“Luxembourg’s financial institutions need to systematically address friction points highlighted in user feedback to enhance the overall customer experience,” said Kabanga Michel Kayembe, CEO of 3nity Global, a Luxembourg-based management consultancy firm, while presenting the results of the banking app user experience analysis for Belgium, France and Luxembourg. Photo: 3nity Global

“Luxembourg’s financial institutions need to systematically address friction points highlighted in user feedback to enhance the overall customer experience,” said Kabanga Michel Kayembe, CEO of 3nity Global, a Luxembourg-based management consultancy firm, while presenting the results of the banking app user experience analysis for Belgium, France and Luxembourg. Photo: 3nity Global

A recent whitepaper from consultancy firm 3nity Global shows that Belgian banks offer the best user experience among the three countries studied, while Luxembourg and France face significant challenges with high friction scores and regulatory risks.

Luxembourg-registered management consultancy 3nity Global’s recent report highlights that Belgian banks excel in user experience metrics, while Luxembourg and France must tackle high friction points and enhance their management of regulatory risks and user feedback.

The whitepaper, in August 2024, underscores that traditional banks in these three countries could greatly improve their mobile app user experiences by better leveraging customer feedback from social media and web channels. According to Kabanga Michel Kayembe, CEO of 3nity Global, these enhancements are vital for preserving brand reputation and identifying non-compliance with key regulations, including the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2), the Digital Operational Resilience Act (Dora) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The analysis is based on data from KAM-XF, a proprietary AI-driven customer experience analytics platform developed by 3nity Global. Kayembe noted in the report that “friction” was examined across ten categories: onboarding issues, platform reliability, transactional challenges, logout processes, performance speed, design, features, customer support, security and privacy, and overall satisfaction. Each category includes various subcategories, such as account setup, service disruptions, payment processing, session management, application responsiveness, user interface design, available functionalities, support quality, data protection and general user sentiment.

The report reveals significant differences in user experience across Belgium, Luxembourg and France. In Belgium, the user experience score is 52 out of 100, indicating moderate satisfaction with room for improvement. The friction score stands at 48 out of 100, suggesting relatively few obstacles in the user journey. Responsiveness averages 2.2 days, with positive sentiment at 65%, although 55% of feedback remains negative. The non-response rate is 25%, reflecting a relatively proactive approach to addressing user feedback.

In Luxembourg, the user experience score is lower at 40 out of 100, with a higher friction score of 60 out of 100, reflecting more significant barriers. According to Kayembe, responsiveness to client requests (time to respond to user feedback) is slower, averaging 4.4 days, with positive sentiment at just 13% and negative sentiment at 88%. The rate of non-response to user feedback is high at 65%, indicating a less effective response to user reviews.

France presents the lowest user experience score at 32 out of 100 and the highest friction score of 68 out of 100, revealing substantial obstacles in the user journey. However, France excels in responsiveness, with an average of 1 day, a positive sentiment of 47% and a negative sentiment of 53%. The non-response rate stands at 55%, suggesting room for improvement in addressing user feedback.

The white paper identifies key regulatory risks associated with user experience issues. Kayembe pointed out potential non-compliance with the PSD2 due to payment processing delays and validation errors, breaches of the GDPR from data handling and security flaws and operational disruptions under the Dora due to frequent crashes and slow performance.

Kayembe recommended that financial institutions adopt a proactive approach to continuously monitor and improve the user journey. By addressing identified friction points, banks can enhance customer satisfaction and mitigate regulatory risks, thereby maintaining their competitive edge in the evolving digital banking landscape.