AAWE Score: Skipton Building Society
Read our review of the app onboarding journey for Skipton’s new banking app.
What is the AAWE Score?
The AAWE Score is calculated by rating initial customer expectations as well as the reality of their experience, both out of 10. We then work out the difference between the two scores to give the final result.
App onboarding from Skipton Building Society
The Expectation
We’ve been Skipton customers for several years. In that time, their digital offering has left a lot to be desired. For example, when first downloading their app, we couldn’t access it until a one-time access code was sent in the post. Surreal.
Nonetheless, a notification about an updated app experience is always a positive sign a business is aiming to improve their customer experience. So we were optimistic about the journey they would provide, and the functionality of the new app.
Expectation Score: 6/10
The Reality
Good and bad communication
All too often brands will decide to overcommunicate with their customers, and do so by using inappropriate channels. Therefore, it was satisfying to be prompted to download Skipton’s new app when going to login to the existing app experience. It was a well selected moment and channel.
However, the communication regarding the new app could have been better. There was little detail around what the new app could do, simply that it has been designed to help make managing accounts easier, and it featured a fresh look shaped by feedback.
The most concerning communication at this point was the implications of moving to the new app experience. We would lose the ability to message Skipton via the app, and we would temporarily be unable to access our accounts online. But the only additional feature we would receive was the ability to view my statements and documents. The loss of core functionality like messaging to receive what could be classified as a ‘hygiene’ feature like viewing statements felt like a strange trade-off.
More questions
When selecting to proceed, we were directed to the app store to download the new app. The app itself was named ‘Skipton by invite’. This implied an element of exclusivity or that we had been chosen to be one of the first new users for a reason. But this wasn’t made clear.
Also, the app rating. It was 1.5/5. Now, apps can often get poor ratings, especially when they’re a change to the existing experience provided which customers are likely familiar with. But we worry how many customers would have been put off downloading the new app when seeing the rating.
Furthermore, the preview screens failed to offer any more detail on the new app’s functionality. Another missed opportunity.
Functional setup
In terms of the journey once the app had been downloaded, it was functional and relatively seamless. We had confirmed our contact details at an earlier step, so Skipton had all the information they needed. After accepting the terms and conditions for the apps usage, we simply chose our preferred login option (Biometrics and PIN or PIN only), verified our email address, and received a one-time passcode via text to use before creating a password.
In total, this part of the journey took four minutes and we had no issues.
A lack of an effective onboarding
At this point, setup was complete and we could access the new app. We did receive a message confirming the setup was complete, which also stated some savings products weren’t available in the app yet. Which did make us worry we had lost access to some of our accounts. But a quick scan of the app homescreen showed this wasn’t the case.
Nonetheless, there was no actual onboarding. We were simply dropped onto the app’s homescreen. If the new app was designed to improve the experience and provide additional functionality, it would have been helpful to be given some guidance on this and how to access it.
Experiences should be intuitive and so often a ‘tour’ of a new app like this can be overkill. But due to the lack of information shared about the new app experience, we would have expected a bit more of a hands-on guide. Furthermore, the design of the app doesn’t feel much of a step change from the previous experience.
Reality Score: 5/10
The AAWE Score
Reality Score (5/10) - Expectation Score (6/10) = -1
Reality Score (5/10) - 1 = AAWE Score (4/10)
Opportunities for growth
In terms of growth, there felt like several missed opportunities. The onboarding journey to the new app could have been used to increase engagement leading to improved retention. But also to reinforce customers to use the app in future and therefore reduce their cost to serve.
1. New shouldn’t be a step backwards
There was likely no sense of urgency driving the new app to be released. Therefore, it shouldn’t have been released when it lacked features provided in the old app, or caused the inability for customers to access their online account. Instead, a key feature should have been highlighted and users encouraged to engage with it at first login.
2. An app by invite should feel exclusive and illicit feedback
As soon as the decision was made to name the new app ‘Skipton by invite’, there should be an associated business reason for why customers received an invite. From what we can gather, it had to do with product holding. But it could have helped customers feel like they were receiving an exclusive experience, and as such, valued Skipton more for being selected to receive it. Also, an exclusive invite could have easily been accompanied by a request for feedback. An opportunity for Skipton to receive all the ways the app could be improved before sharing with the rest of their customers.
3. Provide an onboarding experience
Skipton missed an opportunity to use a new app experience to elevate their UI design, showcasing it through the onboarding experience to help customers engage with what the future experience would be. But a short and simple onboarding experience once setup was complete would have improved the overall journey. This should have been used to highlight key features and drive customers to complete the actions which would have led them to think of the app as the first point of reference from them on.
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