To say that the way people bank is changing is rather tiresome, but in truth, the way people bank has undergone a revolution over the last decade that only looks set to continue.

Perhaps a little more interesting is to understand how people want to bank, unbound by the constraints of their providers. Which channels do customers want to engage with, and how do these preferences correspond to customer satisfaction?

Analysing our H1 2016 banking reviews, we’re able to summarise this (see our canny graphic below). We’ll track this every 6 months going forward to see how the picture changes.

Across all our customer profiles, digital channels are now preferred by 83% of the population

  • Online banking retains its supremacy for now by being both the most preferred banking channel, and on aggregate, delivering the highest customer satisfaction
  • Mobile Apps have further work to do. Although now preferred by 31% of our reviewers, the customer satisfaction of app lovers isn’t as high as online banking aficionados
  • Customers in our ‘Silver Surfer’ profile present an interesting picture. While it won’t surprise many that branch preference remains strong for this group of customers (17%), 59% cited online banking as their preferred channel

Data was sourced from 1,522 Smart Money People banking reviews in H1 2016. Smart Money People uses four customer profiles to segment its reviewers, ‘Young, Free & Single', ‘Family’, ‘Empty Nesters’ and ‘Silver Surfers.’

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