Customer experience in banking: 13 top insights for 2025

When you interact with a product or service, your experience can have a major impact on your perception of the organization. This is known as customer experience (CX). 

CX, whether positive or negative, can be the difference between a customer staying loyal to a company or switching to a competitor.

In banking, CX is of increasing importance. While only 2 in 10 retail banks are regularly involved in enhancing CX, banks that regularly optimize the customer experience grow 3.2 times faster. This suggests that in 2025 and beyond, optimizing the experience for banking customers can help an organization grow and thrive in a competitive marketplace.

Let’s dive into what customer experience in banking means and look at the top insights for 2025.

Customer experience involves the perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and reactions a customer has when using a product or service.

CX in banking includes all the touchpoints a customer has when they interact with a bank. These include face-to-face interactions, banking apps, messages, emails, call center interactions, and the desktop experience.

Projections show that the global market for customer experience could increase from $36.01 billion in 2021 to $57.67 billion by 2026. This means we can expect to see CX becoming even more important across many industries, including banking, in the coming years.

The following are some of the general expectations customers tend to have when it comes to banking: 

Ease of use

As with all digital experiences, digital banking customers have expectations for ease of use, simplicity, and seamlessness.

Customers expect intuitive and user-friendly digital platforms, whether on a mobile app or website. Simple navigation, clean design, and easy access to essential services—including checking balances, transferring money, and making payments—are of paramount importance. Banks should offer a user-friendly interface that enables customers to complete tasks efficiently.

Security, privacy, and transparency

Customers have high expectations for security and privacy. Ensuring the protection of sensitive financial information is critical—not just to meet customer expectations but to adhere to regulations.

Customers expect strong encryption, multi-factor authentication, and suspicious activity alerts. They also expect banks to be transparent about how they are using customer data.

Ease of access, 24 hours a day

Customers need and expect to have access to their funds and banking services at all times. As a result, having a round-the-clock service is key in banking CX.

Customers want better digital experiences, more personalized interactions, artificial intelligence (AI) assistance, and a good balance between self-service and in-person interactions. These are just some of the trends we’re seeing and expect to continue seeing in banking CX.

Banks that pay attention to these trends will likely be those that get ahead.

1. Customers want more seamless digital experiences

Customers are using digital experiences to interact with their banks more often. Statista data shows that in 2023, 66% of the population used online banking. By 2029, that figure is estimated to grow to 79%.

However, digital transformation in banking is famously slow and customers appear to want better experiences online.

In a report by 10x Banking, which includes data obtained from surveying 300 decision-makers and product managers at major banks, it was revealed that 63% believe their slow digital transformation is the reason for a lack of new customers. The report also revealed that banks lose 20% of customers due to poor customer experience.

This suggests seamless digital experiences ought to be a key focus for financial institutions looking to grow and satisfy customers.

2. Demand for personalized experiences remains high

Demand for personalization in digital products and services keeps increasing.

Research by McKinsey & Company, for example, shows that 71% of customers expect personalized interactions from companies and that 76% are frustrated by a lack of personalization.

Survey data from 1,000 US residents conducted by Dynata showed that survey respondents felt personalization was important for their connection to the brand. 74% said being valued and understood was important for brand loyalty.

In banking, 77% of banking leaders say personalization leads to boosted customer retention. Banks that lean into personalization may be able to increase loyalty, retention, and customer satisfaction.

3. Customers are increasingly open to AI possibilities

With the rise of AI, customers increasingly accept and approve of AI playing a role in their banking.

GFT surveyed 2,002 US consumers and found that 44% were happy with their bank incorporating AI as part of their service. Respondents particularly wanted AI to play a role in fraud detection, among other services.

There are limits, however. Some respondents were concerned about the use of AI—particularly older generations. Those aged 55 years or over were up to three times more likely not to want AI to play any role in their banking.

Overall, many consumers seem to be open to some use of AI where it makes services more seamless and safe—albeit with limitations. Banks that use AI to streamline processes and that also maintain a personalized, human touch will likely maintain their customer’s trust and satisfaction.

4. Savings assistance is a top priority

With the cost of living a concern for many, most customers are looking to save money.

GFT figures found that 90% of US citizens want to save money each month, and almost a third of those want their bank (specifically through AI capabilities) to assist them with savings.

Banks that offer personalized saving assistance—through AI and other technologies—within the digital experience will likely thrive in the current landscape.

5. Streamlined experiences may help retain customers

It’s nothing new to hear that customers want streamlined and consistent experiences across the board. In banking, where transformation has been historically slow, this requirement is becoming increasingly essential.

Research by Deloitte conducted with 17,100 respondents in 17 countries shows that 70% of banking customers think that a consistent experience across various channels and touchpoints is either “extremely important” or “very important” when choosing a bank.

This suggests that offering a streamlined connection across mobile, desktop, and every communication channel remains an essential goal in financial services.

6. A balance between self-service and in-person interactions

Given that 64% of banking consumers don’t feel they can solve issues quickly or at all through digital apps, it’s essential for financial institutions to balance both self-service and in-person offerings.

While boosting digital services in the longer term is key to attracting and retaining customers, offering in-person solutions helps plug that gap. This can offer customers trust and confidence that the organization will deal with issues quickly and effectively when they arise.

7. Leveraging emotional connection to boost loyalty

When you make a purchase or interact with an organization, you may not realize it, but the process is an emotional one. You might feel frustration, relief, stress, and satisfaction all within one interaction. 

Research by Apex conducted with over 3,000 customers from 20 leading American banks shows that customers want to be treated with honesty and respect. It also showed that providing an emotional connection with customers may help banks win loyalty.

As customer expectations are ever-changing and increasing, leveraging emotional connections with customers may help boost loyalty.

8. Offering Gen Z targeted services 

Gen Z is markedly different from previous generations. To attract and retain younger customers in banking, what worked before may not work today.

Increasingly, there’s a need to tailor services to fit Gen Z’s preferences—seamless services, a digital-first focus, and hyper-personalization, among others.

Offering boosted digital innovation is a key way to appeal to Gen Z. For example, 72% say they use a neobank (an online-only experience) as their main budgeting tool.

9. Increasing real-time service offerings

According to Deloitte data, there’s increasing demand for real-time customer data for things like payments, available cash, and trading.

One prediction is that real-time payments could replace US$2.7 trillion in automated clearing house (ACH) and check-based B2B payments in the US in 2024.

Offering real-time capabilities is one way financial institutions can stand out and fulfill customers’ increasing expectations.

10. Increased social responsibility in banking

Social responsibility is becoming increasingly important to customers—particularly the younger generation. According to IBM figures, 64% of Gen Z would change banking providers if the bank didn’t meet sufficient ethical and environmental sustainability standards.

Academic research published in the Journal of Financial Stability also showed that social responsibility contributed to improving the resilience of banks. As such, social responsibility in banking will likely play a crucial role in attracting and retaining customers in the long term.

11. The role of blockchain in enhancing security and transparency

Blockchain in banking can help provide simplified, more secure, and faster transactions.

A Zipdo Education Report shows that using blockchain technology for identity verification may enable banks to save up to $27 billion per year by 2025.

For customers who have an increasing demand for seamless, simple, and efficient services, blockchain may play a crucial role in meeting this demand.

12. A focus on omnichannel communications

Customers increasingly expect to be able to contact their bank not just when it suits them, but on the channel they prefer. Customers desire a consistent and connected experience across all banking channels—whether that’s through a mobile app, website, or in-person branch visit. Transitions between these touchpoints should be seamless.

A Salesforce survey of over 8,000 consumers and business buyers in 16 countries found that 40% of customers won’t do business with an organization if they can’t communicate with them on the channels they prefer.

Banks that will win in this current market will be those that offer an omnichannel experience for customers and communicate with them in ways that suit them best.

13. Expedited convenience for customers

Customers in banking want better online and mobile services. They are even willing to pay for them.

A CX Network survey of 26 customer experience experts found that 79% of respondents agreed that financial customers are happy and willing to spend more for convenience.

Convenience, whether powered by AI, blockchain, or digital transformation, will be an important focus for banks hoping to win in a competitive market.

Digital transformation in banking can be slow, but here are some helpful examples of where financial service providers are offering great customer experiences:

Personalized recommendations

Some organizations offer unique recommendations based on their users’ spending history, savings, and preferences to offer a relevant experience. If a customer wants to save, for example, the recommendations could relate to that topic to help the user meet their goals.

Take USAA, for example, which offers personalized action plans to ensure customers are financially ready. It provides financial advice proactively based on significant life events.

Seamless international payments

Sending money overseas can be notoriously complicated and expensive for customers.

The organization WISE (formerly TransferWise) developed a seamless platform to take the hassle out of financial payments, enabling individuals and organizations to send funds in multiple currencies worldwide.

AI assistance

Financial services are increasingly adopting AI tools to help customers perform tasks and resolve issues.

Bank of America adopted an AI-powered virtual assistant to help customers with their everyday banking needs. It offers 24/7 support, ensuring customers can get what they need at any time.

Fast onboarding

Various banks have streamlined the onboarding process to ensure customers can sign up to their financial institution quickly and without hassle.

Take European-based N26, for example. This virtual banking organization, via a fully digital process, allows customers to open a bank account in less than eight minutes without completing any paperwork.

With the rise of technology and seamless experiences, customers are expecting more and more from the financial organizations they use. 

Financial institutions that offer customers more from their banking interactions—whether that’s hyper-personalization, AI to speed up processes and boost security, assistance with savings goals, meaningful experiences, or emotional connection—will likely be those that thrive in 2025 and beyond.

Customer experience relates to the thoughts, feelings, and perceptions customers have when they interact with a product or service.

In banking, CX relates to all touchpoints and interactions between the customer and service, whether they take place on a banking app, on an online platform, during a customer service call, in a brick-and-mortar branch, or in communications like messaging and emails.

All of these experiences can have a big impact on how a customer feels about the financial organization, affecting loyalty and satisfaction—and, ultimately, retention.

CX in banking can be measured via various customer feedback techniques. These can include surveys, focus groups, interviews, analytics, heatmap data, conversion rates, loyalty data, social media monitoring, sentiment analysis, and more.

The data from various customer feedback sources can be gathered and analyzed to discover actionable insights and drive positive change for customers.