Satisfaction Stalls with Bank and Credit Card App Customers in Canada as Competition Grows, J.D. Power Finds

TORONTO: 6 June 2024 — Despite more customers than ever interacting with their banks and credit card providers via mobile apps and websites in Canada—and investment continuing to pour into the user experience of those digital channels—customer satisfaction with those tools is not improving. According to a series of recent studies of bank and credit card mobile app and online users, released today by J.D. Power, a sense of complacency has started to emerge among bank and credit card customers in Canada when it comes to using digital channels. Customer satisfaction with banking apps and websites is flat while satisfaction with credit card apps and websites is declining, with few customers making use of more advanced features like virtual assistants, alerts and budgeting tools.

The studies—J.D. Power 2024 Canada Banking Mobile App Satisfaction Study;^SM 2024 Canada Online Banking Satisfaction Study;^SM 2024 Canada Credit Card Mobile App Satisfaction Study;^SM and 2024 Canada Online Credit Card Satisfaction Study^SM—track overall customer satisfaction with banking and credit card providers’ digital offerings.

“Across both bank and credit card digital offerings, we’re seeing a situation in which customers have been slow to adopt the newer tools and resources that were meant to improve their digital experience,” said Jennifer White, senior director of banking and payments intelligence at J.D. Power. “While customers are routinely accessing digital channels for routine tasks, like making payments, checking balances or tracking transactions, use of more advanced features is lagging. As a result, customer satisfaction is stagnating.”

Following are some key findings of the 2024 studies:

• Digital customer satisfaction languishes: Overall customer satisfaction with banking apps and websites is flat year over year, with very little variability between top- and bottom-ranked banks. Among credit card providers, overall satisfaction with credit card apps is down 12 points (on a 1,000-point scale) and overall satisfaction with credit card websites is down 4 points. The range of scores in the credit card space is significantly wider than in banking, reflecting intense competition among credit card providers in the digital space.
• Not all banks digital offerings perform equally: While the industry averages show aggregate customer complacency and a narrowing of overall satisfaction ratings, high-performing banks and card issuers are improving customer satisfaction by distinguishing themselves in specific areas of the experience. Not all banks perform similarly year over year, as the aggregate results are based on notably different year-over-year bank experiences. For all banks, however, it is critical that more customers engage with their digital tools.
• Virtual assistants sparsely used outside of Gen Y¹ and Gen Z: While overall use of virtual assistants is still relatively low for banking customers, it has been trending up among members of Gen Y and Gen Z. The primary uses of virtual assistants are still routine tasks, such as checking account balances and looking up transactions. More advanced features, such as receiving personalized financial advice or locking/unlocking cards still have low levels of utilization.
• Personal financial management tools not gaining traction: While use of personal financial management tools, such as credit score monitoring, spending analysis categorization and budgeting tools, have a substantial effect on customer satisfaction among bank and credit card customers in the United States, overall satisfaction and adoption rates of these tools in Canada remains stubbornly low.

Study Rankings

RBC Royal Bank ranks highest in banking mobile app satisfaction, with a score of 644. CIBC (634) ranks second.

RBC Royal Bank ranks highest in online banking satisfaction with a score of 619. CIBC (616) ranks second and Scotiabank (615) ranks third.

American Express ranks highest in credit card mobile app satisfaction for a second consecutive year, with a score of 657. Tangerine Bank (638) ranks second and TD Canada Trust (613) ranks third.

National Bank of Canada ranks highest in online credit card satisfaction for a second consecutive year, with a score of 668. Tangerine Bank (647) ranks second and CIBC (631) ranks third.

The Canada Banking Mobile App Satisfaction Study; Canada Online Banking Satisfaction Study; Canada Credit Card Mobile App Satisfaction Study; and Canada Online Credit Card Satisfaction measure overall satisfaction with banking and credit card digital channels based on four factors: navigation; speed; visual appeal; and information/content. The studies are based on responses from 9,173 retail bank and credit card customers and were fielded in February-March 2024.

To learn more about these studies, visit https://www.jdpower.com/business/resource/us-banking-and-us-credit-card-mobile-app-satisfaction-studies.

About J.D. Power
J.D. Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services, and data and analytics. A pioneer in the use of big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic modeling capabilities to understand consumer behaviour, J.D. Power has been delivering incisive industry intelligence on customer interactions with brands and products for more than 55 years. The world's leading businesses across major industries rely on J.D. Power to guide their customer-facing strategies.

J.D. Power has offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. To learn more about the company's business offerings, visit JDPower.com/business.

Media Relations Contacts:
Gal Wilder, NATIONAL PR 416-602-4092; gwilder@national.ca
Geno Effler, J.D. Power; West Coast; 714-621-6224; media.relations@jdpa.com

About J.D. Power and Advertising/Promotional Rules: www.jdpower.com/business/about-us/press-release-info

¹J.D. Power defines generational groups as Pre-Boomers (born before 1946); Boomers (1946-1964); Gen X (1965-1976); Gen Y (1977-1994); and Gen Z (1995-2006). Millennials (1982-1994) are a subset of Gen Y.