Despite Indian Banks’ Continued Focus On Digital, Quality Of Customer Experience Remains Stagnant

• According to Forrester, due to COVID-19, more customers in India are relying on online channels for their banking needs.

• Despite Indian Banks’ continued focus on digital, the majority of India’s credit card issuers improved their CX in 2022

According to Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR), due to COVID-19, more customers in India are relying on online channels for their banking needs. As India’s banks slow the rate of new branch openings, digital channels will continue to become even more important. The India Banking Customer Experience Index Rankings, 2022 reveal, however, that while Indian banks improved their digital capabilities significantly, they have dropped the ball on in-person interactions. As a result, the quality of overall customer experience (CX) across the Indian banking industry remains stagnant.

In contrast, credit card issuers in India improved the quality of their CX due to their ability to offer hybrid — a mix of digital and physical interactions. Forrester’s Customer Experience Index (CX Index™) rankings for both the India banking and credit card industries indicate that customers had the best experience when their interaction was a mix of in-person and digital.

Key highlights from the report include:

• Most Indian banks were unable to improve their CX in 2022. There was little differentiation, as all nine banks had scores within a similar range. The industry saw a new leader emerge, with IndusInd Bank making huge strides after debuting in seventh place last year. IndusInd Bank outshone its peers in customer service, the most important driver category for banking customer experience.

• The majority of India’s credit card issuers improved their CX in 2022. Three of the five card brands improved their scores significantly, boosting the overall industry score. ICICI Bank moved up from third place to take the lead in 2022, narrowly overtaking last year’s credit card leader American Express.

• Emotion continues to be a key driver for delivering high levels of CX performance. Among customers of India’s credit card industry who felt confident, 84% plan to spend more with the brand and 89% will advocate for it. In contrast, among banking customers who felt disappointed, just 30% plan to spend more with the brand and only 31% will advocate for it.

• ICICI Bank earns the highest overall score in digital experience, leading in both mobile functionality and user experience. Its app offers multiple tools to help customers perform banking tasks and stay on top of their finances, including detailed spending analysis by transaction category.

• The rankings show overall improvement in UX, but Indian banks can do better. The user experience (UX) of Indian banking apps has improved significantly since Forrester’s last evaluation of India’s mobile banking apps in 2020. Many have newer, cleaner interfaces that are easier to navigate and simplify payments. Some new functionality, however, feels bolted on to older parts of the app. The addition of a plethora of newer payment options makes the overall payment experience disjointed.

“While the pandemic has accelerated the improvement of digital experiences, the financial services industry must not ignore in-person interactions,” said Amit Bhatia, senior analyst at Forrester. “Overall, customers who had hybrid interactions — a mix of digital and physical — had the best experiences. To achieve CX leadership, brands must ensure that they dive deep into data to understand the drivers that most influence customer loyalty to be able to prioritize their efforts.”

To evaluate the quality of CX in the financial services industry, Forrester surveyed the customers of nine banks and five credit card issuers in India to determine how they perceive their experiences and how CX drives loyalty. Since improving digital experiences for customers has become a key focus for banks since the pandemic, Forrester also evaluated the functionality and UX of the mobile apps of five Indian banks.