Smart Money People year in reviews: the trends we saw in 2023

Hundreds of thousands of you left reviews on the Smart Money People site in 2023 - thank you! We’ve analysed this data* to give you insights on everything from when people leave reviews, to what they leave reviews for and even how helpful they are.

Here’s our Smart Money People year in reviews for 2023.

When do people write reviews?

• The most popular day to leave a review in 2023 was Thursdays. Thursdays were also the day with the highest overall rating and highest count of four and five-star reviews.
• Tuesdays were the days that we saw the most unsatisfied customers leaving a review on Smart Money People, with the highest one and two-star review count.
• Fridays were another notable day in 2023 and where reviews had the highest average rating for customer service.

Who is writing the most reviews?

• We found that more reviews were left by people called Paul than by any other name in 2023. Pauls left a total of 446 reviews on Smart Money People over the year.
• People named Nicola have been most satisfied with their financial products and services in 2023, leaving no one or two-star reviews.
• The largest volume of negative reviews were left by people called Chris, leaving the most one or two-star reviews.

How do reviews vary by location?

• People in London wrote the most reviews on Smart Money People in 2023. Lancashire followed in second place.
• Selkirkshire and Dumfriesshire were the happiest counties, leaving the most positive reviews over the year.
• Hertfordshire, Berkshire and Northamptonshire were joint as the most unsatisfied counties, leaving the most negative reviews.
• Northern Ireland was the region that left the most positive reviews in 2023. This was followed by Scotland and the North East.
• The unhappiest region was the East of England, followed by the South East and Greater London.

What products and services did people review?

• A total of 35,870 reviews were written for current accounts this year, the most of any product on Smart Money People. 33,088 of these reviews rated the product five stars, showing in 2023 there was high satisfaction with current account products. This was the highest count of five-star reviews for any product in 2023.
• Other products that had satisfied customers in 2023 are public liability insurance and home loans. These had the highest average rating over the year at 4.98 stars.
• At the other end of the scale, health insurance had the lowest average rating at 1.70 stars.
• Car insurance was the product with the highest count of one-star reviews, with 1,123 left in 2023.
• Comparing year-on-year, van insurance providers seem to have stepped up in 2023 to provide better service for their policyholders. The overall rating for van insurance products increased by 3.19, and the customer service rating increased by 3.01.

What reviews were the most helpful?

• The highest volume of reviews marked by other reviewers as helpful were left for car insurance products.
• The two reviews with the most helpful marks had a one-star rating. However overall, more five-star reviews were rated as helpful than one-star reviews.
• Out of every review marked as helpful in 2023, the average rating was 3.11.
• The company with the most reviews marked as helpful by other reviewers in 2023 was Zopa.

Which banks treated their customers the fairest?

Over 50,000 reviews were left for banks on Smart Money People in 2023. As part of their review, we asked reviewers whether they felt they had been treated fairly by their provider.

Here are the top ten banks for treating customers fairly in 2023. The percentages represent the proportion of reviewers who responded ‘yes’ when asked if they have been treated fairly.

• Chase Bank (99.32%)
• Triodos Bank (98.97%)
• Starling Bank (98.60%)
• Monzo (98.34%)
• Metro Bank (98.33%)
• NatWest (96.84%)
• Atom Bank (96.30%)
• first direct (94.06%)
• Halifax (79.93%)
• Santander (79.34%)

How did customers contact their banks?

• Over half (56.9%) of Smart Money People reviewers preferred to use an app to contact their bank in 2023. This has risen from 31.4% in 2017.
• Contacting via an app is most popular with 18-24-year-olds, with 62% preferring this method.
• 65+ year-olds preferred to contact their bank online (40.2%). Close behind, 34.9% chose to use an app for contact.
• Since 2017 the overall preference for contacting banks online has dropped from 44.2% to 23.7%.
• Contacting the bank by going into a branch is the least preferred method, with only 9.6% of users selecting this contact method.

What did people reference most in their reviews?

We looked at reviews for savings products, mortgages and home insurance across 2023 to see what aspects were mentioned the most. For all three products, customer service was the most important aspect to reviewers. It was mentioned in over one-fifth of reviews.

• Savings - After service, the most mentioned aspects in reviews were the process, rates, product and online services.
• Mortgages - The product itself was mentioned in over one-fifth of reviews (21%). Communication, process and online services were also regularly mentioned.
• Home insurance - The most mentioned aspects after service were the process and rates of the product (20%). Communication and online services were also regularly mentioned in reviews.

That’s a wrap on the reviews we collected in 2023. Thank you to all of our reviewers who left their insights on the Smart Money People platform in 2023.

Please continue to write informative reviews for products and services that you experience this year. Together, we can help people like you make better financial decisions in 2024.

*To be included in the list, insurers had to receive at least 100 reviews during the year for the results to be considered statistically valid.