile apps or websites instead of making trips to a physical bank. These days, people tend to visit their local branches or dial up their banks only when they've got a problem going on. For everyday stuff like money transfers or balance checks, it's all happening on the smartphone. This means the experience the banking app provides is a big deal for keeping your customers happy and loyal.
If your app is clunky, filled with bugs, or just plain hard to use, your customers might start to look at what your competition has to offer. Based on our mobile banking application development case study, we’ll talk about UI/UX solutions that can make your users' lives easier while keeping their info safe and sound.
How to build a banking app: essential features
There are fundamental features that every banking app simply must have. The problem is that each of these features brings its own set of banking app development challenges.
Authorization
Having a quick and safe way for users to get into their bank apps is key for customer satisfaction. But it can be quite difficult to make it both easy and secure. Let's break it down.
First, there is the initial multi-factor authentication. It's a secure sign-in method, but it can be exhausting for customers. The user must go through a long process with multiple steps. This increases the chances of user errors, which the mobile banking software needs to handle effectively.
The reason for complex authorization is that banks must comply with anti-money laundering (AML) and know your customer (KYC) regulations. Failing to do so can result in severe financial penalties. A bank needs to confirm the identity of bank customers, and the identification procedure can take a long time.
Even the otherwise great biometric identification can't help in this situation. The regulations demand a thorough check when users first come on board.
Balance and transactions
Typically, the balance and transactions is the first thing users see right after they get on board with the app. The idea is simple: show them what they've got and help them easily find and understand their transactions.
You need to let users check their cards, bank accounts, review their balances, and see their transaction history – these are the basics. But you can take it a step further and add more features like savings goals and investment plans.
The problem is that your app should be accessible for everyone, including those who might not find new interfaces easy to navigate. A banking app should be easy to use for all of your clients, so language, navigation, and icons should be as simple and understandable as possible. If you don’t get an experienced banking app development company on your side, your clients may end up feeling lost and frustrated.
Payments
Mobile payments allowed us to pay for services from the comfort of our sofas. Your app should link up with various payment service providers and allow clients to pay for their everyday expenses, send money to friends and family, and handle big tasks like loan repayments or mortgage bills. It should allow clients to make safe transfers any time and from anywhere.
The complexity is, again, legal regulations. When it comes to banking application development, you've got to tick some important boxes. There's the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), which sets and promotes cardholder data safety standards on a global scale. In the United States, you should follow California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which was created to protect privacy rights for California residents.
And if you plan to expand to Europe, there is a General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which safeguards personal data in the EU. You have to follow these and other regulations during the digital banking application development to maintain the legal standards of data protection and privacy for users.
How to create a mobile banking app: UX/UI best practices
Simplify authorization
As mentioned before, the initial authorization process can get a bit lengthy because of security requirements. But there are many ways to make this experience smoother.
Introduce users to the app. Allow users to explore your banking app before hitting them with the registration process. It's a smart UI/UX move that demonstrates the benefits of the app and leaves a positive first impression.
Communicate about security. You can explain the importance of these security measures to users, so that they can understand why this extra layer of protection is necessary. Security measures can sometimes feel like an annoying interruption, but if you effectively communicate their significance, you can build additional trust with your users.
Boost engagement
Banks and product managers often struggle to keep users engaged. There are two good strategies to keep users involved.
Gamify. Gamification is when you borrow the exciting and engaging elements from games and bring them into everyday apps. For instance, users might receive "quests" from the app, encouraging them to take specific actions to earn points and level up. These quests can invite your clients to sign up for financial programs, check their bank accounts more often, or enable notifications.
Use push notifications. Push notifications inform users about special offers, discounts, increased credit limits, or interest rate updates. The notifications should be relevant and interesting to your clients.
Decrease anxiety
Lots of people feel a bit anxious about the transactions, especially if they involve a lot of money. So, it’s important to reassure users about the status of their transactions, and prevent mistakes whenever possible. Two important UX and UI design solutions in these respect are repeated confirmation of transactions, and an intuitive transaction history.
Request confirmation. Ask for confirmation from users for each transaction-related action that they take. For example, after a user taps the "Transfer" button, the app can display a pop-up asking if they're certain about the action. A brief animation can indicate that their transaction is in progress. This animation gives users the peace of mind that their transaction has gone through successfully.
Implement a transparent transaction history. Lots of users rely on this section to review past transactions. Ideally, the app should show the status of each transaction and indicate whether it's in the process of being transferred, has been successfully completed, or has encountered any issues. This gives users a clear trail of their financial activities.
Our case study: mobile banking app development
An international bank initially approached Apiko for mobile banking app development services related to pure visual design. However, it quickly became evident that the app had several critical issues. So, we had to dive into a full-blown banking and finance app development. It wasn't just about making it look good; we had to fix some big issues and apply mobile onboarding best practices to make the user experience better. The results were outstanding, with onboarding time reduced from hours to just 4 minutes.
Key improvements included a new design system, a progress bar, improved selfie validation, interactive screens, improved password settings, biometrics integration, clearer registration and authorization flows, as well as enhanced password recovery.
Want to know if we have more experience in fintech? Check out how we developed an embedded finance platform for a Danish company.
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Should you choose custom banking app development?
If you're considering mobile application development for banking, you've got two main routes – either develop it in-house or outsource the job. While both can lead to a top-notch app, there are a few scenarios where outsourcing mobile banking app development makes the most sense.
If time is essential. Unless you've got a fully-fledged IT department in-house, it will take time to assemble your own team of developers, product managers, and QA specialists from scratch. A mobile banking app development company, on the other hand, has an already assembled, experienced team ready to kick off your project without delays.
If you want to reduce costs. Banking app development cost hinges on various factors, and labor cost is one of the most significant ones. Outsourcing to an experienced company allows you to achieve the same quality at a reduced mobile banking app development cost.
A glimpse into the future of mobile banking application development
The market isn't standing still, and new technologies are bringing changes to the way mobile banking is done. Here are some of the fintech software development trends that will define mobile banking in the nearest future.
- AI will transform customer service in mobile banking, and allow clients to get even quicker responses to inquiries.
- Cardless ATM withdrawals will eliminate the need for physical cards and allow users to complete transactions through the app.
- Improved KYC verification with AI, blockchain security, and cloud space will enable faster authorization and greater security of transactions.
Final thought
Mobile banking application development poses unique difficulties alongside with the usual mobile app development challenges. From security requirements to design nuances, your fintech app development team should be extremely attentive to detail in order for the app to succeed.
If you have any questions left or want to discuss your project, reach out to Apiko. We offer mobile banking app development services that combine cutting-edge technology, intuitive design, and top-notch security.