Australian banks lead on digital customer experience
Mobile sales readiness among banks in the US and Australia increased 50 per cent for measures such as "breadth of offer" and "ease of use" in the past year, analysis by a digital technology and customer acquisition specialist has shown.Financial services digital technology and customer acquisition specialist, Avoka, has analysed the digital account opening capabilities of the 50 largest banks in Australia, North America and Europe and found that Australian banks lead in "digital readiness".Avoka's study focused on "breadth of offer" and "ease of use", with the capabilities of 11 Australian banks assessed in the report."For personal banking, nearly every flagship product ranks high in quality of experience," said Avoka chief executive Phil Copeland, who started the business in 2002 on Sydney's Northern Beaches.Copeland said banks worldwide would face scrutiny for their ability "to create a cohesive experience that connects their branches, advisors, and their new digital investment"."Australia still leads, but the other regions are catching up. Business banking offers the best unexploited opportunity for digital leadership and improvement of customer experience."Every region made noticeable progress in business banking, the "most profitable and possibly most complex of all the product lines," the Avoka report suggested. Other notable findings for the Australian banking sector: mobile account opening is now available for over half the banking products of all types in Australia, again leading in this worldwide study; more than 65 per cent of personal banking products in Australia now have mobile capability, double where it was two years ago; wealth management has taken big leaps: from a relatively low base, mobile availability for this business line increased 50 per cent in Australia, although it is worth noting this report was researched and written well before the current Royal Commission into misconduct in the banking, superannuation and financial services industry had commenced; and one of the 11 Australian banks in the study is still classed by Avoka as a "legacy lover", the lowest ranked quadrant of its "digital sales readiness" matrix.