A presentation on app-based retail banking inclusion given at the Financial Conduct Authority in London, January 2019 by Open Inclusion. This presentation was sponsored by the Business Disability Forum.

1. Presentation for the BDF and FCA event
15 January 2019
How well do retail banking apps
include all customers?

2. Why?
• To provide a comparative assessment
• Identify leading practice – celebrate great products
• Build a better understanding of who is excluded
• Identify why apps worked. When and how they didn’t
• Understand the impacts of product creation and
management on inclusion or exclusion
• Develop practical guidance for product design,
development and management teams
Last year we did some primary research
to better understand mobile banking inclusion in the UK

3. Designing a better world for all
Open Inclusion is an accessibility,
research and innovation consultancy.
We provide:
• Usability testing and insight
• Market research
• Inclusion-led innovation
• Universal and adaptive design solutions
• Workplace inclusion
open.inclusion
open.insights
open.access
open.minds
open.ability

4. Who am I?
Christine Hemphill
Managing Director, Open Inclusion
Founded Open just over 4 years ago
Previously was a Strategy Director at a Digital Design Agency
Prior to that, worked in Retail Banking and Wealth Management
• Business and customer experience strategy
• Inclusive business design and management
• Inclusive research
• Inclusion-led innovation
• Market research and economic value analysis

5. Staff capability and intent:
• Highly intelligent, motivated staff
• Most with strong, positive intent
Constrained by:
• Processes, decision making & tools
• Limited relevant customer insight
• Generic groups proxy for real insight
• Technology stack / legacy elements
• Constantly morphing security risks
Banks generally want to provide better customer experiences
However there are many constraints and challenges
Image: Rocky Mountains Bank advertisement

6. • Financial independence
• Access to capital
• Access to financial advice
• Money management
• Risk management
Banks are a powerful force in
people’s lives

7. • The share of current account transactions
completed on mobile apps increased from
21% to 61% from 2012 - 2017
• Forecast to increase for next 5 years
Factors impacting mobile usage
• Broadening mobile functionality
• Higher competition from challenger banks
• New security / authentication options
• How / where mobile is used generates
situational and temporary access needs
Mobile banking is the fastest
growing retail channel

8. Desigual campaign Sept 18
We are all different – normal is a flawed concept
Some differences are visible, most are hidden.
“DIFFERENCE IS
WHAT WE ALL HAVE
IN COMMON”

9. Permanent, situational and temporary needs are all still needs
Making products that work for more people, more of the time

10. Humans are not static sets of capabilities, needs and preferences.
We all fluctuate in and around our personal “normal”
Feeling more resilient
Feeling more vulnerable
Over Time

11. • Retail banking is a very valuable enabler
of personal independence and opportunity
• New entrants increasing competition
• Enhanced ability to move between
providers through Open Banking
• Increasing importance of mobile as a
channel – users, usage, range of functions
• Naturally higher value of inclusive design
for mobile products
• A lack of transparent, comparative
information about inclusive app capability
Why did we do this study?

12. The more inclusive a product is, the better it allows all
users to successfully complete their desired journey
without friction or limitation – over time and in
different environments.
Business benefits when customers get more
consistent, brand aligned experiences.
These benefits include increased revenues, greater
brand loyalty and advocacy, cost savings, more
durable, innovative products and reduced risk.

13. The methodology
User survey
N = 37
How people bank currently, what they want, like / dislike, what
enables or limits them, and what they would like in the future
Expert testing
Usability
testing
N = 5
50 specifically designed criteria
retail banking journey & mobile specific

14. Which apps we selected – iOS and Android versions
App Brand Parent Company
(UK Banking Licence)
% share
UK current
accounts
'Big 4' New
'Challenger'
Bank
Retail
parent
entity
International
HQ - UK
operation
Direct only
no-branches
Mobile only
Barclays Barclays Bank plc 18%
The Co-operative The Co-operative Bank plc 2%
First Direct HSBC Bank plc 3%
HSBC* HSBC Bank plc 9%
Lloyds Lloyds Banking Group plc 27%
Monzo Monzo Bank Ltd. 1%
RBS Royal Bank of Scotland plc 18%
Santander Santander UK plc 10%
Tesco Tesco plc <1%
TSB TSB Bank plc 4%
Total 92%

15. Expert testing – starting from 100
• 48 questions
• Looked to WCAG (2.0 and 2.1) removed
criteria less relevant to mobile or
banking core journeys, added some
others more relevant in this context
• 5 point scale. Zero is baseline – no fails
• The final range for the ten apps on each
platform was
• 68 – 88 for iOS and
• 51 – 85 for Android apps
0
1
2
-2
-1
No fails
Specifically
inclusive
Innovative
inclusion
Loads of fails
Some fails

16. Our inclusive banking maturity model

17. Adding in the usability testing
• Journeys tested (wherever possible)
• Homepage and login
• Account management
• Transfers and payments
• Communication
• Support
• Overall impressions
• Scored by each of the 5 overall categories
• interactions, visual design and media, personalisation
and AT support, user assistance and simplicity
0
0.5
1
-1
-0.5
No fails
Specifically
included me
Innovative and
exciting
Barrier to core
journey
Friction,
limitation

18. So without further ado… the leader board (iOS apps)

19. Success came from different specific strengths in iOS

20. And the leader board (Android apps)

21. The differing specific strengths in Android apps

22. Visual design and media
• Colour contrast
• Use of colour (other than colour contrast)
• Graphics and visualisations
• Dynamic / moving content
• Text appearance (e.g. capital letters)
• Video / audio content

23. Interaction design
• Button labels
• Field labels
• Error messaging
• Error prevention
• Link text
• Numerical keypad

24. Access preferences and
assistive technology (AT) support
• Accessibility preferences
• Screen reader support
• Bluetooth keyboard support
• Text resizing
• Pinch zoom
• Biometrics

25. User assistance
• Location of help section
• Help section navigation
• Contact options
• Instructions

26. Simplicity
• Ease of login
• Use of headings
• Swiping only functionality
• Language clarity
• Navigation
• Need to scroll
• Timeouts
• Use of icons

27. Sensory – user experiences
“Touch gestures make mobile apps difficult to
navigate for me. I can’t use my bank’s app”
“The app doesn’t work with two finger zoom
on the iPad so I can’t use it”
“The app has not fully supported dynamic type
yet (larger image in iOS). Also I dislike the faint
grey writing – poor contrast.”

28. Sensory – user experiences
“To contact the bank you have to call
them. My bank has Sign video service
only on the desktop”
“Some features require me to call the
bank (eg: Loan application etc) which
creates obstacles for me being Deaf”

29. Physical / dexterity – user experiences
“I haven’t tried [the bank’s] app as I have
severe dexterity issues and can’t do things
quickly and securely.”
“It’s too fiddly for me”
“I used to use the [bank brand] app, but
then there was an update and it became
less accessible. It may be better now but I
got tired of it when it kept crashing with
my assistive technology [Dragon].”

30. Cognitive – user experiences
“I found the app difficult to install
and then hard to use”
“When setting up my [bank brand] app I got
confused by all the different passcodes I was
asked to create versus those texted to me”
“The one touch / facial recognition options
made it so much easier to log on”

31. What people would like (from the survey)
Easier to update personal information 56%
Easier to find help / contact info 50%
More accessible for me 44%
Able to do more banking functions 44%
Easier to find what I am looking for 28%
More secure 28%
Easier to make transactions 22%
Easier to log in 11%

32. An eye to the future
• Open Banking – increased portability,
disaggregating product and service layers
• Increasingly cashless transactions
• Changing security and authentication
• Increase use of voice as an interface
• Increased numbers of people valuing inclusive
design - permanent and situational
• Increasing value of the inclusive market
• Increased competition from challengers
• Post-mobile … the next interface

33. Build inclusion into your process not just products for
sustainable competitive advantage
Likely challenger Sustainable advantage
Advantage is at riskCompetitive disadvantage
Inclusionembedded
intheprocess
Inclusion embedded
in the product

34. Implications to take away
• Ask your customers – gather inclusive insight regularly
• Sustainable inclusion: consider process, not just products
• Ensure procurement is engaged - bought is as good as built
• Create the internal strategy, measures and governance
• Develop across all 5 capabilities as evenly and thoroughly as possible
• Employ more diversely – good for broader customer needs
awareness, ideation and powerful innovation
• Test emerging technologies and new product or functionality
concepts with diverse customer groups
• Maintain and create options

35. Better understanding
better solutions
better for all
Inclusive insight
Listening / learning
Human-centred design
Universal / adaptive
Broaden the value
Innovate / embed
Our services

36. For more information, please contact
Christine Hemphill, Managing Director
christine@openinclusion.com
@openforaccess
better experiences for all
www.openinclusion.com